User Interface Standards

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These principles are in nature heuristics of interface design. They are guidelines that "should" be used in the design of interfaces, since there is no one industry standard. These general rules provide a basis to build on for an user interface designer.<br>The similarities between these two sets of guidelines is indicative of the rules interface designers should follow to offer end users efficient ease of use.
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These principles are in nature heuristics of interface design. They are guidelines that "should" be used in the design of interfaces, since there is no one industry standard. These general rules provide a basis to build on for an user interface designer.<br><br>The similarities between these two sets of guidelines is indicative of the rules interface designers should follow to offer end users efficient ease of use.
===<span style="color:#191979">Ten Usability Heuristics</span>===
===<span style="color:#191979">Ten Usability Heuristics</span>===

Revision as of 17:13, 22 November 2009

User Interface Standards is created by Group 6 for 2009/2010 Software Engineering 4D03 Assignment 5. Group Members: Roshan Jesuratnam, Ashan Khan, Arturo Mata, Jaganvir Sandhu

This document specifically looks at Graphical User Interface (GUI) standards, over other types of interfaces which exist.


Contents

Overview

TALK ABOUT TRIAL AND ERROR, SIMPLICITY,ETC


NO INDUSTRY STANDARDS BUT THERE ARE HEURISTICS AS A GENERAL GUIDLINE

EACH COMPANY HAS ITS OWN STANDARD WHICH IT FOLLOWS, THIS WIKI WILL EXPLAIN THE GENERAL, COMMON THINGS AMONG THEM.SDFSDG

The structure principle. The simplicity principle. The visibility principle. The feedback principle. The tolerance principle. The reuse principle.


APPLES AQUA INTERFACE DESIGN STANDARD WINDOWS NEW WINDOWS 7 STANDARD

DIFFERENT TYPES OF USERS

CONSSISTENCY

(Use http://www.isii.com/ui_design.html)

Standards

ADD MORE SHIT ON THIS, NEEDS MORE COWBELL

TAKE FROM APPLE AND MICROSOFT AND MORE CRAP
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aqua_(user_interface)
http://developer.apple.com/mac/library/documentation/UserExperience/Conceptual/AppleHIGuidelines/XHIGIntro/XHIGIntro.html
http://download.microsoft.com/download/e/1/9/e191fd8c-bce8-4dba-a9d5-2d4e3f3ec1d3/ux%20guide.pdf ********************
http://www.usabilitynet.org/tools/r_international.htm
http://www.beta-research.com/standards.html <---GOOD RESOURCE

Windows

  Window Management
  Dialog Boxes
  Properties Windows
  Common Dialogs

Asthetics

  Sizing
  Formatting
  Titles and Icons
  Fonts and Colour

Interaction

  Shortcuts
  Mouseovers
  User Input
  Keyboard
  Pointers
  Accessibility

Messages

  Errors and Warnings
  Confirmation and Notifications

Text

  UI Text
  Style and Tone

Commands

  Menus
  Toolbars
  Ribbons

Controls

Principles

These principles are in nature heuristics of interface design. They are guidelines that "should" be used in the design of interfaces, since there is no one industry standard. These general rules provide a basis to build on for an user interface designer.

The similarities between these two sets of guidelines is indicative of the rules interface designers should follow to offer end users efficient ease of use.

Ten Usability Heuristics

Jakob Nielsen, a user adovacate and principal of the Nielsen Norman Group for enhancing user experience, outlines the following heuristics;

  • Visibility of system status
    System should indicate the state/progress it is in through appropriate feedback.
  • Relate system and real world
    System should be 'natural' in order to speak the user's language. Concepts should be similar to real-world conventions.
  • User Control and freedom
    Interface should encourage user to explore features and give them a sense on control over the system.
  • Consistency and standards
    Interface should have same meanings of words as other applications. Other interfaces in the system should be used as a guideline when designing a new one.
  • Error Prevention
    System should be designed to prevent errors from happening. By implementing various error handling mechanisms (autocorrect, messages, etc.), users should be able to fix and continue with workflow.
  • Recognition rather than recall
    Controls of the interface should be easily visible in order to reduce short term memory load.
  • Flexibility and effciency of use
  • Aesthetic and minimalistic design
  • Help users recognize, diagnose, and recover from errors
  • Help and documentation

Eight Golden Rules of Interface Design

From the book Designing the User Interface, Ben Shneiderman outlines eight key rules of good interface design;

  • Strive for consistency
    Consistency must be implemented within itself and other interfaces. This ensures a "global" understanding of where things are and where one would look for it. See Figure 1 for example.
  • Enable frequent users to use shortcuts
    Expert users should not be bound by interaction styles that may slow progress. Thus, enabling shortcuts through speed keys, hidden commands, marcos, etc. will optimize pace of interaction while reducing the number of interactions.
  • Offer informative feedback
    Major or infrequent actions should make aware the user, with descriptive and clear information of what is occuring.
  • Design dialog to yield closure
    Sequences of actions should be grouped with a beginning, middle and end. This gives the user a sense of direction and accomplishment of the task.
  • Offer simple error handling
    Design the interface in a manner which the chance of human error is impossible. However, since it is impossible to predict every behaviour, design it in a way such that it offers informative feedback explaining the details of the error and how it could be solved.
  • Permit easy reversal of actions
    Allow users to undo their mistakes. This allows users to have a sense of security in case a mistake occurs. It also allows users to explore without consequences.
  • Support internal locus of control
    Users should be the initiators of actions rather than responders. Actions should respond quickly with delay and offer response.
  • Reduce short-term memory load
    Reducing sequences of events and commands allows the user to be aided in tasks. Keep the display simple so it is intuitive for the user.

Design

(Use http://www.ambysoft.com/essays/userInterfaceDesign.html)

PUT INTERACTIPON STYLES IN HERE

Techniques

http://www.ambysoft.com/essays/userInterfaceDesign.html

Human Factors

(Use http://www.beta-research.com/standards.html)

References

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