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Revision as of 22:27, 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.

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

Window management is one of the most fundamental user activities. The main purpose is to require less effort from users to move their mouse across greater distances making window placement more predictable and therefore easier to find.

  Dialog Boxes

  Properties Windows

- The Title Bar:

All windows should have a title bar even if the window doesn’t have a title (which should be a very rare exception). Use the title bar controls as follows: • Close: All primary and secondary windows with a standard window frame should have a Close button on the title bar. Clicking Close has the effect of canceling or closing the window. • Minimize All primary windows and long-running modeless secondary windows (such as progress dialogs) should have a Minimize button. Clicking Minimize reduces the window to its taskbar button. Consequently, windows that can be minimized require a title bar icon. • Maximize/Restore down All resizable windows should have a Maximize/Restore down button. Clicking Maximize displays the window in its largest size, which for most windows is full screen; whereas clicking Restore down displays the window in its previous size. However, some windows don't benefit from using a full screen, so these windows should maximize to their largest useful size.

- The Windows Title:

A document window should display the name of the document being viewed. Application windows display the application name. Panels display a descriptive title appropriate for that window. If the contents of the window can change, it might be appropriate to change the title to reflect the current context.

For example, if you need to display more than one item in the title, separate the items with a dash (—) with space on either side. For example, the main viewer window of Mail displays the currently selected message mailbox and the selected folder, if any. When a message is viewed in its own window, the message title is displayed. Don’t display pathnames in window titles. When displaying document titles, use the display name and show the extension if the user has elected to show extensions.

- The Windows Size:

• Choose a default window size appropriate for its contents. Don't be afraid to use larger initial window sizes if you can use the space effectively.

• Use resizable windows whenever practical to avoid scroll bars and truncated data. Windows with dynamic content and lists benefit the most from resizable windows.

• For text documents, consider a maximum line length of 65 characters to make the text easy to read. (Characters include letters, punctuation, and spaces.)

• Fixed-sized windows:

o Must be entirely visible and sized to fit within the work area.

• Resizable windows:

o May be optimized for higher resolutions, but sized down as needed at display time to the actual screen resolution.

o For progressively larger window sizes, must show progressively more information. Make sure that at least one window portion or control has resizable content.

o Should avoid default restored sizes that are maximized or near maximized. Instead, choose a default size that is typically the most useful without being full screen. Assume that users will maximize the window instead of resizing to make it full screen.

o Should set a minimum window size if there is a size below which the content is no longer usable. For resizable controls, set minimum resizable element sizes to their smallest functional sizes, such as minimum functional column widths in list views.

o Should change the presentation if doing so makes the content usable at smaller sizes.

  Window Location

• For the following guidelines, "centering" means to bias vertical placement slightly towards the top of the monitor, instead of placing exactly in the middle. Put 45 percent of the space between the top of the monitor/owner and the window top, and 55 percent between the bottom of the monitor/owner and the window bottom. Do this because the eye is naturally biased towards the top of the screen.

• If a window is contextual, always display it near the object that it was launched from. Place it out of the way so that the source object isn't covered by the window. o If displayed using the mouse, when possible place it offset down and to the right.

o Show contextual windows near the object that it was launched from.

o If displayed using a pen, when possible place it so as not to be covered by the user's hand. For right-handed users, display to the left; otherwise display to the right. o When using a pen, also show contextual windows so that they aren't covered by the user's hand (assuming the user is right handed, the position of the contextual window is at the other side)

• If a window isn't related to the current context or user action, place it away from the current pointer location. Doing so prevents accidental interaction. • If a window is a top-level application or document, always cascade its origin off the upper-left corner of the monitor. If created by the active program, use the active monitor; otherwise, use the default monitor.

Cascade top-level application or document windows off the upper-left corner of the monitor.

• If a window is a top-level utility, always display it "centered" in the monitor. If created by the active program, use the active monitor; otherwise, use the default monitor.

Center top-level utility windows.

• If necessary, adjust the initial location so that the entire window is visible within the target monitor. If a resizable window is larger than the target monitor, reduce it to fit. Window order (Z order)

• Always place owned windows on top of their owner window. Never place owned windows under their owner windows, because most likely users won't see them.

• Respect users' Z order selection. When users select a window, bring only the windows associated with that instance of the program (the window plus any owner or owned windows) to top of the Z order. Don't change the order of any other windows, such as independent instances of same program.

Window Activation

• Respect users' window state selection. If an existing window needs attention, flash the taskbar button three times to draw attention and leave it highlighted, but don't do anything else. Don't restore or activate the window. Don't use any sound effects. Instead, let users activate the window when they are ready.

o Exception: If the window doesn't appear on the taskbar, bring it to the top of all the other windows and flash its title bar instead.

• Restoring a primary window should also restore all its secondary windows, even if those secondary windows have their own taskbar button. When restoring, place secondary windows on top of the primary window.

  Input focus

• Windows displayed by user-initiated actions should take input focus, but only if the window is rendered immediately (within 5 seconds). Once the window is rendered, it can take input focus once.

o If a window renders slowly (more than 5 seconds), users are likely to perform another task while they wait. Taking focus at this point would be an annoyance, especially if done more than once.

• Windows that aren't immediately displayed or displayed by a system-initiated action shouldn't take input focus. Instead, display on top without focus, and let users activate them when they are ready.

o Exception: Credential Manager.

  Persistence

• When a window is redisplayed, consider displaying it in the same state as last accessed. When closing, save the monitor used, window size, location, and state (maximized vs. restore). When redisplaying, restore the saved window size, location, and state using the appropriate monitor. Also, consider making these attributes persist across program instances on a per-user basis. If the window is larger than the monitor, resize the window as necessary.

• Move the location toward the upper-left corner to fit within the monitor as necessary.

  Scrolling Windows

People use scroll bars to view areas of a document or a list that is larger than can fit in the current window. Only active windows can be scrolled. A window can have a horizontal scroll bar, a vertical scroll bar, both, or neither. A window that has one or more scroll bars also has a resize control in the bottom right corner. Figure 14-37 shows the parts of a scroll bar in a window. Figure 14-37 The elements of a scroll bar

The scroller size reflects how much of the content is visible; the smaller the scroller, the less of the content the user can see at that time. The scroller represents the relative location, in the whole document, of the portion that can be seen in the window. If the entire contents of a document is visible in a window, the scroll bars do not contain scrollers. Scroll bars in inactive windows have an inactive appearance. In Figure 14-36 you can see the inactive appearance in the scroll bar of the Mail viewer window. For most document windows that contain a single view (scrolling text or tables, for example), do not specify any space between the window edge and scroll bars.

The user can use scroll bars by doing the following:

• Dragging the scroller. This method is usually the fastest way to move around a document. The window’s contents changes in “real time” as the user drags the scroller.

• Clicking a scroll arrow. This means, “Show me more of the document that’s hidden in this direction.” The scroller moves in the direction of the arrow. Each scroll arrow click moves the content one unit; your application determines what one unit equals. For example, a word processor would move a line of text per click, a spreadsheet could move one row or column. To ensure smooth scrolling effects, specify units of the same size throughout a document.

• Clicking or pressing in the scroll track. Clicking advances the document by a windowful (the default) or to the pointer’s hot spot, depending on the user’s choice in Appearance preferences. A “windowful” is the height or width of the window, minus at least one unit of overlap to maintain the user’s context. This unit of overlap should be the same as one scroll arrow unit (for example, a line of text, a row of icons, or part of a picture). The Page Up and Page Down keys also move the document view by a windowful. Pressing in the scroll track displays consecutive windowfuls of the document until the location of the scroller catches up to the location of the pointer (or until the user releases the mouse button).

It’s best not to add controls to the scroll-bar area of a window. If you add more than one control to this area, it’s hard for people to distinguish among controls and click the right one. Acceptable additions to the scroll area include a splitter bar and a status bar that shows, for example, the current page. To ensure that window controls are easy to use and understand, it’s best to place the majority of your features in the menus as commands. If you really want to provide additional access to features, consider creating a panel. Only frequently accessed features that significantly benefit users’ productivity should be elevated to the primary interface. Panels that coexist with other windows and need to use the least amount of screen space possible may use small or mini scroll bars. If a window has small or mini scroll bars, all other controls within the window content area should also be the smaller version. For more information, see “Using Small and Mini Versions of Controls.”

Make sure you don’t use a scroll bar when you should really use a slider. Use sliders to change settings; use scroll bars only for representing the relative position of the visible portion of a document or list. For information about sliders, see “Slider Controls.”

  Common Dialogs

Asthetics

  Sizing

  Formatting

  Titles and Icons

  Fonts and Colour

Interaction

  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;^[1]

• 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
  Allow shortcuts for frequently used features for experienced users to maximize effciency through flexible alternatives.
• Aesthetic and minimalistic design
  Discard irrelevant information in dialogues to ensure relevant units of information does not lose their relative visibility.
• Help users recognize, diagnose, and recover from errors
  All error messages should be illustrated in clear, simple language (no codes) where users undoubtedly recognize the problem and follow a constructive solution.
• Help and documentation
  Help and documentation should be easy to search focused on the user’s task with a list of clear concrete steps to be carried out. Limit all possible ambiguities.

Eight Golden Rules of Interface Design

From the book Designing the User Interface, Ben Shneiderman outlines eight key rules of good interface design;^[2]

• 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

In the book, The Object Primer by Scott Ambler. It outlines the following tips and techniques that one should think about when creating a user interface;^[3]

• Consistency
  Ensure interface works in a consistent manner which enables user to build an accurate model of the way it works.
• Set standards and stick to them
  Use a consistent interface design standard throughout. All aspects of software must follow Agile Modeling (AM)’s Apply Modeling Standards.
• Be prepared to hold the line
  Be open to stakeholder’s ideas and suggestions. Inform stakeholders when developing the user interface of your corporate UI standards.
• Explain the rules
  Explain all rules in a clear consistent manner to avoid problems.
• Navigation between major user interface items is important
  Be sure the system is flexible enough to support various approaches to ensure your user will make sense of the application. A user interface-flow diagram is optional to further understand the flow of your user interface.
• Navigation within a screen is important
  Organize navigation between widgets in a consistent manner users will find recognizable.
• Word your messages and labels effectively
  Illustrate text (messages and labels) through clear, effective language. Avoid inconsistency.
• Understand the UI widgets
  Adopt an effective UI widget standard in your application.
• Look at other applications with a grain of salt
  Create authentic application which follows the user interface-standards and guidelines of your organization.
• Use color appropriately
  Colours should be used sparingly for accessibility reasons. If colours are used, they should be used with a secondary indicator which does not discriminate. Colours should also be consistant throughout the application.
• Follow the contrast rule
  Background and foreground should contrast enough for the user to easily read contents of the interface.
• Align fields effectively
  Editable fields (i.e textboxes) should be aligned to be visually appealing and promote efficiency through features such as 'tabbing'.
• Expect your users to make mistakes
  Allow easy reversal of actions. See Principles
• Justify data appropriately
  Left justify string, Right justify numbers, Decimal justify floating point numbers.
• Your design should be intuitable
  Interfaces should be easy to learn and should encourage the user to explore and become familiar with its elements.
• Don’t create busy user interfaces
  Interfaces should be simple at best. Clutter causes confusion and stalls efficient workflow.
• Group things effectively
  Related features should be effectively grouped together, whereas items which are not should be distinctly separated.
• Take an evolutionary approach
  Methods such as rapid prototyping and Agile Model Driven Development are critical approaches in designing user interfaces.

Human Factors

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

References

[1] Nielsen, Jakob. Ten Usuability Heuristics. http://www.useit.com/papers/heuristic/heuristic_list.html
[2] Shneiderman, Ben. Eight Golden Rules of Interface Design. http://faculty.washington.edu/jtenenbg/courses/360/f04/sessions/schneidermanGoldenRules.html
[3] Ambler, Scott. The Object Primer. http://www.ambysoft.com/essays/userInterfaceDesign.html