Transcript of 2505ICT User Interface Design. Course organisation Course Convenor and lecturer Marilyn Ford, L08...
- Slide 1
- 2505ICT User Interface Design
- Slide 2
- Course organisation Course Convenor and lecturer Marilyn Ford,
L08 Room 2.20, m.ford@griffith.edu.aum.ford@griffith.edu.au The
course website
http://www.ict.griffith.edu.au/marilyn/2505ICT/index.html The
course textbook Exploring Interface Design, 2005, Marc Silver
- Slide 3
- Assessment and available marks Lab Exercises (days 1 12) 12 x 2
marks = 24 Individual Project Reports #1: due beginning of lab, day
5 (16 marks) #2: due beginning of lab, day 9 (20 marks) #3: due
beginning of class, day 13 (20 marks) Presentation on group project
(day 13) Individual marks = 20
- Slide 4
- Day 1 Lecture on chapter 1
- Slide 5
- Objectives of lecture 1 Understand some of the costs associated
with poor user interface design Understand the importance of client
and user requirements before beginning to design a software project
Understand why it is important to create designs on paper before
beginning coding
- Slide 6
- Some basic terminology User Interface (UI) is the means by
which people interact with a computer to achieve their aim The
persons interaction with the computer is called human-computer
interaction (HCI) or computer-human interaction The term user
experience recognises that when using the software, users have
experiences that have been orchestrated by (caused by) the
designers of the software.
- Slide 7
- The user experience
http://www.ted.com/talks/david_pogue_says_simplicity_sells.html
http://www.ted.com/talks/david_pogue_says_simplicity_sells.html
- Slide 8
- In the old days The users of software were often the users of
the software or specialists in a field The general public did not
use software Even specialists needing computer output did not use
the software So, it did not matter what the interface was like
- Slide 9
- Then Personal computers became popular during the 80s and 90s
and so the general public came to use software regularly The users
tolerance for hard-to-use software was low Their expectations of
the software running on their computers were higher than
expectations had been for software running on the corporate
mainframe Things started to change, and still are changing
- Slide 10
- Designing with user in mind More and more today, there is a
push to design with the user in mind [ISO 13407] "The usability of
an interface is a measure of the effectiveness, efficiency and
satisfaction with which specified users can achieve specified goals
in a particular environment with that interface."
- Slide 11
- Usability Effectiveness The accurateness and completeness with
which specified users can achieve specified goals in a particular
environment Efficiency The use of minimum effort by the user to
accurately and completely achieve a specified goal in a particular
environment Satisfaction The users comfort with and acceptability
of the software
- Slide 12
- Ways of imagining the cost of bad UID Imagine being stuck in a
room with no visible way to get out being lost in a foreign country
and being unable to communicate with anyone being forced to make a
decision with serious consequences when you dont understand the
choices being on a highway with too many signs competing for your
attention having to reintroduce yourself every time you see your
best friends having to walk around the block every time you want to
move from one room to another in your house being hungry, but
unable to figure out how to open the refrigerator hiring an
employee who refuses to do what you ask and makes you feel stupid
for asking
- Slide 13
- Similar things happen when you have bad UID Some examples:
Youre taken to a web page with no visible means of getting back to
a known page A group of buttons is displayed with cryptic icons
whose meaning or function you cannot guess A web page presents a
confusing array of choices, poorly organized links, ambiguously
labeled buttons, and meaningless graphic images Youre forced to
retype the identical user information that you provided to the same
site yesterday A tutorial program requires that you click the right
arrow through 25 screens of information to get to the review quiz
you were working on yesterday A dialog box gives you 2 choices,
neither of which you want
- Slide 14
- Satisfy the clients and the users To do this, you must:
Understand the clients and the USERS Find out what the client and
the USERS want Get feedback from clients and USERS from the very
beginning and throughout the design process Take notice of feedback
you obtain Dont blame users for having trouble with your software
Adhere to established design principles
- Slide 15
- Think of UID as architecture Would you build a structure
without designing it on paper first? Would you develop a prototype
or model of it before building the real thing? The term information
architect is sometimes used to describe user interface designers,
especially those working out the structuring of the information
presented in the software Just as architects use blueprints to
specify their design, so user interface designers can use sketches
or partial implementations to help specify their design and get
feedback on the design Dont fall into the trap of heading straight
for the computer when given a project... before you head for the
computer, get information from potential users and develop sketches
and prototypes
- Slide 16
- One principle to keep in mind - consistency Consistency
placements have become the de facto standard in design Deviating
from expected conventions does have its place, such as when the
goals of the site are to defy such convention Think of (non-IT)
examples where convention is not adhered to think of the trouble
this can lead to it is the same with software If you do deviate
from convention, make sure that it is for a reason that you believe
will enhance the users experience
- Slide 17
- Dont be like Dilbert!
http://web.mit.edu/is/usability/IAP/2003/Session1/