2505ICT

1
2505ICT

• User Interface Design

2
Course organisation

• Course Convenor and lecturer
• Marilyn Ford, L08 Room 2.20, m.ford_at_griffith.edu.a
  u
• The course website
• http//www.ict.griffith.edu.au/marilyn/2505ICT/ind
  ex.html
• The course textbook
• Exploring Interface Design, 2005, Marc Silver

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

4
Day 1

• Lecture on chapter 1

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

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.

7
The user experience

• http//www.ted.com/talks/david_pogue_says_simplici
  ty_sells.html

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

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

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."

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

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

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

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

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

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

17
Dont be like Dilbert!

• http//web.mit.edu/is/usability/IAP/200
  3/Session1/