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user centered design principles |
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The
basic and the most simple principle of User Interface
design is to make the user feel in control of the
software/system, rather than feeling the controlled
by the software/system. The basic forms of interaction
your software/system should support are listed below.
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Directness: |
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The
Design of the software should be such that users
can directly manipulate software representations
of information. Whether they are dragging an object
to relocate it or navigating to a location in
a document, users should see how their actions
affect the objects on the screen. Visible information
and choices also reduce the user's mental workload.
Users can recognize a command more easily than
they can recall its syntax.
Metaphor used to label any element of system,
should provide direct and intuitive interface
for user tasks. Metaphors used should be in such
a way that the user can predict and learn to adapt
the system for software based representations.
The purpose of using metaphors is to provide a
cognitive bridge; the metaphor is not an end in
itself. Further more the metaphor used can help
the user to associate the meaning with a familiar
object, than they remember the syntax for that
particular command. Metaphors support user recognition
rather than recollection. |
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Consistency: |
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It
allows the user to map the existing knowledge to
new tasks in the new interface. This assists the
user to learn new things more easily and comfortably.
The main reason for this being, that the user need
not spend time remembering and comparing the differences
in interaction. By establishing a sense of stability
and harmony in the interfaces, consistency helps
the user to be familiar and predictable about the
interface.
Consistency with application, by using the same
commands to carry out tasks, that seems similar
to the users. In case of printing the document,
Print command prints the document; obviously, the
user can predict what’s going to happen, when
this command is executed or button is clicked. Consistency
in visual elements, icons represent the set of instructions,
which can be easily visualized by the user. For
instance, when using icons in the applications care
should be taken so that visual icons comply to the
functionality of the application. Consistency in
visual terms can also be considered by using icons
that represent real life objects. For eg. Using
the Trashcan icon for storing deleted files/items
from the application, here the trashcan can help
user recognize the effect of the delete function.
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Forgiveness: |
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Users
most of the times like to explore and learn new
things. They always starts to learn things with
trial and error method, this behavior initiates
another important principle, Forgiveness. The interface
provides appropriate set of choices and warns them
at various stages about the potential situations,
where they can damage the data or system. Moreover,
the system makes data reversible and recoverable.
There are situations where, even in using the best
systems users can commit errors/mistakes by clicking
something un-intentionally which can be physical
mistake or mental mistakes by making wrong decisions
about command or data to select. An effective designed
can avoids such situations that can result in errors.
It accommodates potential users errors and makes
it easy for the user to recover. |
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Feedback:: |
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Users
need to get instant feedback about their actions.
Informative and real time feedback is mostly desired.
Effective feedback is such that it is timely and
is presented as close as the users interaction as
possible. There are instances when the user has
to wait for a while to let the system process the
interaction, at this stage the most disconcerting
part would be viewing the blank screen that is unresponsive
at that point of time. |
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