Arlene F. Aucella, Ph.D
AFA Design Consultants
55 Railroad Avenue #2041
Hamilton, MA. 01982
Phone / FAX (508) 468-6221
aucellaa.iia.org
This tutorial reviews published research, guidelines and
case studies on ease-of-use for graphical user interfaces.
Many text-based user interfaces are being converted into
graphical user interface platforms. This tutorial
emphasizes using graphical user interface components
without undermining good principles of design.
Course topics include windows, icons, menus and
dialogue boxes. Usability aspects of commercial graphical
interfaces such as Apple Macintosh, Microsoft Windows
and OSF Motif are compared and evaluated. In addition,
techniques for collecting user feedback and usability data
are discussed. A multi-part class exercise gives
participants skill in converting a non-graphical menu and
forms-based user interface into a pull-down menu and
dialogue box interface.
Graphical user interface design,
windows, scroll bars, icons, dialogue boxes, pull-down
menus, input devices, usability engineering
Ease-of-use has become of primary importance in
software product development. Users and purchasers of
computer systems are concerned about reducing training
and support costs. Well-designed interfaces can
substantially reduce those costs. They also allow users to
perform tasks more easily, reducing the number of user
complaints and customer support problems.
Graphical user interfaces have the potential to supply
users with a more direct, intuitive means to interact with
software. However, simply providing users with pull
down menus, icons and a mouse is not synonymous with
an easy-to-use system. Graphical user interfaces often
have hundreds of functions that make it difficult for users
to find the ones that they need. Users may not understand
menu labels or be able to identify icons. Users may have
trouble navigating dialogue boxes or menus that are many
levels deep. Selecting options can often take four or
more separate actions leading users to perceive the
application to be " a lot of work". Often there is no easy
way to change default values to accommodate individual
users. Although an interesting graphic interface may
promote ease-of-use, it is not a sufficient condition for
it.
Some studies [1, 2] indicated that an iconic or windowed
user interface enhanced some measures of user
performance over a more traditional interface; however,
other studies did not [3, 4]. The differences in
performance lie with high-level user interface design
decisions that need to be addressed long before menu
labels, icons and mouse buttons are specified. This
tutorial emphasizes building user interfaces with graphical
user interface "widgets" while still maintaining
conformance with good principles of design.
This tutorial begins by defining ease-of-use and mapping
functionality onto the interface based on data supplied by
users. Example instances of designers' best guesses that
did not match users' best performance are covered.
Graphical user interface components include windows,
icons, menus and dialogue boxes. In addition, techniques
for collecting user feedback and usability data are
discussed. Emphasis is be on making design decisions
based on human performance data from published studies
[e.g. 5, 6] or from informal usability tests. Guidelines
are presented within the context of common, widely-used
applications including office automation. A class
exercise gives participants skill in converting an
application from a non-graphical menu and form interface
into a pull-down menu and dialogue box interface.
Abstract
Keywords:
Introduction
CONTENT
Introduction
COMMERCIAL USER INTERFACES
WINDOWS
CONVERSION OF AN INTERFACE - PART 1
MENUS
ICONS
DIALOGUE BOXES
CONVERSION OF AN INTERFACE - PART 2
BUILDING APPLICATIONS
SUMMARY