Chapter6:

Userinterfacedesign

Designingeffectiveinterfaces
forsoftwaresystems

IanSommerville2000

SoftwareEngineering,6thedition.Chapter15

Slide1

Topicscovered

Userinterfacedesignprinciples
Userinteraction
Informationpresentation
Usersupport
Interfaceevaluation

IanSommerville2000

SoftwareEngineering,6thedition.Chapter15

Slide2

Theuserinterface

Systemusersoftenjudgeasystembyits
interfaceratherthanitsfunctionality
Apoorlydesignedinterfacecancauseauserto
makecatastrophicerrors
Pooruserinterfacedesignisthereasonwhyso
manysoftwaresystemsareneverused

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SoftwareEngineering,6thedition.Chapter15

Slide3

Graphicaluserinterfaces

Mostusersofbusinesssystemsinteractwiththese
systemsthroughgraphicalinterfacesalthough,in
somecases,legacytextbasedinterfacesarestill
used

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SoftwareEngineering,6thedition.Chapter15

Slide4

GUIcharacteristics
Characteristic
Windows
Icons
Menus
Pointing
Graphics

IanSommerville2000

Description
Multiple windowsallowdifferentinformationtobe
displayedsimultaneouslyontheusersscreen.
Iconsdifferenttypesofinformation. Onsomesystems,
iconsrepresentfiles;onothers,icons
represent
processes.
Commandsareselectedfromamenuratherthan typed
inacommandlanguage.
Apointingdevicesuchasamouseis usedforselecting
choicesfromamenuorindicatingitemsofinterest ina
window.
Graphicalelementscanbemixedwithtext onthesame
display.

SoftwareEngineering,6thedition.Chapter15

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GUIadvantages

Theyareeasytolearnanduse.

Theusermayswitchquicklyfromonetaskto
anotherandcaninteractwithseveraldifferent
applications.

Userswithoutexperiencecanlearntousethesystem
quickly.

Informationremainsvisibleinitsownwindowwhen
attentionisswitched.

Fast,fullscreeninteractionispossiblewith
immediateaccesstoanywhereonthescreen

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SoftwareEngineering,6thedition.Chapter15

Slide6

Usercentreddesign

Theaimofthischapteristosensitisesoftware
engineerstokeyissuesunderlyingthedesign
ratherthantheimplementationofuserinterfaces
UsercentreddesignisanapproachtoUIdesign
wheretheneedsoftheuserareparamountand
wheretheuserisinvolvedinthedesignprocess
UIdesignalwaysinvolvesthedevelopmentof
prototypeinterfaces

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SoftwareEngineering,6thedition.Chapter15

Slide7

UIdesignprinciples

UIdesignmusttakeaccountoftheneeds,
experienceandcapabilitiesofthesystemusers
Designersshouldbeawareofpeoplesphysical
andmentallimitations(e.g.limitedshortterm
memory)andshouldrecognisethatpeoplemake
mistakes
UIdesignprinciplesunderlieinterfacedesigns
althoughnotallprinciplesareapplicabletoall
designs

IanSommerville2000

SoftwareEngineering,6thedition.Chapter15

Slide8

Usersysteminteraction

Twoproblemsmustbeaddressedininteractive
systemsdesign

Howshouldinformationfromtheuserbeprovidedtothe
computersystem?
Howshouldinformationfromthecomputersystembe
presentedtotheuser?

Userinteractionandinformationpresentation
maybeintegratedthroughacoherentframework
suchasauserinterfacemetaphor

IanSommerville2000

SoftwareEngineering,6thedition.Chapter15

Slide9

Interactionstyles

Directmanipulation
Menuselection
Formfillin
Commandlanguage
Naturallanguage

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Interaction
style
Direct
manipulatio
n

Main
advantages
Fastandintuitive
interaction
Easytolearn

Menu
selection

Avoidsuser
error
Littletyping
required

Formfillin

Simpledata
entry
Easytolearn
Powerfuland
flexible

Command
language
Natural
language

Accessibleto
casualusers
Easilyextended

Main
disadvantages
Maybehardto
implement
Onlysuitablewhere
thereisavisual
metaphorfortasks
andobjects
Slowfor
experiencedusers
Canbecome
complexifmany
menuoptions
Takesupalotof
screenspace
Hardtolearn
Poorerror
management
Requiresmore
typing
Naturallanguage
understanding
systemsare
unreliable

Application
examples
Videogames
CADsystems

Mostgeneral
purposesystems

Stockcontrol,
Personalloan
processing
Operatingsystems,
Library
information
retrievalsystems
Timetablesystems
WWW
information
retrievalsystems

Advantagesand
disadvantages

Directmanipulationadvantages

Usersfeelincontrolofthecomputerandareless
likelytobeintimidatedbyit
Userlearningtimeisrelativelyshort
Usersgetimmediatefeedbackontheiractions
somistakescanbequicklydetectedand
corrected

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SoftwareEngineering,6thedition.Chapter15

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Controlpanelinterface
Grid

Busy

Title

JSD.example

Method

JSD

Type

Network

Units

cm

Selection

Process

Reduce

Full

NODE

LINKS

IanSommerville2000

FONT

LABEL

OUIT

PRINT

EDIT

SoftwareEngineering,6thedition.Chapter15

Slide13

Menusystems

Usersmakeaselectionfromalistof
possibilitiespresentedtothembythesystem
Theselectionmaybemadebypointingand
clickingwithamouse,usingcursorkeysorby
typingthenameoftheselection
Maymakeuseofsimpletouseterminalssuchas
touchscreens

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Advantagesofmenusystems

Usersneednotremembercommandnamesas
theyarealwayspresentedwithalistofvalid
commands
Typingeffortisminimal
Usererrorsaretrappedbytheinterface
Contextdependenthelpcanbeprovided.The
userscontextisindicatedbythecurrentmenu
selection

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SoftwareEngineering,6thedition.Chapter15

Slide15

Formbasedinterface
NE WBOOK
Title

ISBN

Author

Price

Publisher

Publication
date

Edition

Numberof
copies

Classification
Dateof
purchase

IanSommerville2000

Loan
status
Order
status
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Slide16

Commandinterfaces

Usertypescommandstogiveinstructionstothe
systeme.g.UNIX
Maybeimplementedusingcheapterminals.
Easytoprocessusingcompilertechniques
Commandsofarbitrarycomplexitycanbe
createdbycommandcombination
Conciseinterfacesrequiringminimaltypingcan
becreated

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SoftwareEngineering,6thedition.Chapter15

Slide17

Problemswithcommandinterfaces

Usershavetolearnandrememberacommand
language.Commandinterfacesaretherefore
unsuitableforoccasionalusers
Usersmakeerrorsincommand.Anerror
detectionandrecoverysystemisrequired
Systeminteractionisthroughakeyboardso
typingabilityisrequired

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SoftwareEngineering,6thedition.Chapter15

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Commandlanguages

Oftenpreferredbyexperiencedusersbecause
theyallowforfasterinteractionwiththesystem
Notsuitableforcasualorinexperiencedusers
Maybeprovidedasanalternativetomenu
commands(keyboardshortcuts).Insomecases,a
commandlanguageinterfaceandamenubased
interfacearesupportedatthesametime

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SoftwareEngineering,6thedition.Chapter15

Slide19

Informationpresentation

Staticinformation

Initialisedatthebeginningofasession.Itdoesnotchange
duringthesession
Maybeeithernumericortextual

Dynamicinformation

Changesduringasessionandthechangesmustbe
communicatedtothesystemuser
Maybeeithernumericortextual

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SoftwareEngineering,6thedition.Chapter15

Slide20

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Datavisualisation

Concernedwithtechniquesfordisplayinglarge
amountsofinformation
Visualisationcanrevealrelationshipsbetweenentities
andtrendsinthedata
Possibledatavisualisationsare:

Weatherinformationcollectedfromanumberofsources
Thestateofatelephonenetworkasalinkedsetofnodes
Chemicalplantvisualisedbyshowingpressuresandtemperaturesina
linkedsetoftanksandpipes
Amodelofamoleculedisplayedin3dimensions
Webpagesdisplayedasahyperbolictree

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SoftwareEngineering,6thedition.Chapter15

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Colourdisplays

Colouraddsanextradimensiontoaninterface
andcanhelptheuserunderstandcomplex
informationstructures
Canbeusedtohighlightexceptionalevents
Commonmistakesintheuseofcolourin
interfacedesigninclude:

Theuseofcolourtocommunicatemeaning
Overuseofcolourinthedisplay

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SoftwareEngineering,6thedition.Chapter15

Slide23

Colouruseguidelines

Don'tusetoomanycolours
Usecolourcodingtosupportusetasks
Allowuserstocontrolcolourcoding
Designformonochromethenaddcolour
Usecolourcodingconsistently
Avoidcolourpairingswhichclash
Usecolourchangetoshowstatuschange
Beawarethatcolourdisplaysareusuallylower
resolution

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SoftwareEngineering,6thedition.Chapter15

Slide24

Usersupport

Userguidancecoversallsystemfacilitiesto
supportusersincludingonlinehelp,error
messages,manualsetc.
Theuserguidancesystemshouldbeintegrated
withtheuserinterfacetohelpuserswhenthey
needinformationaboutthesystemorwhenthey
makesomekindoferror
Thehelpandmessagesystemshould,ifpossible,
beintegrated

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SoftwareEngineering,6thedition.Chapter15

Slide25

Errormessages

Errormessagedesigniscriticallyimportant.
Poorerrormessagescanmeanthatauser
rejectsratherthanacceptsasystem
Messagesshouldbepolite,concise,consistent
andconstructive
Thebackgroundandexperienceofusers
shouldbethedeterminingfactorinmessage
design

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SoftwareEngineering,6thedition.Chapter15

Slide26

Userdocumentation

Aswellasonlineinformation,paper
documentationshouldbesuppliedwithasystem
Documentationshouldbedesignedforarangeof
usersfrominexperiencedtoexperienced
Aswellasmanuals,othereasytouse
documentationsuchasaquickreferencecard
maybeprovided

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SoftwareEngineering,6thedition.Chapter15

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Userdocumenttypes
System
evaluators

System
administrators

Novice
users

Experienced
users

System
administrators

Installation
document

Introductory
manual

Reference
manual

Administrators
guide

Howtoinstall
thesystem

Getting
started

Facility
description

Operationand
maintenance

Functional
description

Descriptionof
services

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SoftwareEngineering,6thedition.Chapter15

Slide28

Documenttypes

Functionaldescription

Introductorymanual

Describesallsystemfacilitiesindetail

Systeminstallationmanual

Presentsaninformalintroductiontothesystem

Systemreferencemanual

Briefdescriptionofwhatthesystemcando

Describeshowtoinstallthesystem

Systemadministratorsmanual

Describeshowtomanagethesystemwhenitisinuse

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SoftwareEngineering,6thedition.Chapter15

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Simpleevaluationtechniques

Questionnairesforuserfeedback
Videorecordingofsystemuseandsubsequent
tapeevaluation.
Instrumentationofcodetocollectinformation
aboutfacilityuseandusererrors.
Theprovisionofagripbuttonforonlineuser
feedback.

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SoftwareEngineering,6thedition.Chapter15

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