1. Human Computer Interface design
Manohita Gurram
Nov

2. Good interfaces should
be easy to learn,
minimize user frustration
maximize user productivity

3. A few basic rules for the system requirements are:
Software must assist the user perform a task, not become a task in itself
Software must not make the user feel stupid
Software must not make the computer appear to be stupid

4. Some of the important factors to be considered in the interface design are
Visual elements – colors, fonts, icons etc.
Terminology
Controls
Error messages
Metaphors

5. Visual Elements

6. When properly applied, color can
enrich the user interface by improving the aesthetic quality of the interface
guide the user's attention to points of interest.
The improper use of color on the other hand, can seriously impair the user's ability to interact with the program.

7. Icons

8. Terminology
Program developers and users should share the same knowledge base. Programs should be designed according to the tasks of the users and each should know what the other was talking about.

9. The designers of Netscape Navigator however, forgot that most people using their product are not programmers

11. In any other application cut =>object is removed and a copy is placed in the clipboard for later use
In Microsoft Excel, "Cut" means "Leave it there until I Paste it somewhere else."

12. Controls
In a graphical user interface, the controls represent the means by which the user communicates with the application. The quality of the communication depends on two aspects of the controls:
the appropriateness of the control for the task
the consistency of the rules under which the control operates.
Selecting the wrong tool for the job, or changing the rules under which the tool operates, the designer will create problems for the users.

15. Error Messages
Error messages are often invasive and rude, halting the current activity, and demanding that you acknowledge them before you are allowed to continue.
Many error messages are ambiguous, failing to provide meaningful information, and at times are simply incorrect, potentially causing undue grief and expense to the innocent user.

16. This message was popped up when trying to delete files from a nearly-full hard drive in Windows 95

17. Netscape's Hidden Frames function generates hidden messages as well.

20. Metaphors
Metaphors are often employed in interface design to help users learn the application by facilitating the transfer of existing knowledge

22. Good Design Features Tool tips
1) Enable users to learn the interface more rapidly by making the toolbar less intimidating
2) allow the user to rapidly locate functions that may otherwise have been buried within the menus

23. Given all the passwords each of us must keep track of these days, it's all too easy to forget the password for a particular account or program