Transcript 6 – Navigation and Other Aspects of Humane Interfaces 6

#6 – Navigation and Other Aspects of
Humane Interfaces
6-1 Intuitive and Natural Interfaces
• Issues with terms intuitive and natural
• Star Trek and the use of the mouse
• No “artifact” is intuitive nor natural
6-2 Better Navigation: Zoom World
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Humans are bad a mazes
Maze – complex program = long sequence
Partial solution to maze = “favorite locations”
Solution – Zooming Interface Paradigm (ZIP)
Zoom World – infinite plane of information
having infinite resolution
• Zoom World – no scroll bars and no zoom icons
• ZIP Example – Apricus – large medical chart
• Would this work if introduced today?
6- 3 Icons
• “Instead of icons explaining, we have found that icons
often require explanation”
• Words understood by at least one language – icons
maybe none
• Often language dependent but not culturally dependent.
• Most effective –A dozen or less are seen at one time.
• Most effective – A dozen or less total
• Color coding – what color is “bittersweet”?
• Color coding – can fail if you use too many colors of if
there are too many icons in each color
• Do they a do a good job? Better than text?
6-4 Techniques and Help Facilities in
Human Interfaces
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To facilitate learning:
Display instructional text at first use of product
Tutorial and reference manual as part of the interface
Doesn’t HELP work fairly well as it is used today?
6-4-1 Cut and Paste
• Performing an inadvertent second cut before the
first paste.
• Is this an issue?
• Has Microsoft improved in this area?
6-4-2 Messages to the User
• Have interface redesigned so that there are no
error messages
• Error is usually in the design of the system or the
interface
6-4-3 Simplified Sign-Ons
• Telling the system TWICE when entering User
ID and Password
• Have a password-system
• Is the proposed method more secure?
6-4-4 Time Delays and Keyboard Tricks
• Automatic repeat after 500 msec
• Any delay is too long
• Chord Keyboards
• Anyone use this method?
6-5 Letter from a User
• When the user moves to the next field or screen or uses
a menu or a button, the system should accept the input
as is stands.
• If the user can do only one thing next, have the computer
do it.
• Every time a user must interact with a computer, there
must be a productive outcome to the interaction. Moving
forward in the work flow in mind and of itself is not a
productive outcome.
• A computer should be a servant, not a peer or a boss.