User Interface Design Notes are from: Wilson, 2001. Software Design and Development The Preliminary Course. Cambridge Press. pp142-151 and Fowler, 2000. Software Design and Development Preliminary Course. Heinemann Press. pp.193-206

About the user interface allows the user to communicate with the program displays information or commands to the user meets the needs of the user runs on the users hardware and software is ergonomically sound has consistent design is efficient User perspective – interface is a tool to do a job Developer perspective – interface will accept inputs, and display any outputs after completing some form of processing or logic

The Design – meeting user need Interface should not be designed without contribution from the user Interview Survey Questionnaire Observation Prototyping User needs to be guided through the process of identifying Type of interface needed System response times How the interface should work Any necessary security features Any hardware requirements (e.g. barcode readers)

Screen Design Should let user effectively do their job Design should be consistent across different screens in an application Put like items (buttons, messages) in similar places Use same font and format to display same type of data Use similar commands and choices to navigate screens Allow actions to become intuitive

User Messages Allows communication between the program and the user Should be clear, concise and non-threatening, not use vulgar language or jargon Not – “You pressed the wrong key you idiot!!” Should specifically state what you want the user to do “Please press the Enter Key”

On-Screen Text Display Make it legible Avoid using excessive number of fonts Use colours that have good contrast Don’t put purple text on a red background Make good use of text spacing Avoid using lots of uppercase text as it is hard to read. Use text colour for a purpose – red for danger or yellow to highlight mandatory fields Align text to ‘line up’ text on the screen

GUI Screen Design Makes design more intuitive and graphical Allows use of Command buttons Check boxes Radio buttons (and radio groups) Icons Windows Pop-up prompts and warnings Graphics, pictures and text