GUI Usability (Part I)
- Use tabs - only one line of tabs / not too many - use scroll tabs
- Use wizard (to teach the user how to use something. Where it is the case)
- not too many windows/not too less
- use wizard to perform a complicated task
- restrict wizard to a single task
- Do not force the user to enter a field after he/she completed another field if those field are not related
- Sample: force to enter the name before the phone no.
- Reduce as much as possible the text
- User do not usually read notes, observation, long stories
- Have a logo/motto:
- this may give a hint about the contain of the page/application
- should be short: "Leader in IP network testing"
- Think the application for people that cannot:
- read
- use a mouse (they may not have it)
- Do not force the user to choose if it is not really necessary
- Affordances:
- User expect the windows to have a bar - so he/she can move it
- little grip at the edge: to grap it/wide the window
- Metaphors:
- Buttons are something that can be pushed
- Navigation tabs
- Be consistence:
- Take the most known applications: use as sample
- Use common used short-cut
- Use common used images for icons
- Sample:
- a cart for the shooping chart
- a floppy disk for save, ...
- OK button is always to the left, Cancel button is on the right
- Make your application intuitive
- Use short-cuts / do not force the user to use mouse
- Use tab indexes
- Use appropriate font / font size
- Do not ask user to remember things that computer can remember
- Use ribbon control (at least menus/toolbars):
- functionality is better expose to the user
- better categorized
- Less more clicks
- Use autocompletion whenever is possible
- Advanced user are not usually annoyed by the explanation for beginners
- Think in terms of activities that the user can perform - you as programmer - (not the task that you have to complete)
- Samples: Cards for greeting/anniversary .... , not put a text, put a image, sent email/print it
- Figure out most important activities that the users will perform
- Have a search box on your web page
- Use common used words:
- Do not use "Go" instead "Search". User is searching your page for a "Search" word
- Do usability testing (5-6 testers (usually, common people) seems to be enough)
- Use brighter colors (there are studies that shows that usability is raised with 5%)
- Usability tests measure learnability
- A programmer is better if the user learn / became comfortable with it.
- What are you(developer) created in day, the user appreciate it in seconds
- Don't consider that things that seem to you to be obvious are also obvious for the user
- Use heuristics
- Replace "teh" with "the"
- "Design black and white"
- Use colors for emphases.
- People have problem remembering color codes
- Image on icons should be self-explanatory for the icon functionality
- When user press on web page logo, he/she is expecting to go to Home page
- No one likes to be asked a question they can't answer
- GUI is the era of WIMP (windows, icons, mouse, and pointers).
- Create real-word analogy (Outlook calender looks like a wall calendar)
- Use conventions:
- it is the way that users learn to work with a variety of software.
- Windows developers have to "Act-Like-Microsoft"
- Microsoft is generally the standard.
Biography:
Joel Spolsky, "User Interface Design for Programmers", Appress
Steve Krug, "Don’t Make Me Think! a common sense approach to web usability", SECOND EDITION, New Riders Publishing, Berkeley, California USA
