The user interface should be able to support individual preferences. For example standard control bars in MS Word can be amended as required. The customisability principle supports a user's ability to adjust systems settings or features to a form that best suites the preferred way of usage. Adaptivity can be automated but in order to be able to provide such user-centred system behaviours the system should be trained to distinguish an expert's behaviour from a novice user's behaviour.
Repetitive tasks can be detected by observing a user's behaviour and macros can be automatically constructed. The robustness of an interface design can be measured in terms of the following four principles.
These principles aim to support users to achieve their goals. Observability should provide users with an ability to evaluate the internal state from its representation.
If a user cannot understand the internal state of the system, there is a high likelihood that the user's confidence will be very low, for example, if the system is performing a time consuming operation, the current status of the operation should be displayed - a web browser will indicate the on-going status of a page download. There are several aspects to system observability. Users should be able to reach a desired goal after recognition of errors in previous interaction.
Error recovery can be achieved in two ways, forward negotiation and backward undo. Forward error recovery involves a user accepting the current state of the system and negotiating from the present state towards the required state. A backward error recovery mechanism within a system allows a user to undo the undesired outcome of the previous interaction by returning to a previous state. In addition to providing the ability to recover forward or backward, the effort to achieve this should reflect the work being done - the commensurate effort.
Responsiveness is usually measured in terms of the rate of communication between the system and a user. Response time, indicating change of states within the system, is important. Short duration or instantaneous response time is more desirable. Volume 4 Issues Volume 9: 4 Issues Volume 8: 4 Issues Volume 7: 2 Issues Volume 6: 2 Issues Volume 5: 4 Issues Volume 4: 4 Issues Volume 3: 4 Issues For more information on how to write digital copy based on the way users think and behave, take our full-day training course, Writing Compelling Digital Copy.
Reference George Lakoff and Mark Johnson. Metaphors We Live By. University of Chicago Press. She conducted complex user research, service, and experience design for healthcare, agriculture, finance, tourism, retail, and engineering clients. The latest articles about interface usability, website design, and UX research from the Nielsen Norman Group. Subscribe to the weekly newsletter to get notified about future articles. Repeated User Actions Are Frustrating.
Breaking out of the Content Silo. Heuristic Evaluation of User Interfaces. Share this article:. Share this article: Twitter LinkedIn Email. You must have javascript and cookies enabled in order to display videos. Everything stems from knowing your users, including understanding their goals, skills, preferences, and tendencies. Once you know about your user, make sure to consider the following when designing your interface:.
Skip to main content. Improving the User Experience. User Interface Design Basics User Interface UI Design focuses on anticipating what users might need to do and ensuring that the interface has elements that are easy to access, understand, and use to facilitate those actions.
Choosing Interface Elements Users have become familiar with interface elements acting in a certain way, so try to be consistent and predictable in your choices and their layout. Interface elements include but are not limited to: Input Controls : buttons, text fields, checkboxes, radio buttons, dropdown lists, list boxes, toggles, date field Navigational Components : breadcrumb, slider, search field, pagination, slider, tags, icons Informational Components : tooltips, icons, progress bar, notifications, message boxes, modal windows Containers : accordion There are times when multiple elements might be appropriate for displaying content.
Best Practices for Designing an Interface Everything stems from knowing your users, including understanding their goals, skills, preferences, and tendencies. Once you know about your user, make sure to consider the following when designing your interface: Keep the interface simple.
The best interfaces are almost invisible to the user.
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