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Software Engineering: User Interface Design

The document discusses different types of user interfaces for software. It describes mode-based and modeless interfaces, graphical and text-based interfaces, and the advantages of each. It also outlines three main categories of user interfaces: command language-based interfaces which use commands, menu-based interfaces which present options in menus, and direct manipulation interfaces which allow interacting with visual representations of objects.

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130 views14 pages

Software Engineering: User Interface Design

The document discusses different types of user interfaces for software. It describes mode-based and modeless interfaces, graphical and text-based interfaces, and the advantages of each. It also outlines three main categories of user interfaces: command language-based interfaces which use commands, menu-based interfaces which present options in menus, and direct manipulation interfaces which allow interacting with visual representations of objects.

Uploaded by

Honey Reddy
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Software engineering

USER INTERFACE
DESIGN
USER INTERFACE

 UserInterface is the Front-


end application view to
which user interacts in order
to use the software.
Characteristics of a user
interface
 Speed of learning.
 Speed of use
 Speed of recall.
 Error prevention
 Attractiveness.
 Consistency.
 Feedback.
 Error recovery (undo facility).
 User guidance and on-line help.
BASIC CONCEPTS:
Mode-based interface vs. modeless
interface

 A mode is a state or collection of states in which


only a subset of all user interaction tasks can be
performed.
 In a modeless interface, the same set of commands
can be invoked at any time during the running of the
software. Thus, a modeless interface has only a
single mode and all the commands are available all
the time during the operation of the software.
 On the other hand, in a mode-based interface,
different set of commands can be invoked
depending on the mode in which the system is.
Graphical User Interface vs.
Text-based User Interface

 In a GUI multiple windows with different


information can simultaneously be displayed
on the user screen. This is perhaps one of
the biggest advantages of GUI over text-
based interfaces.
 Iconic information representation and
symbolic information manipulation is
possible in a GUI.
Text-based
Interface

Graphical
User
Interface
 A GUI usually supports command
selection using an attractive and user-
friendly menu selection system.
 In a GUI, a pointing device such as a
mouse or a light pen can be used for
issuing commands. The use of a
pointing device increases the
efficency issue procedure.
Some advantages about
TBUI

 On the other hand, a text-based user


interface can be implemented even on
a cheap alphanumeric display
terminal.
 Graphics terminals are usually much
more expensive than alphanumeric
terminals.
Types of user interfaces

 User interfaces can be classified into


the following three categories:
 • Command language based
interfaces
 • Menu-based interfaces
 • Direct manipulation interfaces
Command Language-based
Interface

 A command language-based interface – as the name


itself suggests, is based on designing a command
language which the user can use to issue the
commands.
 The user is expected to frame the appropriate
commands in the language and type them in
appropriately whenever required.
 A command language-based interface can be made
concise requiring minimal typing by the user.
 Command language-based interfaces allow fast
interaction with the computer and simplify the input of
complex commands.
Menu-based Interface
 An important advantage of a menu-based
interface over a command language-based
interface is that a menu-based interface
does not require the users to remember the
exact syntax of the commands.
 A menu-based interface is based on
recognition of the command names, rather
than recollection.
 Further, in a menu-based interface the
typing effort is minimal as most interactions
are carried out through menu selections
using a pointing device.
Menu-based Interface
Direct Manipulation
Interfaces
 Direct manipulation interfaces present the interface to
the user in the form of visual models (i.e. icons or
objects).
 For this reason, direct manipulation interfaces are
sometimes called as iconic interface.
 In this type of interface, the user issues commands by
performing actions on the visual representations of the
objects, e.g. pull an icon representing a file into an
icon representing a trash box, for deleting the file.
 Important advantages of iconic interfaces include the
fact that the icons can be recognized by the users very
easily, and that icons are language-independent.
Direct Manipulation
Interface

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