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Design Rules

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Alisha Waseem
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48 views20 pages

Design Rules

Uploaded by

Alisha Waseem
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Design Rules

Design Rules
Design rules are rules that a designer can follow
in order to increase the usability of the eventual software
product.
Designing for maximum usability
– the goal of interaction design

• Principles of usability
– general understanding

• Standards and guidelines


– direction for design

• Design patterns
– capture and reuse design knowledge
Dimensions of Design Rules

Two dimensions, based on the rule’s authority and


generality.

By authority, we mean an indication of whether or not


the rule must be followed in design or whether it is only
suggested.
By generality, we mean whether the rule can be applied
to many design situations or whether it is focussed on a
more limited
application situation.
Types of Design Rules
• Principles
– abstract design rules
– low authority
– high generality
– i-e interface should be easy to

increasing generality
navigate
• Standards
– specific design rules
– high authority
– limited application
– i-e use CMYK for printing
increasing authority
• Guidelines
– lower authority
– more general application
– i-e use this button to save data
Principles to Support Usability
Learnability
the ease with which new users can begin effective
interaction and achieve maximal performance

Flexibility
the multiplicity of ways the user and system exchange
information

Robustness
the level of support provided the user in determining
successful achievement and assessment of goal-
directed behaviour
Principles of Learnability
Principles of Learnability

Predictability
– determining effect of future actions based on past
interaction history
– For example, the magnifying glass icon is used
standardly for search. When users see this icon in a
new interface, they can predict based on their
experience that it will be used for searching.
Principles of Learnability
Synthesizability
– assessing the effect of past actions
– It deals with the principle of honesty, which states that the
system should notify users about the result of their operation
and any changes in the system state.
– Immediate honesty: Ideally, the interface should
immediately inform the user of any changes due to their
action. This is observed in GUIs. For example, when a new
folder is created on Windows, the user can immediately see a
folder icon named "New Folder."
– Eventual honesty: This is when the user has to perform
some actions to confirm the change. For example, in CLIs,
when a new folder is created, the user has to remember the
destination directory and verify the creation after running
some commands.
Principles of Learnability

Familiarity
– The familiarity principle allows users to utilize prior
knowledge to understand the interface's features. It deals
with how easily users can begin the interaction based on
their initial perception.
– for example icon of recycle bin is similar to trash bin
Generalizability
– extending specific interaction knowledge to new situations
– generalizability across different interfaces is how the
cut/paste operations are supported with the same
shortcuts over numerous applications.
Principles of Learnability
Consistency
– The same input/output actions should perform the same
functions with the same behavior. It also concerns the
interface's appearance, where consistency can be
incorporated using a pre-determined color palette.
Principles of Flexibility
Principles of Flexibility
Dialogue initiative
– freedom from system imposed constraints on input
dialogue
– User pre-emptive dialog, which the user initiates.
– System pre-emptive dialog, which the system
initiates.
Multithreading
– ability of system to support user interaction for more
than one task at a time. The multi-threading
principle allows multiple threads or tasks to run at
the same time.
Task migratability
– passing responsibility for task execution between
user and system
– Spell Checker
Principles of Flexibility (ctd)

Substitutivity
– allowing equivalent values of input and output to be
substituted for each other
– representation of time as either an analog or digital
clock.
Customizability
– modifiability of the user interface by user
(adaptability) or system (adaptivity)
Principles of Robustness

Observability
– ability of user to evaluate the internal state of the
system from its perceivable representation
– For example, the system displays the downloading
file status on the interface
Recoverability
– The ability to achieve the desired goal after
recognizing an error in a previous interaction.
Principles of Robustness
Responsiveness
– The communication rate between the system and
the user is measured as responsiveness.
– the amount of time the system requires to
communicate state changes to the user.
– For example: we require pull-down menus to appear
instantly when we press a mouse button.

Task conformance
– The goal of an interactive system is to allow a user
to execute various tasks to achieve specific
objectives within a particular application domain.
– for example we can do all text related tasks in
Microsoft Word application.
Standards
• Set by national or international bodies to ensure
compliance by a large community of designers
standards require sound underlying theory and slowly
changing technology

• Hardware standards more common than software high


authority and low level of detail

• ISO 9241 defines usability as effectiveness, efficiency


and satisfaction with which users accomplish tasks
Guidelines

• more suggestive and general


• many textbooks and reports full of guidelines
• abstract guidelines (principles) applicable
during early life cycle activities
• detailed guidelines (style guides) applicable
during later life cycle activities
• understanding justification for guidelines aids
in resolving conflicts
Golden rules and heuristics

• Useful check list for good design


• Better design using these than using nothing!
• Different collections e.g.
– Nielsen’s 10 Heuristics (see Chapter 9)
– Shneiderman’s 8 Golden Rules
– Norman’s 7 Principles
Shneiderman’s 8 Golden Rules

1. Strive for consistency


2. Enable frequent users to use shortcuts
3. Offer informative feedback
4. Design dialogs to yield closure
5. Offer error prevention and simple error
handling
6. Permit easy reversal of actions
7. Support internal locus of control
8. Reduce short-term memory load
Norman’s 7 Principles

1. Use both knowledge in the world and


knowledge in the head.
2. Simplify the structure of tasks.
3. Make things visible: bridge the gulfs of
Execution and Evaluation.
4. Get the mappings right.
5. Exploit the power of constraints, both natural
and artificial.
6. Design for error.
7. When all else fails, standardize.

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