Chapter 15

User Interface Design

IanSommerville2000

SoftwareEngineering,6thedition.Chapter15

Slide1

User interface design

Designing effective interfaces

for software systems

IanSommerville2000

SoftwareEngineering,6thedition.Chapter15

Slide2

Objectives

To suggest some general design principles for

user interface design
To explain different interaction styles
To introduce styles of information presentation
To describe the user support which should be
built-in to user interfaces
To introduce usability attributes and system
approaches to system evaluation

IanSommerville2000

SoftwareEngineering,6thedition.Chapter15

Slide3

Topics covered

User interface design principles

User interaction
Information presentation
User support
Interface evaluation

IanSommerville2000

SoftwareEngineering,6thedition.Chapter15

Slide4

The user interface

System users often judge a system by its

interface rather than its functionality
A poorly designed interface can cause a user to
make catastrophic errors
Poor user interface design is the reason why so
many software systems are never used

IanSommerville2000

SoftwareEngineering,6thedition.Chapter15

Slide5

Graphical user interfaces

Most users of business systems interact with

these systems through graphical interfaces
although, in some cases, legacy text-based
interfaces are still used

IanSommerville2000

SoftwareEngineering,6thedition.Chapter15

Slide6

GUI characteristics
Characteristic
Windows
Icons
Menus
Pointing
Graphics

IanSommerville2000

Description
Multiple windowsallowdifferentinformationtobe
displayedsimultaneouslyontheusersscreen.
Iconsdifferenttypesofinformation. Onsomesystems,
iconsrepresentfiles;onothers,icons
represent
processes.
Commandsareselectedfromamenuratherthan typed
inacommandlanguage.
Apointingdevicesuchasamouseis usedforselecting
choicesfromamenuorindicatingitemsofinterest ina
window.
Graphicalelementscanbemixedwithtext onthesame
display.

SoftwareEngineering,6thedition.Chapter15

Slide7

GUI advantages

They are easy to learn and use.

The user may switch quickly from one task to

another and can interact with several different
applications.

Users without experience can learn to use the system

quickly.

Information remains visible in its own window when

attention is switched.

Fast, full-screen interaction is possible with

immediate access to anywhere on the screen
IanSommerville2000

SoftwareEngineering,6thedition.Chapter15

Slide8

User-centred design

The aim of this chapter is to sensitise software

engineers to key issues underlying the design
rather than the implementation of user interfaces
User-centred design is an approach to UI design
where the needs of the user are paramount and
where the user is involved in the design process
UI design always involves the development of
prototype interfaces

IanSommerville2000

SoftwareEngineering,6thedition.Chapter15

Slide9

User interface design process

Analyseand
understanduser
activities

Producepaper
baseddesign
prototype

Design
prototype

Evaluatedesign
withendusers

Produce
dynamicdesign
prototype

Executable
prototype

IanSommerville2000

SoftwareEngineering,6thedition.Chapter15

Evaluatedesign
withendusers

Implement
finaluser
interface

Slide10

UI design principles

UI design must take account of the needs,

experience and capabilities of the system users
Designers should be aware of peoples physical
and mental limitations (e.g. limited short-term
memory) and should recognise that people
make mistakes
UI design principles underlie interface designs
although not all principles are applicable to all
designs
IanSommerville2000

SoftwareEngineering,6thedition.Chapter15

Slide11

User interface design principles

Principle
User familiarity

Consistency
Minimal surprise
Recoverability
User guidance
User diversity

IanSommerville2000

Description
The interface should
use
terms and
concepts
which
are
drawn
from
the
experience of the people who will make most
use of the system.
The interface should be consistent in that,
wherever possible, comparable operations
should be activated in the same way.
Users should never be surprised by the
behaviour of a system.
The interface should include mechanisms to
allow users to recover from errors.
The interface should provide meaningful
feedback when errors occur and provide
context-sensitive user help facilities.
The interface should provide appropriate
interaction facilities for different types of
system user.

SoftwareEngineering,6thedition.Chapter15

Slide12

Design principles

User familiarity

Consistency

The interface should be based on user-oriented

terms and concepts rather than computer concepts. For example, an
office system should use concepts such as letters, documents,
folders etc. rather than directories, file identifiers, etc.
The system should display an appropriate level
of consistency. Commands and menus should have the same format,
command punctuation should be similar, etc.

Minimal surprise

If a command operates in a known way, the user should be

able to predict the operation of comparable commands

IanSommerville2000

SoftwareEngineering,6thedition.Chapter15

Slide13

Design principles

Recoverability

User guidance

The system should provide some resilience to

user errors and allow the user to recover from errors. This might
include an undo facility, confirmation of destructive actions, 'soft'
deletes, etc.
Some user guidance such as help systems, on-line manuals, etc.
should be supplied

User diversity

Interaction facilities for different types of user should be supported.

For example, some users have seeing difficulties and so larger text
should be available

IanSommerville2000

SoftwareEngineering,6thedition.Chapter15

Slide14

User-system interaction

Two problems must be addressed in interactive

systems design

How should information from the user be provided to the

computer system?
How should information from the computer system be
presented to the user?

User interaction and information presentation

may be integrated through a coherent
framework such as a user interface metaphor

IanSommerville2000

SoftwareEngineering,6thedition.Chapter15

Slide15

Interaction styles

Direct manipulation
Menu selection
Form fill-in
Command language
Natural language

IanSommerville2000

SoftwareEngineering,6thedition.Chapter15

Slide16

Interaction
style
Direct
manipulation

Main advantages

Main disadvantages

Fast and intuitive

interaction
Easy to learn

Menu
selection

Avoids user error

Little typing
required

Form fill-in

Simple data entry

Easy to learn

May be hard to
implement
Only suitable where
there is a visual
metaphor for tasks
and objects
Slow for experienced
users
Can become complex
if many menu options
Takes up a lot of
screen space

Command
language

Powerful and
flexible

Natural
language

Accessible to
casual users
Easily extended

Hard to learn
Poor error
management
Requires more typing
Natural language
understanding
systems are unreliable

Application
examples
Video games
CAD systems

Most generalpurpose systems

Stock control,
Personal loan
processing
Operating systems,
Library information
retrieval systems
Timetable systems
WWW information
retrieval systems

Advantages and
disadvantages

Direct manipulation advantages

Users feel in control of the computer and are

less likely to be intimidated by it
User learning time is relatively short
Users get immediate feedback on their actions
so mistakes can be quickly detected and
corrected

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SoftwareEngineering,6thedition.Chapter15

Slide18

Direct manipulation problems

The derivation of an appropriate information

space model can be very difficult
Given that users have a large information
space, what facilities for navigating around that
space should be provided?
Direct manipulation interfaces can be complex to
program and make heavy demands on the
computer system

IanSommerville2000

SoftwareEngineering,6thedition.Chapter15

Slide19

Control panel interface

Grid

Busy

Title

JSD.example

Method

JSD

Type

Network

Units

cm

Selection

Process

Reduce

Full

NODE

LINKS

IanSommerville2000

FONT

LABEL

OUIT

PRINT

EDIT

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Slide20

Menu systems

Users make a selection from a list of

possibilities presented to them by the system
The selection may be made by pointing and
clicking with a mouse, using cursor keys or by
typing the name of the selection
May make use of simple-to-use terminals such
as touchscreens

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SoftwareEngineering,6thedition.Chapter15

Slide21

Advantages of menu systems

Users need not remember command names as

they are always presented with a list of valid
commands
Typing effort is minimal
User errors are trapped by the interface
Context-dependent help can be provided. The
users context is indicated by the current menu
selection

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SoftwareEngineering,6thedition.Chapter15

Slide22

Problems with menu systems

Actions which involve logical conjunction (and)

or disjunction (or) are awkward to represent
Menu systems are best suited to presenting a
small number of choices. If there are many
choices, some menu structuring facility must be
used
Experienced users find menus slower than
command language

IanSommerville2000

SoftwareEngineering,6thedition.Chapter15

Slide23

Form-based interface
NE WBOOK
Title

ISBN

Author

Price

Publisher

Publication
date

Edition

Numberof
copies

Classification
Dateof
purchase

IanSommerville2000

Loan
status
Order
status
SoftwareEngineering,6thedition.Chapter15

Slide24

Command interfaces

User types commands to give instructions to the

system e.g. UNIX
May be implemented using cheap terminals.
Easy to process using compiler techniques
Commands of arbitrary complexity can be
created by command combination
Concise interfaces requiring minimal typing can
be created

IanSommerville2000

SoftwareEngineering,6thedition.Chapter15

Slide25

Problems with command

interfaces

Users have to learn and remember a command

language. Command interfaces are therefore
unsuitable for occasional users
Users make errors in command. An error
detection and recovery system is required
System interaction is through a keyboard so
typing ability is required

IanSommerville2000

SoftwareEngineering,6thedition.Chapter15

Slide26

Command languages

Often preferred by experienced users because

they allow for faster interaction with the system
Not suitable for casual or inexperienced users
May be provided as an alternative to menu
commands (keyboard shortcuts). In some
cases, a command language interface and a
menu-based interface are supported at the
same time

IanSommerville2000

SoftwareEngineering,6thedition.Chapter15

Slide27

Natural language interfaces

The user types a command in a natural

language. Generally, the vocabulary is limited
and these systems are confined to specific
application domains (e.g. timetable enquiries)
NL processing technology is now good enough
to make these interfaces effective for casual
users but experienced users find that they
require too much typing

IanSommerville2000

SoftwareEngineering,6thedition.Chapter15

Slide28

Multiple user interfaces

Gr aphicaluser
interface

Command
language
interface

GUI
manager

Command
language
interpreter

Operatingsystem

IanSommerville2000

SoftwareEngineering,6thedition.Chapter15

Slide29

Information presentation

Information presentation is concerned with

presenting system information to system users
The information may be presented directly (e.g.
text in a word processor) or may be transformed
in some way for presentation (e.g. in some
graphical form)
The Model-View-Controller approach is a way of
supporting multiple presentations of data

IanSommerville2000

SoftwareEngineering,6thedition.Chapter15

Slide30

Information presentation

Informationto
bedisplayed

Presentation
software

Display

IanSommerville2000

SoftwareEngineering,6thedition.Chapter15

Slide31

Model-view-controller

Viewstate

viewmodification
messages

Userinputs

Controllermethods

Viewmethods

Modelqueries
andupdates

Controllerstate

Modeledits
Modelstate
Modelmethods

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SoftwareEngineering,6thedition.Chapter15

Slide32

Information presentation

Static information

Initialised at the beginning of a session. It does not change

during the session
May be either numeric or textual

Dynamic information

Changes during a session and the changes must be

communicated to the system user
May be either numeric or textual

IanSommerville2000

SoftwareEngineering,6thedition.Chapter15

Slide33

Information display factors

Is the user interested in precise information or

data relationships?
How quickly do information values change?
Must the change be indicated immediately?
Must the user take some action in response to
a change?
Is there a direct manipulation interface?
Is the information textual or numeric? Are relative
values important?
IanSommerville2000

SoftwareEngineering,6thedition.Chapter15

Slide34

Alternative information
presentations
Jan
2842

Feb Mar
2851 3164

April
2789

May
1273

June
2835

May

June

4000

3000
2000

1000

Jan

IanSommerville2000

Feb

Mar

April

SoftwareEngineering,6thedition.Chapter15

Slide35

Analogue vs. digital presentation

Digital presentation

Compact - takes up little screen space

Precise values can be communicated

Analogue presentation

Easier to get an 'at a glance' impression of a value

Possible to show relative values
Easier to see exceptional data values

IanSommerville2000

SoftwareEngineering,6thedition.Chapter15

Slide36

Dynamic information display

1
4

10

20

Dialwithneedle

IanSommerville2000

Piechart

Thermometer

SoftwareEngineering,6thedition.Chapter15

Horizontalbar

Slide37

Displaying relative values

Pressure
0

100

IanSommerville2000

200

Temper atu re

300

400

25

SoftwareEngineering,6thedition.Chapter15

50

75

100

Slide38

Textual highlighting

Thefilenameyouhavechosenh asbeen
used.Pleasechoosean othername
Ch.16Userinterfacedesign
OK

IanSommerville2000

Cancel

SoftwareEngineering,6thedition.Chapter15

Slide39

Data visualisation

Concerned with techniques for displaying large

amounts of information
Visualisation can reveal relationships between entities
and trends in the data
Possible data visualisations are:

Weather information collected from a number of sources

The state of a telephone network as a linked set of nodes
Chemical plant visualised by showing pressures and temperatures in a
linked set of tanks and pipes
A model of a molecule displayed in 3 dimensions
Web pages displayed as a hyperbolic tree

IanSommerville2000

SoftwareEngineering,6thedition.Chapter15

Slide40

Colour displays

Colour adds an extra dimension to an interface

and can help the user understand complex
information structures
Can be used to highlight exceptional events
Common mistakes in the use of colour in
interface design include:

The use of colour to communicate meaning

Over-use of colour in the display

IanSommerville2000

SoftwareEngineering,6thedition.Chapter15

Slide41

Colour use guidelines

Don't use too many colours

Use colour coding to support use tasks
Allow users to control colour coding
Design for monochrome then add colour
Use colour coding consistently
Avoid colour pairings which clash
Use colour change to show status change
Be aware that colour displays are usually lower
resolution

IanSommerville2000

SoftwareEngineering,6thedition.Chapter15

Slide42

User support

User guidance covers all system facilities to

support users including on-line help, error
messages, manuals etc.
The user guidance system should be integrated
with the user interface to help users when they
need information about the system or when they
make some kind of error
The help and message system should, if
possible, be integrated
IanSommerville2000

SoftwareEngineering,6thedition.Chapter15

Slide43

Help and message system

Application

Help
interface

Errormessage
system

Message
presentation
system

Help
frames
IanSommerville2000

Errormessage
texts
SoftwareEngineering,6thedition.Chapter15

Slide44

Error messages

Error message design is critically important.

Poor error messages can mean that a user
rejects rather than accepts a system
Messages should be polite, concise, consistent
and constructive
The background and experience of users
should be the determining factor in message
design

IanSommerville2000

SoftwareEngineering,6thedition.Chapter15

Slide45

Design factors in message

wording
Context

Experience

Skilllevel

Style
Culture

IanSommerville2000

Theuserguidancesystemshouldbeawareofwhatthe useris
doingandshouldadjusttheoutputmessageto
thecurrent
context.
Asusersbecomefamiliarwithasystem theybecomeirritated
bylong,meaningfulmessages. However,beginnersfindit
difficulttounderstandshorttersestatementsof theproblem.
Theuserguidancesystemshouldprovidebothtypesofmessage
andallowtheusertocontrolmessageconciseness.
Messagesshouldbetailoredtotheusersskillsaswellastheir
experience.Messagesforthedifferentclasses ofusermaybe
expressedindifferentwaysdependingontheterminologywhich
isfamiliartothereader.
Messages shouldbepositiveratherthannegative.Theyshould
usetheactiveratherthanthepassivemodeofaddress.
They
shouldneverbeinsultingortrytobefunny.
Whereverpossible,the designerofmessagesshouldbefamiliar
withthecultureofthe countrywherethesystemissold.There
aredistinctculturaldifferences
betweenEurope,Asiaand
America.Asuitablemessageforoneculture
mightbe
unacceptableinanother.
SoftwareEngineering,6thedition.Chapter15

Slide46

Nurse input of a patients name

Please type the patient name in the box then click ok

Bates, J.

OK

IanSommerville2000

Cancel

SoftwareEngineering,6thedition.Chapter15

Slide47

System and user-oriented error messages

System-oriented error message

Error #27
Invalid patient id entered

OK

Cancel

IanSommerville2000

User-oriented error message

Patient J . Bates is not registered

Click on Patients f or a list of registered patients
Click on Retr y to re-input a patient name
Click on Help f or more inf ormation
Patients

Help

SoftwareEngineering,6thedition.Chapter15

Retr y

Cancel

Slide48

Help system design

Help? means help I want information

Help! means HELP. I'm in trouble
Both of these requirements have to be taken
into account in help system design
Different facilities in the help system may be
required

IanSommerville2000

SoftwareEngineering,6thedition.Chapter15

Slide49

Help information

Should not simply be an on-line manual

Screens or windows don't map well onto paper
pages.
The dynamic characteristics of the display can
improve information presentation.
People are not so good at reading screen as
they are text.

IanSommerville2000

SoftwareEngineering,6thedition.Chapter15

Slide50

Help system use

Multiple entry points should be provided so that

the user can get into the help system from
different places.
Some indication of where the user is positioned
in the help system is valuable.
Facilities should be provided to allow the user
to navigate and traverse the help system.

IanSommerville2000

SoftwareEngineering,6thedition.Chapter15

Slide51

Entry points to a help system

Toplevel
entry

Entryfrom
application

Entryfromerror
messagesystem

Helpframenetwork

IanSommerville2000

SoftwareEngineering,6thedition.Chapter15

Slide52

Help system windows

Helpframemap

Mailredirection
Mailmayberedirectedtoanother
networkuserbypressingthe
redirectbuttoninthecontrol
panel.Thesystemasksforthe
nameoftheuserorusersto
whom themailhasbeensent

Youarehere

more

next

top ics

Helphistory
1.Mail
2.Sendmail
3.Readmail
4.Redirection

IanSommerville2000

SoftwareEngineering,6thedition.Chapter15

Slide53

User documentation

As well as on-line information, paper

documentation should be supplied with a system
Documentation should be designed for a range
of users from inexperienced to experienced
As well as manuals, other easy-to-use
documentation such as a quick reference card
may be provided

IanSommerville2000

SoftwareEngineering,6thedition.Chapter15

Slide54

User document types

System
evaluators

System
administrators

Novice
users

Experienced
users

System
administrators

Installation
document

Introductory
manual

Reference
manual

Administrators
guide

Howtoinstall
thesystem

Getting
started

Facility
description

Operationand
maintenance

Functional
description

Descriptionof
services

IanSommerville2000

SoftwareEngineering,6thedition.Chapter15

Slide55

Document types

Functional description

Introductory manual

Describes all system facilities in detail

System installation manual

Presents an informal introduction to the system

System reference manual

Brief description of what the system can do

Describes how to install the system

System administrators manual

Describes how to manage the system when it is in use

IanSommerville2000

SoftwareEngineering,6thedition.Chapter15

Slide56

User interface evaluation

Some evaluation of a user interface design

should be carried out to assess its suitability
Full scale evaluation is very expensive and
impractical for most systems
Ideally, an interface should be evaluated against
a usability specification. However, it is rare for
such specifications to be produced

IanSommerville2000

SoftwareEngineering,6thedition.Chapter15

Slide57

Usability attributes
Attribute
Learnability
Speedofoperation
Robustness
Recoverability
Adaptability

IanSommerville2000

Description
Howlongdoesittakeanewuser
to
becomeproductivewiththesystem?
Howwelldoesthesystem responsematch
theusersworkpractice?
Howtolerantisthesystemofusererror?
Howgoodisthesystematrecoveringfrom
usererrors?
Howcloselyisthesystemtiedtoa single
modelofwork?

SoftwareEngineering,6thedition.Chapter15

Slide58

Simple evaluation techniques

Questionnaires for user feedback

Video recording of system use and subsequent
tape evaluation.
Instrumentation of code to collect information
about facility use and user errors.
The provision of a grip button for on-line user
feedback.

IanSommerville2000

SoftwareEngineering,6thedition.Chapter15

Slide59

Key points

Interface design should be user-centred. An interface

should be logical and consistent and help users
recover from errors
Interaction styles include direct manipulation, menu
systems form fill-in, command languages and natural
language
Graphical displays should be used to present trends
and approximate values. Digital displays when
precision is required
Colour should be used sparingly and consistently

IanSommerville2000

SoftwareEngineering,6thedition.Chapter15

Slide60

Key points

Systems should provide on-line help. This should

include help, Im in trouble and help, I want
information
Error messages should be positive rather than
negative.
A range of different types of user documents
should be provided
Ideally, a user interface should be evaluated
against a usability specification
IanSommerville2000

SoftwareEngineering,6thedition.Chapter15

Slide61