Unit-Ill

SCREEN DESIGNING

What screen users want

• an orderly clean clutter free appearance
• An obvious indication of what is being shown and what should be done with it.
• Expected information located where it should be.
• A clear indication of what relates to what.
• Plain and simple English
• A clear indication of when an action can make a permanent change in data

Design goals
• Reduce visual work
• Reduce intellectual work
• Reduce memory work
• Reduce mentor work
• Eliminate burdens or instructions.

SCREEN PLANNING AND PURPOSE

Each screen element

• Every control
• All text
• Screen organization
• All emphasis
• Each color
• Every graphic
• All screen animation
• All forms offered back

Must
• Have meaning to screen users
• Serve a purpose in performing task organizing screen elements

Consistency
• Provide real world consistency
• Provide internal consistency

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 • Operational and navigational procedures
• Visual identity or theme
• Component
• Organization
• Presentation
• Usage
• Locations
• Follow the same conventions
• Deviate only when there is clear benefit to user

ORDERING OF SCREEN DATA & CONTENT

• Divide information into units that are logical, meaningful and sensible.
• Organize by interrelationships between data or information.
• Provide an ordering of screen units of elements depending on priority.
• Possible ordering schemes include
• Conventional
• Sequence of use
• Frequency of use
• Function
• Importance
• General to specific.
• Form groups that cover all possibilities.
• Ensure that information is visible.
• Ensure that only information relative to task is presented on screen.
• Organizational scheme is to minimize number of information variables.
• Upper left starting point
• Provide an obvious starting point in the screen's upper left Corner.

SCREEN NAVIGATION AND FLOW

• Provide an ordering of screen information and elements that:

► is rhythmic guiding a person's eye through display
► Encourages natural movement sequences.
► Minimizes pointer and eye movement distances.

• Locate the most important and most frequently used elements or controls at top left.
• Maintain top to bottom, left to right flow.
• Assist in navigation through a screen by
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 ► Aligning elements
► Grouping elements
► Use ofline borders
• Through focus and emphasis, sequentially, direct attention to items that are
► Critical
► Important
► Secondary
► Peripheral
• Tab through window in logical order of displayed information.
• locate command button at the end of the tabbing order sequence,
• When groups of related information must be broken and displayed on separate screens,
provide breaks at logical or natural points in the information flow.
• In establishing eye movement through a screen, also consider that the eye trends to
move sequentially, for example-
► From dark areas to light areas
► From big objects to little objects
► From unusual shapes to common shapes.
► From highly saturated colors to unsaturated colors.

• These techniques can be initially used to focus a person's attention.

• Maintain top to bottom, left to right through the screen. This top to bottom orientation is
Recommended for information entry for the following reasons-

► Eye movements between items will be shorter.

► Control movements between items will be shorter.
► Groupings are more obvious perceptually.
► When one's eyes moves away from the screen and then back, it returns to
about same place it left, even if it is seeking next item in sequence.
• Most product style guides recommend a left to right orientation.
• Our earliest display screens reflected this left to right entry orientation.
• Top to bottom orientation is also recommended for presenting displays of read only
information that must be scanned.

VISUALLY PLEASING COMPOSITION

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• Provide visually pleasing composition with the following qualities-

► Balance
► Symmetry
► Regularity
► Predictability
► Sequentiality
► Economy
► Unity
► Proportion
► Simplicity

► Groupings

Balance: Create screen balance by providing an equal weight of screen elements, left
and right, top and bottom.
Balance Instability

Symmetry: Create symmetry by replicating elements left and right of the screen
centerline.

Symmetry Asymmetry

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Regularity: Create regularity by using consistently spaced column and row starting points for
widgets. Also use elements similar in size shape, color and spacing.
Regularity Irregularity

Predictability: Create predictability by being consistent and following conventional orders or

arrangements.

- Control
Predictability
Title Bar

Menu Bar

Control
icons

Control
Spontaneity

Control Control Control

Button Button Button

Sequentiality: Provide sequentiality by arranging elements to guide the eye through the screen in an
obvious, logical, rhythmic, and efficient manner.

s qLJ ntic1lity R.c1nc::tc:>mn ss

Economy: Provide economy by using as few styles, display techniques, and colors as possible.
Economy Intricacy

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Unity: Create unity by using similar sizes, shapes, or colors for related information. Also by leaving
less space between elements of a screen than the space left in the margins.

Unity Fragmentation

Proportion: Create windows and groupings of data or text with aesthetically pleasing proportions.

Square
1:1

Square-root
of two Square-root
1:1.414 of three
1:1.732

Golden Double
rectangle square
1:1.618 1:2

Simplicity: Optimize the number of elements on a screen, within the limits of clarity. Minimize the
alignment points, especially horizontal and vertical.
Simplicity Complexity

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Groupings: GROUPING USING BORDERS
• Provide functional groupings
• Create spatial groupings
• Provide meaningful titles for each grouping
• Incorporate line borders
• Do not exceed three-line thickness
• Create lines consistent in height and length
• For adjacent groupings with borders wherever possible
• Use rules and borders sparingly

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Amount of Information

• Present the proper information for the task

• Present all the information necessary for performing an action or making a decision on one
screen, whenever possible.
• Restrict screen or window density levels to no more than about 30 percent

Focus & Emphasis: Visually emphasize the

• Most prominent element
• Most important elements
• Central idea or focal point
• Deemphasize less important elements
• To ensure that too many screen elements are emphasized
• Screen clutter
• Using too many emphasize techniques
• To provide emphasis use techniques such as:
Higher brightness
• Reverse polarity
• Larger and distinctive font
• Underlining
• Blinking
• Line rulings
• Contrasting colors

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 • Larger size
• Positioning
• Isolation
• Distinctiveness
• White space

Provide information Simply & Meaningfully

• Provide legibility
• Provide readability
• Present information in usable form
• Utilize contrasting display features
• Create visual lines
• Be consistent

INFORMATION RETRIEVAL ON WEB

• The most sought-after web commodity is content.

• Behavior is often goal driven.
• Reading is no longer a linear activity.
• Impatience.
• Frequent switching of purpose.
• Web users access site for different reasons: a focused search for a piece of information
or an answer less focused for browsing or surf.
• High tech capabilities, fancy graphics do not compensable for inefficient or poor
content.
• Initial focus on attention
• Page perusal
• Scanning guidelines
• Browsing
• Browsing guidelines
• Searching
• Problems with search facilities
• Search facility guidelines
• Express the search
• Progressive search refinement
• Launch the search
• Present meaningful results
• Provide meaningful headings and subheadings.

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 • Provide meaningful titles
• Concisely write the text.
• Use bullets/number
• Array information in tables
• Presentation
- Key information in words or phrases
- Important concepts

STATISTICAL GRAPHICS
• A statistical graphic is data presented in a graphical format.
• A well-designed statistical graphic also referred to as chart or graph.
• Use of statistical graphics
- Reserve for material that is rich, complex or difficult.
• Data Presentation
• emphasize the data
• Minimize non data elements
• Minimize redundant data
• Fill the graph's available area with data.
• Show data variation
• Provide proper context for data interpretation.
• Scales and shading
- Place ticks to marks scales on the outside edge of each axis.
- Employ a linear scale.
- mark scales at standard or customary intervals
- Start a numeric scale at zero.
- Display only a single scale on axis.
- Provide aids for scale interpretation.
- Clearly label each axis.
- Provide scaling consistency
- Consider duplicate axis for large scale data.
- Proportion
- Lines
- Labeling
- Title
- Interpretation of numbers

TYPES OF STATISTICAL GRAPHS

curve and line graphs
Single graph

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 Four or five maximum
Label identification
Legend
Tightly packed curves
Important or critical data
Comparing actual and projected data
Data differences
Surface charts
Ordering
Coding schemes
Labels
Scatter plots
two dimensions
Consistent intervals
multiple datasets
Significant points
Bar graphs
consistent orientation
Meaningful organization
Bar spacing
Differentiation
Important or critical data
Related bar ordering
Reference index
labeling
Segmented or stacked bars.
Data category ordering
Large segments
Coding schemes
labeling
Flowcharts
Order of steps
Orientation
Coding conventions
Arrows
Highlighting
One decision at each step
Consistently order and word all choices
Pie chart

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 TECHNOLOGICAL CONSIDERATION -INTERFACE DESIGN

Graphical systems

• Screen design must be compatible with the capabilities of the system-

• system power
• Screen size
• Screen resolution
• Display colors
• Other display features
• Screen design must be compatible with the capabilities of the
• Platform compatibility
• development and implementation
• Platform style guide
• Browser compatibility
Monitor size and
resolution Fonts
- Color
-Bandwidth
- Version
• Other considerations
o Downloading
o Currency
o Page printing
o Maintainable

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