Usability Engineering General guidelines
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This document discusses general usability guidelines for user interface design. It outlines several key principles: [1] The interface should keep users informed of system status and progress. [2] The interface language and concepts should match the users' language and mental models. [3] Users should feel in control and have freedom within the system to undo or redo actions. [3] Consistency in terminology, actions, and behaviors is important for usability.
Usability Engineering General guidelines
- 1. Usability Engineering Topic Of Presentation: .:: General Guidelines::.
- 2. What is Guideline? A detailed plan or explanation to guide you in setting standards or determining a course of action A rule or principle that provides guidance to appropriate behavior A guideline is any document that aims to streamline particular processes according to a set routine
- 4. Guidelines may be issued by and used by any organization (governmental or private) to make the actions of its employees or divisions more predictable, and presumably of higher quality. Contd. . .
- 5. In any given project, several different levels of guidelines should be used General guidelines are applicable to all user interfaces Category-specific guidelines are for the kind of system being developed e.g. Guidelines for: Window-based administrative data processing Voice interfaces accessed through telephone keypads Product-specific guidelines are for the individual product. General Guidelines in U.E
- 6. General Guidelines for: User Interface Design
- 8. Visibility of system status: The system should always keep users informed about what is going on, through appropriate feedback within reasonable time.
- 9. Match between system and the real world : The system should speak the users' language, with words, phrases and concepts familiar to the user, rather than system-oriented terms. Follow real-world conventions, making information appear in a natural and logical order.
- 11. User control and freedom: Users often choose system functions by mistake and will need a clearly marked "emergency exit" to leave the unwanted state without having to go through an extended dialogue. Support undo and redo.
- 12. Consistency and standards: Users should not have to wonder whether different words, situations, or actions mean the same thing. Follow platform conventions
- 13. Error prevention: Even better than good error messages is a careful design which prevents a problem from occurring in the first place. Either eliminate error-prone conditions or check for them and present users with a confirmation option before they commit to the action
- 15. Recognition rather than recall : Minimize the user's memory load by making objects, actions, and options visible. The user should not have to remember information from one part of the dialogue to another. Instructions for use of the system should be visible or easily retrievable whenever appropriate.
- 16. Flexibility and efficiency of use : Accelerators -- unseen by the novice user -- may often speed up the interaction for the expert user such that the system can cater to both inexperienced and experienced users. Allow users to tailor frequent actions.
- 17. Aesthetic and minimalist design : Dialogues should not contain information which is irrelevant or rarely needed. Every extra unit of information in a dialogue competes with the relevant units of information and diminishes their relative visibility.
- 19. Help users recognize, diagnose, and recover from errors : Error messages should be expressed in plain language (no codes) precisely indicate the problem, and constructively suggest a solution
- 21. Help and documentation: Even though it is better if the system can be used without documentation It may be necessary to provide help and documentation. Any such information should be easy to search, focused on the user's task List concrete steps to be carried out, and not be too large.