Human Computer Interaction: Cahpter:7-b-Design Rules: Shneiderman's 8 Golden Rules

Summary

In this lecture, the instructor introduces Schneiderman's eight golden rules of design for creating user-friendly interfaces. These principles focus on maintaining consistency, enabling shortcuts for frequent users, providing informative feedback, ensuring closure in tasks, preventing and handling errors, allowing easy reversal of actions, giving users control over the system, and minimizing cognitive load. The goal is to design software that is intuitive, efficient, and responsive to user actions, ensuring a seamless and productive user experience across various platforms.

Takeaways

• 😀 Consistency is key in interface design, ensuring a uniform layout, color scheme, and action sequences across all pages to improve user experience.
• 😀 Frequent users should be able to use shortcut keys (e.g., Ctrl+C, Ctrl+V) to speed up repetitive tasks and enhance productivity.
• 😀 Providing informative feedback for every user action, such as progress bars or success messages, keeps users informed about the system's status.
• 😀 Users should receive clear closure after completing a task, such as a confirmation message (e.g., 'Record saved successfully'), to signal completion.
• 😀 Error prevention is essential; interfaces should include validation checks to avoid incorrect data entry and handle errors efficiently when they occur.
• 😀 Enabling the undo function (e.g., Ctrl+Z) allows users to explore the software freely, reducing anxiety about making irreversible mistakes.
• 😀 Users should feel in control of the system, where the software responds to their actions and maintains a sense of autonomy in their tasks.
• 😀 Reducing short-term memory load by presenting commands and options clearly on the screen helps users avoid the need to memorize details.
• 😀 The layout of an application should be simple and easy to navigate, with intuitive placement of buttons, icons, and options to enhance usability.
• 😀 Clear error messages and recovery mechanisms should be in place to allow users to recover from mistakes and continue working without frustration.
• 😀 A well-designed interface should allow users to perform tasks in a step-by-step manner, reducing complexity and cognitive load during use.

Q & A

What is the primary focus of Schneiderman's eight golden rules?

The primary focus is on providing design guidelines that enhance the usability and user experience of software interfaces by making them more consistent, intuitive, and efficient.

Why is consistency important in interface design?

Consistency ensures that users can navigate the interface easily, as they are not confronted with different layouts, terminology, or action sequences on each page. This makes the system more predictable and easier to learn.

What does enabling frequent users to use shortcuts achieve?

Providing shortcuts allows frequent users to perform common actions more quickly, which improves productivity by reducing the need to use the mouse or navigate through menus.

What type of feedback should an interface provide after a user performs an action?

An interface should offer informative feedback that indicates the status of the action. For example, a progress bar or status message should show users the completion of tasks like file copying.

How does designing dialogs to yield closure benefit users?

Dialogs that provide closure confirm to users that a task is complete, reducing uncertainty and increasing their confidence in the system. For example, a confirmation message saying 'Record saved successfully' assures users that their action has been completed.

What role does error prevention play in interface design?

Error prevention is critical as it ensures users cannot input invalid data, thereby reducing the likelihood of errors. When errors do occur, they should be handled with simple recovery mechanisms to avoid system crashes and improve user experience.

Why is the ability to reverse actions important in software design?

Allowing users to undo actions (e.g., using 'Control + Z') relieves anxiety and encourages exploration, as users know they can always revert to the previous state without fear of making irreversible mistakes.

What is meant by supporting the internal locus of control in interface design?

Supporting the internal locus of control means that users should feel in charge of the system. The software should respond to their commands and actions, rather than imposing control on them through intrusive elements like modal dialogs.

How does reducing short-term memory load improve usability?

By simplifying the interface and providing clear, easily accessible options, users do not have to remember complex commands or actions. This makes the system easier to navigate and less taxing on the user’s memory.

What is the significance of minimizing visual clutter in an interface?

Minimizing visual clutter ensures that users can easily identify and focus on the important elements of the interface, reducing cognitive load and making navigation more efficient.