| Human/Computer Interface Design | |
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An application's user interface is its main presentation to current and future users. A well designed, intuitive, easy to use user interface will make a positive impression on a potential customer, and will make the product a pleasure to use after purchase. Too often, the user interface is designed by engineers who must focus most of their energies on designing the product's main function. For some, the user interface is an afterthought, the last bit needed to ship the product, and questions of usability take lower priority. But how many products have failed in the market because a trade review disapproves of the product's look and feel? Sometimes, a preliminary design just needs the benefit of another pair of eyes, someone who can view the product as an outsider or prospective customer. In other cases, a full usability study should be performed, letting many users try out the product in a controlled manner. The results can lead to some surprising conclusions about the trial design, and problems caught early are much less costly to fix, before tapes are cut or manuals are printed. Are you designing a product for the multi-platform market? If so, are you aware of the diverse user interface style guides supported by the various platforms? Many applications try to create a unique, unified look and feel across all platforms, but end up breaking style guide conventions on each. Another approach uses native features of each platform, consistent with other applications on each machine, but this takes more effort and time. In either case, there are many issues to consider. If we can be of help, please contact us. References Sun Java Look and Feel Guidelines Macintosh Human Interface Guidelines Lynch/Horton Web Style Guide |