LEARNING OUTCOMES
The Student Will
|
| | |
| C | 1 | Describe major interface design principles and give examples of how these principles should be applied |
|
|
|
| C | 2 | Demonstrate familiarity with interface mechanisms and identify appropriate and inappropriate uses of interface mechanisms, and given a software system requirement, develop a written user interface design, and describe how an application should deal with errors and exception conditions. |
|
|
|
| A | 3 | Use a tool to develop interface design prototypes, including creation of a standard menu system, and given a software system requirement, create prototypes of dialog boxes and input screens. |
|
|
|
| P | 4 | Demonstrate familiarity with interface design research methods by conducting a statistical analysis of sample data and critically interpret the result of an interface design research project. |
| | |
| Major interface design principles, as derived from “About Face: The Essentials Of User Interface Design” by Alan Cooper, 1995, IDG Books. ISBN 1 56884 322 4. Extracts from this work can be found at http://www.cooper.com. |
|
|
|
| > | Examples of how interface design principles should be applied including items such as: |
|
|
|
| | - The software user goals |
|
| | - The difference in needs of Beginners, Intermediate Users and Expert Users |
|
| | - The difference between Implementation Models, Mental/Conceptual Models and Manifest Models |
|
| | - The Canonical vocabulary of GUI |
|
| | - GUI Primitives |
|
| | - GUI Compounds |
|
| | - GUI Idioms |
|
| | - Basic Cognitive Mechanisms relevent to Interface Design |
|
| | - The importance of visual patterns |
|
| | - The use of metaphor |
|
| | - The use of software idioms |
|
| | - Manual Affordances |
|
| | - The place of Standards
|
| | |
| > | Coverage of appropriate and inappropriate uses of Interface mechanisms should include the following issues: |
|
|
|
| | - Choosing between Main Windows and subordinate windows |
|
| | - Filing System dialogs, Storage and retrieval systems |
|
| | - Programme orchestration and flow |
|
| | - Mechanisims for communicating programme Posture and State |
|
| | - Avoiding interaction Overhead and Idiocy |
|
| | - Decision set streamlining and preference thresholding |
|
| | - Point and Click Interactions |
|
| | - Selection Interactions |
|
| | - Direct Manipulation |
|
| | - Drag and Drop Interactions |
|
| | - Dialog Boxes |
|
| | - Types of dialog boxes |
|
| | - Dialog Box Etiquette |
|
| | - Toolbars |
|
| | - About Boxes |
|
|
|
| > | A written user interface design which uses appropriate interface mechanisims should include items such as: |
|
|
|
| | - Use of modal or modeless dialogs |
|
| | - Provision of dialog box sizing |
|
| | - The border type to use |
|
| | - Use of panels in the design |
|
| | - The position of dialog box when they are initially invoked |
|
| | - The position of dialog box when they are subsequently invoked |
|
| | - What dynamic information, if any, is to be put in the title on the caption bar |
|
| | - How mouse cursor hinting is to be used |
|
| | - The tab order of controls |
|
| | - The effects of the terminating buttons |
|
| | - Provision of a ‘default’ control |
|
| | - Provision of a ‘cancel’ control |
|
| | - Support for keyboard operations and provisions of shortcut keys |
|
| | - Justification for the choice of input controls |
|
| | - Specification of an initial state for each control when the dialog is opened ie. data displayed within each control or use of enabling an disabling of controls |
|
| | - Specification of information which is to be saved when the dialog is closed |
|
| | - Provision of hints/tooltips. |
|
|
|
| > | Different methods of how an application should deal with errors and exception conditions.
|