Thiết kế giao diện người dùng User Interface Design

This second edition of the Essential Guide to User Interface Design is about designing clear, easytounderstandanduse interfaces and screens for graphical and Web systems. It is the seventh in a long series of books by the author addressing screen and interface design. Over the past two decades these books have evolved and expanded as interface technology has changed and research knowledge has expanded. The first book in the series, called The Handbook of Screen Format Design,was published in 1981. It presented a series of screen design guidelines for the textbased technology of that era. Through the 1980s and early 1990s the book’s content was regularly updated to reflect current technology and published under different, but similar, titles. In 1994, graphical user interface, or GUI, systems having assumed interface dominance, the newest version of the book, which focused exclusively on graphical system interface design, was released. It was titled It’s Time To Clean Your Windows. The followon and updated version of It’s Time To Clean Your Windows was the first edition of this book, The Essential Guide to User Interface Design. The impetus for this newest edition of The Essential Guide to User Interface Design has been the impact of the World Wide Web on interface and screen design. This new edition incorporates an extensive compilation of Web interface design guidelines, and updates significant general interface findings over the past several years.

The Essential Guide to User Interface Design

Second Edition

An Introduction to GUI Design

Principles and Techniques

The Essential Guide to User Interface Design

Second Edition

An Introduction to GUI Design

Principles and Techniques

To my wife and business partner, Sharon, for many years of love and support in our

home and office.

To our grandchildren, Mitchell, Barry, Deirdra, and Spencer Galitz, Lauren and Scott Roepel, and Shane Watters May one or more of them

pick up the writing torch

Publisher: Robert IpsenExecutive Editor: Robert ElliottAssistant Editor: Emilie HermanAssociate Managing Editor: John AtkinsText Design & Composition: Publishers’ Design and Production Services, Inc

Designations used by companies to distinguish their products are often claimed as marks In all instances where John Wiley & Sons, Inc., is aware of a claim, the product namesappear in initial capital or ALL CAPITAL LETTERS Readers, however, should contact the appro-priate companies for more complete information regarding trademarks and registration.This book is printed on acid-free paper

trade-Copyright © 2002 by Wilbert O Galitz All rights reserved

Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Published simultaneously in Canada

Wiley also publishes its books in a variety of electronic formats Some content that appears inprint may not be available in electronic books

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This publication is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information in regard tothe subject matter covered It is sold with the understanding that the publisher is not en-gaged in professional services If professional advice or other expert assistance is required,the services of a competent professional person should be sought

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:

ISBN: 0-471-084646Printed in the United States of America

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Part 1 The User Interface—An Introduction and

Defining the User Interface 4The Importance of Good Design 4

A Brief History of the Human-Computer Interface 6

Introduction of the Graphical User Interface 7

The Purpose of This Book 13

Chapter 2 Characteristics of Graphical and Web User Interfaces 15

The Graphical User Interface 15

Graphical Systems: Advantages and Disadvantages 18

Characteristics of the Graphical User Interface 23

Contents

The Merging of Graphical Business Systems

Characteristics of an Intranet versus the Internet 39

Principles of User Interface Design 40

Obstacles and Pitfalls in the Development Path 53

Designing for People: The Five Commandments 54

Understanding How People Interact with Computers 61

Important Human Characteristics in Design 65

Human Considerations in Design 72

Human Interaction Speeds 83

Performance versus Preference 85Methods for Gaining an Understanding of Users 85

Business Definition and Requirements Analysis 88

Determining Basic Business Functions 97

Design Standards or Style Guides 104

SYSTEM Training and Documentation Needs 107

Human Considerations in Screen Design 109

Organizing Screen Elements Clearly and Meaningfully 114

Conveying Depth of Levels or a Three-Dimensional Appearance 149Presenting Information Simply and Meaningfully 151

Reading, Browsing, and Searching on the Web 192

Types of Statistical Graphics 215

Selecting Menu Choices 276

Kinds of Graphical Menus 302

Functions Not Represented by Default Items 325

Graphical Menu Examples 327

Window Characteristics 337

Components of a Window 342

Window Presentation Styles 348

Characteristics of Device-Based Controls 386

Light Pen 391

Selecting the Proper Device-Based Controls 397

Combination Entry/Selection Controls 465

Other Operable Controls 473

Selecting the Proper Controls 496

Words, Sentences, Messages, and Text 517

Step 9 Provide Effective Feedback and Guidance and Assistance 541

Providing the Proper Feedback 542

Images and Symbols 574

Possible Problems with Color 626

Varying Sensitivity of the Eye to Different Colors 627

Cross-Disciplinary and Cross-Cultural Differences 628

Color—What the Research Shows 629Color and Human Vision 629

Cultural, Disciplinary, and Accessibility Considerations 642

Choosing Colors for Textual Graphic Screens 642

Effective Foreground/Background Combinations 643

Choosing Colors for Statistical Graphics Screens 646

Organizing and Laying Out Screens 655

Step 14 Test, Test, and Retest 701

The Purpose of Usability Testing 702The Importance of Usability Testing 702

Developing and Conducting the Test 721

Analyze, Modify, and Retest 727Evaluate the Working System 728

This second edition of the Essential Guide to User Interface Design is about designing

clear, easy-to-understand-and-use interfaces and screens for graphical and Web systems

It is the seventh in a long series of books by the author addressing screen and interfacedesign Over the past two decades these books have evolved and expanded as interfacetechnology has changed and research knowledge has expanded

The first book in the series, called The Handbook of Screen Format Design, was published

in 1981 It presented a series of screen design guidelines for the text-based technology

of that era Through the 1980s and early 1990s the book’s content was regularly updated

to reflect current technology and published under different, but similar, titles In 1994,graphical user interface, or GUI, systems having assumed interface dominance, thenewest version of the book, which focused exclusively on graphical system interface

design, was released It was titled It’s Time To Clean Your Windows The follow-on and updated version of It’s Time To Clean Your Windows was the first edition of this book, The Essential Guide to User Interface Design The impetus for this newest edition of The Essential Guide to User Interface Design has been the impact of the World Wide Web on

interface and screen design This new edition incorporates an extensive compilation ofWeb interface design guidelines, and updates significant general interface findingsover the past several years

Is Good Design Important?

Is good design important? It certainly is! Ask the users whose productivity improved25–40 percent as a result of well-designed screens, or the company that saved $20,000

in operational costs simply by redesigning one window (These studies are described

in Chapter 1.)What comprises good design? To be truly effective, good screen design requires anunderstanding of many things Included are the characteristics of people: how we see,understand, and think It also includes how information must be visually presented to

Preface

enhance human acceptance and comprehension, and how eye and hand movementsmust flow to minimize the potential for fatigue and injury Good design must alsoconsider the capabilities and limitations of the hardware and software of the human-computer interface.

What does this book do? This book addresses interface and screen design from theuser’s perspective, spelling out hundreds of principles of good design in a clear and con-cise manner It blends the results of screen design research, knowledge concerning peo-ple, knowledge about the hardware and software capabilities of the interface, and mypractical experience, which now spans 40 years in display-based systems

Looking ahead, an example of what this book will accomplish for you is illustrated

in Figures P.1 through P.4 Figure P.1 is an actual existing interface screen It looks badbut you do not realize how really horrible it is until you look at Figure P.2, a redesignedversion The same goes for Figure P.3, an original screen, and Figure P.4, a redesignedversion This book will present the rules for the redesigned screens, and the rationaleand reasoning that explains why they are much friendlier We’ll fully analyze thesescreens later in this text Sprinkled throughout the pages will also be many other exam-ples of good and bad design

How This Book Is Organized

This book is composed of two parts Part 1, provides an introduction to the computer interface Chapter One examines what an interface is, its importance, and itshistory Chapter Two reviews the two dominant user interfaces today, the graphical userinterface (GUI) and the World Wide Web (WWW or Web) GUI interfaces are looked at

human-in terms of their components, characteristics, and advantages over the older text-basedsystems Web interfaces are compared to both GUI interfaces and conventional printeddocuments The differing characteristics of three distinct Web environments, the Internet,

Figure P.1 An existing screen.

Figure P.2 A redesigned screen.

Figure P.3 An existing screen.

intranet, and extranet are also summarized The second chapter concludes with a ment of the basic underlying principles for interface design

state-Part 2 presents an extensive series of guidelines for the interface design process It isorganized in the order of the development steps typically followed in creating a graph-ical system’s or Web site’s screens and pages The 14 steps presented are:

Step 1: Know Your User or Client.To begin, an understanding of the most tant system or Web site component, the user or client, must be obtained Under-standing people and what they do is a critical and often difficult and undervaluedprocess The first step in the design process involves identifying people’s innateand learned characteristics, and understanding how they affect design

impor-Step 2: Understand the Business Function.A system or Web site must achieve thebusiness objectives for which it is designed To do so requires an understanding

of the goals of the system and the functions and tasks performed Determiningbasic business functions, describing user activities through task analysis, under-standing the user’s mental model, and developing a conceptual model of the sys-tem accomplish this The system’s conceptual model must fit the user’s view of thetasks to be performed Step 2 also addresses the establishment of design standards

or style guides, and the definition of training and documentation needs

Step 3: Understand the Principles of Good Screen Design.A well-designed screenmust reflect the needs and capabilities of its users, be developed within the physi-

Figure P.4 A redesigned screen.

cal constraints imposed by the hardware on which it is displayed, and effectivelyutilize the capabilities of its controlling software Step 3 involves understandingthe capabilities of, and limitations imposed by, people, hardware, and software indesigning screens and Web pages It presents an enormous number of general de-sign principles for organizing and presenting information to people.

Step 4: Develop System Menus and Navigation Schemes.Graphical systems andWeb sites are heavily menu-oriented Menus are used to designate commands,properties that apply to an object, documents, and windows To accomplish thesegoals, a variety of menu styles are available to choose from Step 4 involves under-standing how menus are used, and selecting the proper kinds for specific tasks.The principles of menu design are described, and the purpose and proper usage ofvarious menu types are detailed In this step Web site navigation schemes are alsodiscussed

Step 5: Select the Proper Kinds of Windows.Graphical screen design will consist of

a series of windows Step 5 involves understanding how windows are used andselecting the proper kinds for the tasks The elements of windows are described,and the purpose and proper usage of various types of windows are detailed

Step 6: Select the Proper Device-Based Controls.In addition to the keyboard, a system

or Web site might offer the user a mouse, trackball, joystick, graphic tablet, touchscreen, light pen, or some other similar device Step 6 consists of identifying the char-acteristics and capabilities of these various control mechanisms and providing theproper ones for users and their tasks

Step 7: Choose the Proper Screen-Based Controls.The designer is presented anarray of screen-based controls to choose from Selecting the right one for the userand the task is often difficult But, as with device-based controls, making the rightchoice is critical to system success A proper fit between user and control will lead

to fast, accurate performance A poor fit will result in lower productivity, more rors, and often user dissatisfaction Step 7 consists of identifying the characteris-tics and capabilities of these various screen-based controls and guidelines forproviding the proper ones for users and their tasks

er-Step 8: Write Clear Text and Messages.Creating text and messages in a form the userwants and understands is absolutely necessary for system acceptance and success.Rules for writing text and messages for systems and Web sites are presented

Step 9: Provide Effective Feedback and Guidance and Assistance.Effective feedbackand guidance and assistance are also necessary elements of good design This steppresents the guidelines for presenting to the user feedback concerning the systemand its processing status It also describes the system response times necessary tomeet user needs Step 9 also describes the kinds of guidance and assistance thatshould be included in a system, and presents important design guidelines for thevarious kinds

Step 10: Provide Effective Internationalization and Accessibility.People from ferent cultures, and people who speak different languages may use graphicalsystems and Web sites Guidelines for accommodating different cultures and lan-guages in a design are presented People with disabilities may also be users Designconsiderations for these kinds of users are also described

dif-Step 11: Create Meaningful Graphics, Icons, and Images.Graphics, including iconsand images, are an integral part of design Design guidelines for various types ofgraphics are presented Icons are also described, including a discussion of whatkinds of icons exist, what influences their usability, and how they should be de-signed so they are meaningful and recognizable.

Step 12: Choose the Proper Colors.Color, if used properly, can emphasize the ical organization of a screen, facilitate the discrimination of screen components,accentuate differences, and make displays more interesting If used improperly,color can be distracting and cause visual fatigue, impairing a system’s usability.Step 12 involves understanding color and how to use it effectively on textual andstatistical graphics screens, and in Web sites

log-Step 13: Organize and Layout Windows and Pages.After determining all the ponents of a screen or page, the screen or page must be organized and its elementspresented clearly and meaningfully Proper presentation and organization willencourage the quick and accurate comprehension of information and the fastestpossible execution of user tasks Step 13 addresses the rules for laying out all screenelements and controls in the most effective manner possible

com-Step 14: Test, Test, and Retest.A host of factors must be considered in design andnumerous trade-offs will have been made Indeed, the design of some parts of thesystem may be based on skimpy data and simply reflect the most educated guesspossible Also, the implications for some design decisions may not be fullyappreciated until the results can be seen Waiting until after a system has been im-plemented to uncover any deficiencies and make any design changes can be ag-gravating, costly, and time-consuming To minimize these kinds of problems,interfaces and screens must be continually tested and refined as developmentproceeds Step 14 reviews the kinds of tests that can be performed, and discussescreating, evaluating, and modifying prototypes in an iterative manner It also re-views final system testing and ongoing evaluations of working systems

Because Part 2 is organized into what appear to be nonoverlapping linear tasks, thisdoes not mean to imply, however, that the actual design process will fall into such neatcategories—one step finishing and only then the next step starting In reality, somesteps will run concurrently or overlap, and design iterations will cause occasionalmovements backward as well as forward If any of these steps are omitted, or carelesslyperformed, a product’s foundation will be flawed A flawed foundation is difficult tocorrect afterwards

The readers of the previous edition of this book will note that the order in which thesteps are presented has been slightly modified and the number of design steps hasincreased from 12 to 14 The most notable reordering change is the repositioning ofthe step “Organize and Layout Windows and Pages” to near the end of the develop-ment process This was done to accommodate the much greater importance of graphi-cal components in Web site design The increase in the number of steps resulted frommaterial previously covered in one step being separated into three steps “Write ClearText and Messages,” “Provide Effective Feedback and Guidance and Assistance,” and

“Provide Effective Internationalization and Accessibility” are now addressed separately

in order to emphasize the importance of each of these activities

This book is both a reference book and a textbook A set of related bulleted listings ofguidelines, many with illustrative examples, are first presented in checklist form Eachchecklist is then followed by more detailed explanatory text providing necessary ratio-nale and any research upon which they are based The reader can use the narrative togain an understanding of the reasoning behind the guidelines and use the bulleted list-ings as a checklist for design.

Scattered throughout the book are many illustrations of design, both good and bad.These illustrations have been made as generic as possible, without intending to reflectany one graphical product or system In view of the ever-changing interface landscape,this seems the most practical approach The screen examples, however, were createdusing Microsoft’s Visual Basic, so an illustrative bias will exist in this direction

Research citations have been confined to those in the last decade or so Older tions have been included, however, when they are extremely relevant to a guideline or

cita-a guideline’s discussion Fincita-ally, cita-also sprinkled throughout the book cita-are cita-a collection ofdesign myths to be discounted and maximums to be adhered to

Who Should Read This Book

This book, while essentially an introduction to interface design, will be useful for anyGUI system or Web page developer For the developer with limited experience, a read-ing of its entire contents is appropriate For the more experienced developer a perusal

of its extensive contents will undoubtedly identify topics of further interest The rienced developer will also find a review of the bulleted guidelines useful in identify-ing topics to be read more thoroughly All readers will also find the bulleted checklists

expe-a hexpe-andy reference guide in their development efforts

From Here

Thank you for your interest in interface and screen design The reader with any thoughts

or comments is invited to contact me

Bill GalitzWilbert O Galitz, Inc

P.O Box 1477Surprise, Arizona 85378(623) 214-2944

wogalitz@earthlink.net

My gratitude to Bob Elliott of John Wiley & Sons, Inc for guiding this book through twoeditions I would also like to thank Emilie Herman for editorial guidance and supportthroughout the writing process and John Atkins for managing the production process

My gratitude is also extended to the multitude of user interface researchers and signers without whose work this book would not have been possible

de-I would also like to acknowledge and thank for their contributions several peoplewho have been instrumental in the shaping of my long career They are: Ralph Notto,Gaithersburg, Maryland, who many, many, years ago, gave me my first job in the not-then-widely-practiced field of business systems user interface design; Jack Endi-cott, Chicago, Illinois, who provided me with the opportunity to write my first book;

Ed Kerr and Larry Grodman, Wellesley, Massachusetts, who made it feasible for me

to establish my own company; and Bob Bailey, Salt Lake City, Utah, and MichaelPatkin, Adelaide, SA, Australia, colleagues who have provided me with many usefulinsights over the years Thanks also to Rob and Trish Barnett, Canberra, ACT, Aus-tralia, who provided important logistical support when it was sorely needed

Finally, I would like to thank the many organizations and individuals who haveused my services over the past couple of decades Without your support, this book, andothers, would not have been possible

Acknowledgments

Wilbert (Bill) O Galitz is an internationally respected consultant, author, and instructorwith a long and illustrious career in Human Factors and user-interface design For manyyears he has consulted, lectured, written about, and conducted seminars and work-

shops on these topics worldwide Now the author of ten books, his first book, Human Factors in Office Automation, published in 1980, was critically acclaimed internationally.

This book was the first to address the entire range of human factors issues involved inbusiness information systems As a result, he was awarded the Administrative Manage-

ment Society’s Olsten Award Other books have included User-Interface Screen Design and It’s Time to Clean Your Windows He has long been recognized as a world authority

on the topic of screen design

Bill’s career now spans more than 40 years in information systems and he has beenwitness to the amazing transformation of technology over this time span Before form-ing his own consulting company in 1981, he worked for CNA Insurance and the Insur-ance Company of North America (now CIGNA) where he designed the user-interfacesand developed screen design standards for a variety of business information systems.His work experience also includes an appointment at South Africa’s National Institutefor Personnel Research, and a number of years with UNIVAC (now UNISYS), and theSystem Develop Corporation At UNIVAC he performed the human engineering of thecompany’s first commercial display terminal, and completed a pioneering study on theoperational aspects of large-scale computer systems

A native of Chicago, Bill possesses a B.A in Psychology from Lake Forest College inIllinois and an M.S in Industrial Psychology from Iowa State University He currentlyresides in Surprise, Arizona

About the Author

The user interface is the most important part of any computer system Why? It is the

system to most users It can be seen, it can be heard, and it can be touched The piles ofsoftware code are invisible, hidden behind phosphor, keyboards, and the mouse Thegoals of interface design are simple, to make working with a computer easy, produc-tive, and enjoyable

This first part of this book, Part 1, provides an introduction to the human-computerinterface Chapter One examines what an interface is, its importance, and its history.Chapter 2 reviews the two dominant user interfaces, the graphical user interface (GUI)and the World Wide Web (WWW or Web) GUI interfaces are looked at in terms oftheir components, characteristics, and advantages over the older text-based systems.Web interfaces are compared to both GUI interfaces and conventional printed docu-ments The differing characteristics of three distinct Web environments, the Internet, in-tranet, and extranet are also summarized The second chapter concludes with astatement of the basic underlying principles for interface design

Part 2 of this book presents and examines an extensive collection of interface designguidelines It is composed of 14 steps, beginning with “Know Your User or Client” andconcluding with guidelines for usability testing A complete overview of Part 2 will befound in the Part 2 Introduction

The User Interface—

An Introduction and Overview

P a r t

One

In these times of metaphors, mice, widgets/controls, links, applets, and usability, theuser interface is being scrutinized, studied, written about, and talked about like neverbefore This welcome attention, along with the proliferation of usability laboratoriesand product testing, has significantly raised the usability of products we are present-ing to our users today People’s voices have finally been heard above the din Theircombined voices, frustrated, fed up with complicated procedures and incomprehensi-ble screens, have finally become overwhelming “We’re no longer going to peacefullyaccept products that mess up our lives and put everything we work on at risk,” they aresaying They’re also saying “That’s just the way it is” is no longer tolerable as an an-swer to a problem Examples of good design, when they have occurred, have been pre-sented as vivid proof that good design is possible

We developers have listened Greatly improved technology in the late twentiethcentury eliminated a host of barriers to good interface design and unleashed a variety

of new display and interaction techniques wrapped into a package called the graphicaluser interface, or, as it is commonly called, GUI or “gooey.” Almost every graphicalplatform now provides a style guide to assist in product design Software to aid theGUI design process proliferates Hard on the heels of GUIs has come the amazingly fastintrusion of the World Wide Web into the everyday lives of people Web site design hasgreatly expanded the range of users and introduced additional interface techniquessuch as multimedia (To be fair, in some aspects it has dragged interface design back-wards as well, but more about that later.)

It is said that the amount of programming code devoted to the user interface now ceeds 50 percent Looking backwards, we have made great strides in interface design.Looking around today, however, too many instances of poor design still abound Look-ing ahead, it seems that much still remains to be done

ex-The Importance of the User Interface

C H A P T E R

1

Defining the User Interface

User interface design is a subset of a field of study called human-computer interaction

(HCI) Human-computer interaction is the study, planning, and design of how peopleand computers work together so that a person’s needs are satisfied in the most effectiveway HCI designers must consider a variety of factors: what people want and expect,what physical limitations and abilities people possess, how their perceptual and infor-mation processing systems work, and what people find enjoyable and attractive Tech-nical characteristics and limitations of the computer hardware and software must also

be considered

The user interface is the part of a computer and its software that people can see, hear,

touch, talk to, or otherwise understand or direct The user interface has essentially two

components: input and output Input is how a person communicates his or her needs

or desires to the computer Some common input components are the keyboard, mouse,trackball, one’s finger (for touch-sensitive screens), and one’s voice (for spoken in-

structions) Output is how the computer conveys the results of its computations and

re-quirements to the user Today, the most common computer output mechanism is thedisplay screen, followed by mechanisms that take advantage of a person’s auditory ca-pabilities: voice and sound The use of the human senses of smell and touch output ininterface design still remain largely unexplored

Proper interface design will provide a mix of well-designed input and output anisms that satisfy the user’s needs, capabilities, and limitations in the most effectiveway possible The best interface is one that it not noticed, one that permits the user tofocus on the information and task at hand, not the mechanisms used to present the in-formation and perform the task

mech-The Importance of Good Design

With today’s technology and tools, and our motivation to create really effective and able interfaces and screens, why do we continue to produce systems that are inefficientand confusing or, at worst, just plain unusable? Is it because:

us-1 We don’t care?

2 We don’t possess common sense?

3 We don’t have the time?

4 We still don’t know what really makes good design?

I take the view that the root causes are Number 4, with a good deal of Number 3

thrown in We do care But we never seem to have time to find out what makes good

de-sign, nor to properly apply it After all, many of us have other things to do in addition

to designing interfaces and screens So we take our best shot given the workload andtime constraints imposed upon us The result, too often, is woefully inadequate

I discounted the “we don’t possess common sense” alternative years ago If, as Ihave heard thousands of times, interface and screen design were really a matter of com-

mon sense, we developers would have been producing almost identical screens for

sim-ilar applications and functions for many years When was the last time you saw two signers create almost identical screen solutions, based on the same requirements, with-out the aid of design guidelines or standards (or with them as well)?

de-A well-designed interface and screen is terribly important to our users It is their

window to view the capabilities of the system To many, it is the system, being one of

the few visible components of the product we developers create It is also the vehiclethrough which many critical tasks are presented These tasks often have a direct impact

on an organization’s relations with its customers, and its profitability

A screen’s layout and appearance affect a person in a variety of ways If they are fusing and inefficient, people will have greater difficulty in doing their jobs and willmake more mistakes Poor design may even chase some people away from a systempermanently It can also lead to aggravation, frustration, and increased stress I’veheard of one user who relieved his frustrations with his computer with a couple ofwell-aimed bullets from a gun I recently heard of another who, in a moment of ex-treme exasperation and anger, dropped his PC out of his upper-floor office window

con-The Benefits of Good Design

Imagine the productivity benefits we could gain through proper design Based on anactual system requiring processing of 4.8 million screens per year and illustrated inTable 1.1, an analysis established that if poor clarity forced screen users to spend oneextra second per screen, almost one additional person-year would be required toprocess all screens Twenty extra seconds in screen usage time adds an additional 14person-years

The benefits of a well-designed screen have also been under experimental scrutinyfor many years One researcher, for example, attempted to improve screen clarity andreadability by making screens less crowded Separate items, which had been combined

on the same display line to conserve space, were placed on separate lines instead Theresult: screen users were about 20 percent more productive with the less-crowded ver-sion Other researchers reformatted a series of screens following many of the sameconcepts to be described in this book The result: screen users of the modified screenscompleted transactions in 25 percent less time and with 25 percent fewer errors thanthose who used the original screens

Another researcher has reported that reformatting inquiry screens following gooddesign principles reduced decision-making time by about 40 percent, resulting in a sav-

Table 1.1 Impact of Inefficient Screen Design on Processing Time

ADDITIONAL SECONDS REQUIRED ADDITIONAL PERSON-YEARS REQUIRED TO PER SCREEN IN SECONDS PROCESS 4.8 MILLION SCREENS PER YEAR

ings of 79 person-years in the affected system In a second study comparing 500screens, it was found that the time to extract information from displays of airline orlodging information was 128 percent faster for the best format than for the worst.Other studies have also shown that the proper formatting of information on screensdoes have a significant positive effect on performance Cope and Uliano (1995) found

that one graphical window redesigned to be more effective would save a company

about $20,000 during its first year of use

In recent years, the productivity benefits of well-designed Web pages have also beenscrutinized Baca and Cassidy (1999) redesigned an organization’s home page becauseusers were complaining they were unable to find information they needed These de-signers established a usability objective specifying that after redesign users should beable to locate the desired information 80 percent of the time After one redesign, 73 per-cent of the searches were completed with an average completion time of 113 seconds Ad-ditional redesigns eventually improved the success rate to 84 percent, and reduced theaverage completion time to 57 seconds The improvement in search success rate betweenthe first redesign and final redesign was 15 percent; the improvement in search time wasabout 50 percent (This study also points out the value of iterative testing and redesign.)Fath and Henneman (1999) evaluated four Web sites commonly used for onlineshopping Participants performed shopping tasks at each site In three of the Web sitesonly about one-half of the shopping tasks could be completed, in the fourth 84 percentwere successful (In the former, one-third of the shopping tasks could not be completed

at all.) The more successful, and more usable, site task completion rate was about 65percent higher than that of the less successful sites We can only speculate how thismight translate into dollars

Other benefits also accrue from good design (Karat, 1997) Training costs are ered because training time is reduced, support line costs are lowered because fewer as-sist calls are necessary, and employee satisfaction is increased because aggravationand frustration are reduced Another benefit is, ultimately, that an organization’s cus-tomers benefit because of the improved service they receive

low-Identifying and resolving problems during the design and development process alsohas significant economic benefits Pressman (1992) has shown that for every dollar spentfixing a problem during product design, $10 would be spent if the problem was fixedduring development, and $100 would be spent fixing it after the product’s release Ageneral rule of thumb: every dollar invested in usability returns $10 to $100 (IBM, 2001).How many screens are used each day in our technological world? How manyscreens are used each day in your organization? Thousands? Millions? Imagine thepossible savings Proper screen design might also, of course, lower the costs of replac-ing “broken” PCs

A Brief History of the Human-Computer Interface

The need for people to communicate with each other has existed since we first walkedupon this planet The lowest and most common level of communication modes

we share are movements and gestures Movements and gestures are

language-independent, that is, they permit people who do not speak the same language to dealwith one another.

The next higher level, in terms of universality and complexity, is spoken language.Most people can speak one language, some two or more A spoken language is a veryefficient mode of communication if both parties to the communication understand it

At the third and highest level of complexity is written language While most peoplespeak, not all can write But for those who can, writing is still nowhere near as efficient

a means of communication as speaking

In modern times, we have the typewriter, another step upward in communicationcomplexity Significantly fewer people type than write (While a practiced typist canfind typing faster and more efficient than handwriting, the unskilled may not find thisthe case.) Spoken language, however, is still more efficient than typing, regardless oftyping skill level

Through its first few decades, a computer’s ability to deal with human tion was inversely related to what was easy for people to do The computer demandedrigid, typed input through a keyboard; people responded slowly using this device andwith varying degrees of skill The human-computer dialog reflected the computer’spreferences, consisting of one style or a combination of styles using keyboards, com-monly referred to as Command Language, Question and Answer, Menu Selection,Function Key Selection, and Form Fill-In For more details on the screens associatedwith these dialogs see Galitz (1992)

communica-Throughout the computer’s history, designers have been developing, with varyingdegrees of success, other human-computer interaction methods that utilize more gen-eral, widespread, and easier-to-learn capabilities: voice and handwriting Systems thatrecognize human speech and handwriting now exist, although they still lack the uni-versality and richness of typed input

Introduction of the Graphical User Interface

Finally, in the 1970s, another dialog alternative surfaced Research at Xerox’s Palo AltoResearch Center provided an alternative to the typewriter, an interface using a form ofhuman gesturing, the most basic of all human communication methods The Xerox sys-tems, Altus and STAR, introduced the mouse and pointing and selecting as the primaryhuman-computer communication method The user simply pointed at the screen,using the mouse as an intermediary These systems also introduced the graphical userinterface as we know it today Ivan Sutherland at the Massachusetts Institute of Tech-nology (MIT) is given credit for first introducing graphics with his Sketchpad program

in 1963 Lines, circles, and points could be drawn on a screen using a light pen Xeroxworked on developing handheld pointing devices in the 1960s and patented a mousewith wheels in 1970 In 1974, Xerox patented today’s ball mouse, after a researcher wassuddenly inspired to turn a track ball upside down

Xerox was never able to market the STAR successfully, but Apple quickly picked upthe concept and the Macintosh, released in 1984, was the first successful mass-marketsystem A new concept was born, revolutionizing the human-computer interface Achronological history of GUIs is found in Table 1.2

Table 1.2 Chronological History of Graphical User Interfaces

1973 Pioneered at the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center

—First to pull together all the elements of the modern GUI

1981 First commercial marketing as the Xerox STAR

—Widely introduced pointing, selection, and mouse

1983 Apple introduces the Lisa

— Features pull-down menus and menu bars

1984 Apple introduces the Macintosh

— Macintosh is the first successful mass-marketed system

1985 Microsoft Windows 1.0 released

Commodore introduces the Amiga 1000

1987 X Window System becomes widely available

IBM’s System Application Architecture released

— Including Common User Access (CUA)

IBM’s Presentation Manager released

— Intended as graphics operating system replacement for DOS.Apple introduces the Macintosh II

— The first color Macintosh

1988 NeXT’s NeXTStep released

— First to simulate three-dimensional screen

1989 UNIX-based GUIs released

— Open Look by AT&T and Sun Microsystems

— Innovative appearance to avoid legal challenges

— Motif, for the Open Software Foundation by DEC and Hewlett-Packard

— Appearance and behavior based on Presentation Manager.Microsoft Windows 3.0 released

1992 OS/2 Workplace Shell released

Microsoft Windows 3.1 released

1993 Microsoft Windows NT released

1995 Microsoft Windows 95 released

1996 IBM releases OS/2 Warp 4

Microsoft introduces NT 4.0

1997 Apple releases the Mac OS 8

1998 Microsoft introduces Windows 98

1999 Apple releases Mac OS X Server

— A UNIX-based OS

2000 Microsoft Windows 2000 released

Microsoft Windows ME released

2001 Microsoft Windows XP released

The Blossoming of the World Wide Web

The seeds of the Internet were planted in the early 1960s J C R Licklider of MIT posed a global network of computers in 1962 and moved to the Defense Advanced Pro-jects Research Agency (DARPA) to lead the development work In 1969 the Internet,then known as ARPANET, was brought online, connecting the computers at four majoruniversities Over the next few years, additional universities and research institutionswere added to the network One major goal of the Internet was to provide a communi-cations network that would still function if some of the sites were destroyed by a nu-clear attack

pro-Then, in 1974, Bolt, Beranek and Newman released Telenet, the first commercial sion of ARPANET, and the public was exposed to how computers could be used indaily life The early Internet was not user-friendly, being used by computer experts, en-gineers, scientists, and librarians The Internet continued to develop, mature, and ex-pand throughout the 1970s Through the late 1970s and into the 1980s, the commonlanguage of all Internet computers, TCP/IP, was created The Internet, as it is knowntoday, came in to existence, and in 1982 the term Internet was coined During the mid-1980s the increasing availability of PCs and super-minicomputers allowed many com-panies to also attach to the Internet In 1990 ARPANET was decommissioned, leavingonly the vast network of networks called the Internet In 1991, Gopher, the first reallyfriendly interface, was developed at the University of Minnesota While designed toease campus communications, it was freely distributed on the Internet

ver-In 1989 another significant event took place when Tim Berners-Lee and others at theEuropean Laboratory for Particle Physics (CERN) proposed a new protocol for distrib-uting information This protocol was based upon hypertext, a system of embeddinglinks in text to go to other text The language created in conjunction with the protocolwas the Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) In 1991, it was released on the Internet.HTML presented a limited set of objects and interaction styles and in many ways was

a step backwards for interface design, especially when compared to the growth of teractive computing over the previous four decades It was never, however, intended

in-to be as flexible as the GUI interface, and users were expected in-to be more technical,more interested in function than form

The hypertext concept was first presented in 1945 by Vannear Bush, and the term self was coined in 1965 The first hypertext system released to the user community wasthe University of Vermont’s PROMIS in 1976 Apple’s HyperCard helped bring theidea to a wider audience in 1988 Berners-Lee’s work is credited with hatching theWorld Wide Web in 1991

it-In 1992, Delphi was the first to provide commercial online it-Internet access to scribers The first popular graphics-based hypertext browser was Mosaic, created by theNational Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) at the University of Illinois

sub-in 1993 Mosaic was one of the sub-ingredients contributsub-ing to the sub-initial overwhelmsub-ing cess of the Web, and it provided the basis for browsers to follow, including Netscapeand Microsoft’s Internet Explorer (NCSA halted development of Mosaic in 1997.)The Netscape Navigator browser, first released in 1994, was the product of some ofthose who left the University of Illinois’ NCSA project to work for a newly founded com-pany called Mosaic Communications (Mosaic was later renamed Netscape Communi-cations.) The potential for Web browsing software such as Mosaic had become obvious,

suc-and a need was waiting to be fulfilled Netscape Navigator was the most successfulbrowser until Microsoft declared war and entered the market with its Internet Explorer,also based upon Mosaic, in 1995 That year also saw the coming online of AOL, Com-puServe, Prodigy, Yahoo, and Lycos The Internet’s shift to a commercial entity was nowcomplete The National Science Foundation (NSF) which had been sponsoring the Inter-net, also ended its the support that year In 1994, The World Wide Web Consortium(W3C) was formed to promote and develop standards for the Web Today, the Web is thenation’s superhighway.

A chronological history of the Internet is found in Table 1.3 This table, and the abovediscussion, is based upon Howe (2001) and PBS’s “Life on the Internet” timeline Thereader seeking more detailed historical information is referred to these Web documents

Table 1.3 Chronological History of the Internet

1945 Hypertext concept presented by Vannear Bush

1960 J C R Licklider of MIT proposes a global network of computers

1962 Design and development begins on network called ARPANET

1969 ARPANET is brought online

— Connects computers at four major universities

— Additional universities and research institutions soon added to the network

1973 ARPANET goes international

1974 Bolt, Beranek and Newman releases Telenet

— The first commercial version of ARPANET

1976 University of Vermont’s PROMIS released

— The first hypertext system released to the user community

1982 The term Internet is coined

1983 TCP/IP architecture now universally adopted

1988 Apple’s HyperCard released

—Presents the hypertext idea to a wider audience

—The first Internet worm unleashed

1989 Tim Berners-Lee and others at the European Laboratory for Particle Physics

(CERN) propose a new protocol for distributing information

— Based upon hypertext

1990 HTML created

— In conjunction with Berners-Lees protocol

ARPANET is decommissioned

1991 HTML code released on the Internet by Tim Berners-Lee

Berners-Lee’s work is credited with hatching the World Wide Web

Gopher developed at the University of Minnesota

— First really friendly interface

A Brief History of Screen Design

While developers have been designing screens since a cathode ray tube display wasfirst attached to a computer, more widespread interest in the application of good de-sign principles to screens did not begin to emerge until the early 1970s, when IBM in-troduced its 3270 cathode ray tube text-based terminal The 3270 was used in myriadways in the office, and company-specific guidelines for good screen design occasion-ally began to surface (e.g., Galitz and DiMatteo, 1974) Typically, however, design atthis time period had little to guide it, being driven by hardware and telephone linetransmission issues A 1970s screen often resembled the one pictured in Figure 1.1 Itusually consisted of many fields (more than are illustrated here) with very cryptic andoften unintelligible captions It was visually cluttered, and often possessed a commandfield that challenged the user to remember what had to be keyed into it Ambiguousmessages often required referral to a manual to interpret Effectively using this kind ofscreen required a great deal of practice and patience Most early screens were mono-chromatic, typically presenting green text on black backgrounds

Table 1.3 (Continued)

1992 Delphi released

— First to provide commercial online Internet access to subscribers

Mosaic created by the National Center for Supercomputing Applications(NCSA) at the University of Illinois

— The first popular graphic-based hypertext browser

1994 Netscape Navigator Version 1.0 released

World Wide Web Consortium founded

— To promote and develop Web standards

1995 Microsoft Internet Explorer Versions 1.0 and 2.0 released

AOL, CompuServe, Prodigy, Yahoo, and Lycos come online

National Science Foundation ends Internet support

HTML 2.0 approved as proposed Web standard

Netscape Navigator Versions 2.0 and 3.0 released

Microsoft Internet Explorer Version 3.0 released

Opera Version 2.1 released

— Browser for computers with small resources

— Written from scratch (not based upon Mosaic)

— Version 2.1 the first widely available

HTML 3.2 draft released

NCSA halts development of Mosaic

Netscape Navigator Version 4.0 released

Microsoft Internet Explorer Version 4.0 released

Opera Version 3.0 released

HTML 4.0 certified as proposed standard

Microsoft Internet Explorer Version 5.0 released

XHTML 1.0 first working draft released

At the turn of the decade guidelines for text-based screen design were finally madewidely available (Galitz, 1980, 1981) and many screens began to take on a much lesscluttered look through concepts such as grouping and alignment of elements, as illus-trated in Figure 1.2 User memory was supported by providing clear and meaningfulfield captions and by listing commands on the screen, and enabling them to be appliedthrough function keys Messages also became clearer These screens were not entirelyclutter-free, however Instructions and reminders to the user had to be inscribed on thescreen in the form of prompts or completion aids such as the codes PR and SC Not all1980s screens looked like this, however In the 1980s, 1970s-type screens were still beingdesigned, and many still reside in systems today.

The advent of graphics yielded another milestone in the evolution of screen design,

as illustrated in Figure 1.3 While some basic design principles did not change, ings and alignment, for example, borders were made available to visually enhance

group-Figure 1.1 A 1970s screen.

Figure 1.2 A 1980s screen.

groupings, and buttons and menus for implementing commands replaced functionkeys Multiple properties of elements were also provided, including many differentfont sizes and styles, line thicknesses, and colors The entry field was supplemented by

a multitude of other kinds of controls, including list boxes, drop-down combinationboxes, spin boxes, and so forth These new controls were much more effective in sup-porting a person’s memory, now simply allowing for selection from a list instead of re-quiring a remembered key entry Completion aids disappeared from screens, replaced

by one of the new listing controls Screens could also be simplified, the much morepowerful computers being able to quickly present a new screen

In the 1990s, our knowledge concerning what makes effective screen design ued to expand Coupled with ever-improving technology, the result was even greaterimprovements in the user-computer screen interface as the new century dawned

contin-The Purpose of This Book

This book’s first objective is to present the important practical guidelines for good terface and screen design It is intended as a ready reference source for all graphicaland Web systems The guidelines reflect a mix of human behavior, science, and art, andare organized within the context of the GUI design process The specific objectives are

in-to enable the reader in-to do the following:

Understand the many considerations that must be applied to the interface andscreen design process

Understand the rationale and rules for an effective interface design methodology

Figure 1.3 A 1990s and beyond screen.

Identify the components of graphical and Web interfaces and screens, includingwindows, menus, and controls.

Design and organize graphical screens and Web pages to encourage the fastestand most accurate comprehension and execution of screen features

Choose screen colors and design screen icons

Perform the User Interface design process, including interface development andtesting

The book’s other objective is to provide materials that, when applied, will allow ourusers to become more productive—and more satisfied—using the interfaces we pro-duce A satisfied user also means, of course, a satisfied designer

What’s Next?

The next chapter reviews the two dominant user interfaces today, GUI and Web GUIinterfaces are looked at in terms of their components, characteristics, and advantagesover the older text-based systems Web interfaces are compared to both GUI interfacesand conventional printed documents The differing characteristics of three distinct Webenvironments, the Internet, intranet, and extranet are also summarized The next chap-ter concludes with a statement of the basic underlying principles for interface design