user interface
The way a person interacts with a computer or electronic device. It comprises the screen menus and icons, keyboard shortcuts, command language and online help, as well as physical buttons, dials and levers. All input devices, such as a mouse, keyboard, touch screen, remote control, joy stick, game controller or data glove, are also included. In the future, natural language recognition and voice recognition will become standard components of the user interface.The Bar Is Set Low
The user interface is the most important, yet least-understood area in the computer industry. Every application has only a handful of basic functions that users need all the time, yet they are often buried in arcane submenus that must be memorized. Worse yet, once bad examples are set by major vendors, others follow like sheep. Since popular applications are often hard to learn, users have come to expect that using software has to be difficult, when in fact, it could be downright simple if educated designers were involved.
Users Are Reluctant to Change
Because of the steep learning curves people have endured in the past, many are loathe to change applications. While the software industry constantly touts "productivity gains" for every new product, the lost hours figuring out how to do something, combined with the gun-shy reluctance to actually try a different product that might really be an improvement often do not enhance productivity. If we are to make computers more usable for the masses, the user interface and online documentation must be given much greater attention. See RTFM, naming fiascos, Freedman's law, Web rage and HCI.
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| Give Us a Break! |
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| These delightful names were the folders on a digital camera's memory card. What's wrong with names such as Still, Moving, Audio, and Email? This insanity is perpetrated by countless vendors. |
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| Give Us Another Break! |
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| We may have dazzling HDTVs in the 21st century, but we often have to contend with dopey button naming. The salvation for this family was to attach labels that made sense out of P.Size, S.Mode and P.Mode. |
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| Wretched Design |
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| Common on inexpensive remotes, all the buttons are a uniform matrix, making it nearly impossible to quickly select a function by feel in a dark room. |
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| Great Design |
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| Much of the iPod's initial success is attributed to its easy-to-use click wheel. Originally rotating, and later changed to stationary and touch sensitive, the wheel is clicked and also scrolled by moving a finger around it. |
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user interface [′yü·zər ′in·tər‚fās]
(computer science)
The point at which a user or a user department or organization interacts with a computer system.
The part of an interactive computer program that sends messages to and receives instructions from a terminal user.
| user interface - (UI) The aspects of a computer system or program which can be
seen (or heard or otherwise perceived) by the human user, and
the commands and mechanisms the user uses to control its
operation and input data. A graphical user interface emphasises the use of pictures for output and a pointing device such as a mouse for input and control whereas a command line interface requires the user to type textual commands and input at a keyboard and produces a single stream of text as output. A user interface contrasts with, but is typically built on top of, an Application Program Interface (API). See also user interface copyright. |
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