Guidelines in

HCI
Design
rules
• What is the goal of interaction
design?
• Designing for the maximum usability

• Types of design rules

• Standards/Guidelines/Principles

• Standards and guidelines

• Direction for design
Types of design
rules
• We can classify these rules along two dimensions based
on the rule’s authority and generality
• By authority, we mean
• Rule must be followed in the design or
• It is only suggested
• By generality, we mean
• Rule can be applied to many situations/applications or
• It is focused on a limited situations/application
increasing generality

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authority
Standard
s
• Higher level of authority but so useful for specific design

• Set by national or international bodies to ensure

compliance by a large community of designers standards
require sound underlying theory and slowly changing
technology

• Hardware standards more common than software

high authority and low level of detail
Guideline
s
• More technology oriented, but they are also general
• Abstract guidelines applicable during early life cycle
activities
• Detailed guidelines (style guides) applicable during later
life cycle activities
• ISO 9241 defines usability as effectiveness, efficiency and
satisfaction with which users accomplish tasks
• Understanding justification for guidelines aids in
resolving conflicts
Principle
s
• Principles are derived from knowledge of the psychological,
computational and sociological aspects of the problem domain
• Independent of the technology
• Therefore can be applied to widely but not so useful for
specific design
Golden rules and
heuristics
• Useful check list for good design
• Different collections of design rules includes such
as
• Shneiderman’s 8 Golden Rules
• Norman’s 7 Principles
• Nielsen’s 10 Heuristics
Shneiderman’s 8 Golden
Rules
Shneiderman’s 8 Golden
Rules
1. Strive for consistency
2.Cater to Universal Usability (Enable frequent users to use
shortcuts)
3. Offer informative feedback
4. Design dialogs to yield closure
5. Offer error prevention and simple error handling
6. Permit easy reversal of actions
7. Support internal locus of control
8. Reduce short-term memory load
Strive for consistency

• Designing “consistent interfaces” means using the same design

patterns and the same sequences of actions for similar situations.
• This includes, but isn’t limited to, the right use of color,
typography and terminology in prompt screens, commands, and
menus throughout your user journey.
• Remember: a consistent interface will allow your users to
complete
their tasks and goals much more easily.
• Microsoft office – all uses same style
toolbar
• Inconsistent design
Cater to Universal Usability (Enable frequent
users to use shortcuts)

• Speaking of using UI rules as shortcuts, your users will benefit from

shortcuts as well, especially if they need to complete the same
tasks often.
• Expert users might find the following features helpful:
• Abbreviations
• Function keys
• Hidden commands
• Macro facilities
 Offer informative
feedback
• You need to keep your users informed of what is happening at
every stage of their process. This feedback needs to be
meaningful, relevant, clear, and fit the context.

J. Dheeba/SCOPE
Design dialog to yield
closure
• Sequences of actions need to have a beginning, middle and end.
• Once a task is completed, give some peace of mind to your user
by providing them informative feedback and well-defined options
for the next step if that’s the case.
• Don’t keep them wondering!
• Steps 1 2 3 4
• Your message has been
send

J. Dheeba/SCOPE
Offer error prevention and simple error
handling

• No one likes to be told they’re wrong, especially your users.

• Systems should be designed to be as fool-proof as possible, but
when unavoidable errors occur, ensure users are provided with
simple, intuitive step-by-step instructions to solve the problem as
quickly and painlessly as possible.
• For example, flag the text fields where the users forgot to provide
input in an online form.
Permit easy reversal of
action
• Designers should aim to offer users obvious ways to reverse their
actions.
• These reversals should be permitted at various points whether
it occurs after a single action, a data entry or a whole
sequence of actions.
• As Shneiderman states in his book - This feature relieves anxiety,
since the user knows that errors can be undone; it thus
encourages exploration of unfamiliar options.
Support internal locus of
control
• Allow your users to be the initiators of actions.
• Give users the sense that they are in full control of events
occurring
in the digital space.
• Earn their trust as you design the system to behave as they
expect.
Reduce short-term memory
load
• Interfaces should be as simple as possible with proper information
hierarchy, and choosing recognition over recall.
• Recognizing something is always easier than recall because
recognition involves perceiving cues that help us reach into our
vast memory and allowing relevant information to surface.
• For example, we often find the format of multiple choice
questions easier than short answer questions on a test because it
only requires us to recognize the answer rather than recall it from
our memory. J
Norman’s Seven Principles, Model
of
Interaction
Model of
interaction
• The terms of interaction
• the purpose of an interactive system is to aid a user in accomplishing goals
from some application domain
• Domain - an area of expertise and knowledge in some real-world activity
• Tasks are operations to manipulate the concepts of a domain
• A goal is the desired output from a performed task
• An intention is a specific action required to meet the goal.
• Task analysis involves the identification of the problem space –
using the domain, goals, intentions and tasks
• System language and Users language
• System language referred as core language - describes computational
attributes of the domain relevant to the System state
• Users language referred as task language - describes psychological
attributes of the domain relevant to the User state.
• Execution–evaluation cycle
• Establishing the goal.
• Forming the intention.
• Specifying the action sequence.
• Executing the action.
• Perceiving the system state.
• Interpreting the system state.
• Evaluating the system state with respect to the goals and intentions
• Norman’s seven stage model of how an individual completes an
activity
• we begin with a goal (e.g. checking sports results on the Web)
• form a set of intentions to achieve this goal (e.g. finding a
computer with a browser)
• then translated into a sequence of actions which we then
execute (e.g. go to a computer lab or Internet café, then log on
to a PC, double-click on a Web browser, type in the URL, hit
return, read sports results)
• At each step on the way we perceive the new state of the world,
interpret what we see, and compare it against what we intended
to change.
• repeat these actions if our goals were not met.
Example Task: Save My
Sketch
• Norman uses this model of interaction to demonstrate why some
interfaces cause problems to their users.
• gulfs of execution
• gulf of execution is the difference between the user’s formulation of the
actions to reach the goal and the actions allowed by the system.
• If the actions allowed by the system correspond to those intended by the
user, the interaction will be effective.
• The interface should therefore aim to reduce this gulf.
• gulfs of evaluation
• gulf of evaluation is the distance between the physical presentation of
the
system state and the expectation of the user.
• If the user can readily evaluate the presentation in terms of his goal, the
gulf of evaluation is small.
• The more effort that is required on the part of the user to interpret the
presentation, the less effective the interaction.
The interaction framework
• four main components
• the System, the User, the Input and the Output
• Languages for the components
• User’s task language and the System’s core
language
• Input and Output together form the Interface
• interface sits between the User and the System
• four steps in the interactive cycle
Norman’s design
Principles
• transform difficult tasks into simple ones
• Use both knowledge in world & knowledge in the head
• Simplify task structures.
• Make things visible
• Get the mapping right ( User mental model = Conceptual Model =
Designed Model)
• Convert constrains into advantages ( Physical constraints, Cultural
constraints, Technological constraints)
• Design for Error
• When all else fails – Standardize
10 Usability
Heuristics
• Jakob Nielsen's 10 general principles for interaction design.
• They are called "heuristics" because they are broad rules of
thumb.
• 1. Visibility of system status
• 2. Match between system and the real world
• 3. User control and freedom
• 4. Consistency and standards
• 5. Error prevention
• 6. Recognition rather than recall
• 7. Flexibility and efficiency of use
• 8. Aesthetic and minimalist design
• 9. Help users recognize, diagnose, and recover from
errors
• 10. Provision of Help and documentation
Visibility of system
status
• system should always keep users informed about what is going
on,
through appropriate feedback within reasonable time.
• more information translates to better decision making.
• A lack of information often equates to a lack of control.
• Providing immediate feedback for interactive
events
allows users to quickly identify the source
of errors and fix them as soon as they were made.
Match between system and the
real world
• The system should speak the users' language,
with words, phrases and concepts familiar to the
user, rather than system-oriented terms
User control and freedom
• Users often choose system functions by mistake
and will need a clearly marked "emergency exit" to
leave the unwanted state without having to go
through an extended dialogue. Support undo and
redo.
Consistency and
standards
• Users should not have to wonder whether different words,
situations,
or actions mean the same thing.
Error
prevention
• Even better than good error messages is a careful
design which prevents a problem from occurring in
the first place. Either eliminate error-prone
conditions or check for them and present users
with a confirmation option before they commit to
the action.
Two Types of User
Errors
• Slips and
mistakes
Recognition rather than
recall
• Minimize the user's memory load by making
objects, actions, and options visible.
Flexibility and efficiency of
use
• Accelerators — unseen by the novice user — may
often speed up the interaction for the expert user
such that the system can cater to both
inexperienced and experienced users. Allow users
to tailor frequent actions
Aesthetic and minimalist
design
• Dialogues should not contain information which is
irrelevant or rarely needed. Every extra unit of
information in a dialogue competes with the
relevant units of information and diminishes their
relative visibility.
Help users recognize, diagnose, and recover
from errors

• Error messages should be expressed in plain language (no codes),

precisely indicate the problem, and constructively suggest a
solution.
Help and
documentation
• Even though it is better if the system can be used without
documentation, it may be necessary to provide help and
documentation. Any such information should be easy to search,
focused on the user's task, list concrete steps to be carried out,
and not be too large.
• Thank
You

J. Dheeba/SCOPE