Designing a human-computer interface

For many years, computer software was designed to be used by computer programmers, analysts, scientists, engineers, etc. However, the development of personal computers, video games, and dedicated word processors has made computers accessible to the general public; the interface between the computer and the user is now crucial to the acceptance of a software product. The term "user friendly" is heard frequently, yet it has no standard definition.

Human factors experts and some computing experts have developed guidelines for writing a "user friendly" interface. Unfortunately, the interface is an often neglected aspect of software design.

A literature search was performed to examine guidelines for writing a user interface. This thesis describes various types of user interfaces and gives guidelines for designing an interface. It concludes that the type of interface depends largely on the application, the budget, and the types of terminals available. An interface should cater to all types of users; its operation and format should be consistent and natural; actions or commands should be easily reversible. Rapid prototyping seems to be a good design method as it involves users throughout the development process.

Objective experimentation needs to be performed to validate the guidelines, because much of the work is based on the instincts and beliefs of the writer. Nevertheless, many of the guidelines should be followed by software designers. The growing user populace will demand good interfaces.