Tools, technologies, strategies and guidelines in designing an effective user interface

1. Submitted By
Pakeeza Shah
Department Information Technology
Semester 8th
Subject
System Integration and Architecture
Topic
“Designing Effective User Interface”
Dated 30th May, 2016
GC Women University, Sialkot

2. Q No. 1. How to design an effective User Interface? Explain in terms of tools,
technologies , guidelines and strategies.
Ans. Strategies for designing effective user interface
1.The structure principle
Design should organize the user interface purposefully, putting related things together and
separating unrelated things.
2.The simplicity principle
Design should make simple, common tasks simple to do, communicating clearly and simply in
the user’s own language.
3.The visibility principle
Design should keep all needed options and materials for a given task visible without distracting
the user with extraneous or redundant information.
4.The feedback principle
Design should keep users informed of action, changes and errors that are relevant to the user
through clear, concise, and unambiguous language familiar to users.
5.The tolerance principle
Design should be flexible and tolerant, reducing the cost of mistakes and misuse by allowing
undoing and redoing and by interpreting all reasonable actions reasonable.
6.The reuse principle
Design should reuse internal and external components and behaviors, maintaining consistency.
Guidelines for Designing an Effective User interface
1. Create hierarchies of objects and actions that are complex
2. Set standards and stick to them to verify consistency
3. Set reasonable navigation between major user interface items
4. Place navigations within the page
5. Word your messages and labels effectively
6. Use color combinations appropriately
7. Follow the contrast rule effectively
8. Align fields effectively
9. Avoid busy user interfaces

3. 10. Group things effectively
11. Take an evolutionary approach to test your design
Tools and technologies fordesigning an Effective User interface
1). Terminology varies depending on vendor. Popular terms include
1. Rapid Prototyper
2. User Interface Builder
3. User Interface Management System
4. User Interface Development Environment
5. Rapid Application Developer
1. Features of Interface-Building Tools
User Interface Independence
Separate interface design from internals
Enable multiple user interface strategies
Enable multiple platform support
Establish user interface architect role
Enforce standards
2. Methodology & Notation
Develop design procedures
Find ways to talk about design
Create project management
3. Rapid Prototyping
Try out ideas very early
Test, revise, test, revise,...and continue
Engage end users, managers, and others
4. Software Support
Increase productivity
Offer some constraint & consistency checks
Facilitate team approaches
Ease maintenance
2). Software Engineering Tools
Tcl / Tk : used to make hierarchy of menus and sub menus
Java : used to make animations
Javascript : class library of Java used for form validation
3). Evaluationand Critiquing Tool
Tullis' Display Analysis Program, Version 4.0
Doctor HTML - Web Page Analyzer
4). Menus, icons and Form fillings
To take data in forms, and makes easy selections