Interactive Design for New Media and the Web
This no-nonsense guide exemplifies the extensive series of applications for successful participation in e-commerce.
TABLE OF CONTENTS Interactive Design for New Media and the Web
Chapter 9: Human Interface Design
One of the most important considerations in interactive designing is the way your system works with people or, more appropriately, the way people work with it. The point at which a person and an interactive system come together is the human interface. There is little disagreement that the basic principles of the quality user-friendly interface had one of their earliest and clearest manifestations in the design of the Macintosh computer.
With that in mind, it seems that a good place to start the study of interface design is to look at the principles that were written down and followed in the creation of the Apple Macintosh human interface and, by imitation, many of the most successful subsequent computer-interface systems.
THE APPLE HUMAN INTERFACE GUIDELINES
These principles are published in The Apple Human Interface Guidelines, a book that is available to the general public. Here is a summary of the principles it presents:
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Simple design is good design.
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People deserve and appreciate attractive surroundings. A mess is acceptable only if the user makes the mess.
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Good design must communicate, not just dazzle.
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Objects should look like what they do so that the user can recognize them and point to them.
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Consistency should be valued over idiosyncratic cleverness.
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The transfer of skills is one of the most important benefits of a consistent interface.
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The environment should appear to remain stable, understandable, and familiar.
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There should be little or no difference between what the user sees and what the user gets.
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The user,...
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