What Makes a Good UI?

OSXCPA asks: "While there are plenty of OS business apps from accounting to ERP, they seem to share a common failing with "commercial" software - the user interface is terrible! Has anyone seen an application that has a UI that made you sit up and stare in amazement at the simplicity and effectiveness of it? For the techno-elite, drooly-gui may not be a priority, but I am working on a project (OS) where I have to show real savings (in task performance time and reduced data entry error) on a specialized accounting system via better UI. Am looking for some inspiration. Any ideas? Projects? Books?"

Comments

The Humane Interface

[orasio]

by Jef Raskin

http://www.jefraskin.com/forjef/jefweb-compiled/hu maneinterface/

It's a book that can help you look at interfaces in a different way, with some measures you can make, and some guidelines that an be helpful. Maybe going all the way is not feasible immediately, but it can gie some insight on the subject.

Re:The Humane Interface

[Jondaley]

It is too bad the author's summary is missing from the page. But, google has a cache.

Intuitive Interface

[dmayle]

Whatever you end up reading, I suggest you get some real users to sit down in front of it and test it. You need to be sure that the end user understands what you mean by what you say.

For instance, in this posting, your use of OS for Open Source instead of OSS for Open Source Software was mildly confusing because in the specialized world that is IT, OS, by convention, usually refers to Operating System. If you'd sat down and tested with a focus group, you might not have made this error ;)

Seriously, though, you'll get the best UI you can design if you just sit down with the end users and let them show you what makes sense for them...

Re:Intuitive Interface

[Blakey Rat]

Great example about the OS thing. Seriously!

What a lot of people miss is that usability is a constant process, from the smallest thing (do I use OS or OSS in the manual?) to the most wide-ranging decisions (do I make the program document-based, or database-based?)

In any case, you probably already learned the process to create a good GUI in college and have either forgotten it, or simply don't want to do the work. It's like this:

1) Identify your users. Your program might be for CPAs, or it might be for Homer Simpson. Find a few people to represent your group of users. (This doesn't have to be formal. It could be people who work in the same office as you, for instance, or close relatives... as long as they fit in the group, they're fine.)

2) Prototype your application on paper, cardboard, or something else cheap and easy. (Overhead slides, perhaps.) Show this to the user, ask them what they think of it.

3) Prototype your application on something interactive. (Cheap GUI-builder software like RealBasic, Hypercard, Macromedia Director/Flash, maybe even Powerpoint or Access... almost anything that allows you to create a basic GUI will work.) In this prototype, include sample data with simplified rules so that the user can experiment with it for awhile. It doesn't need to be fully functioning in any way. Ask them what they think of it.

4) Begin on your final application, implementing the GUI that is the result of the studies in steps 2 and 3. If you make any major changes to the GUI in the process of coding it, run that by your users in the same ways you did before.

5) After release, have a very open feedback mechanism so that your end-users can report what they like, and what they hate, to you. This can be a bugtracker (please make it more friendly than OpenOffice or Firefox's!), a web forum, or just an email address. Put a link to it in the Help menu.

I'm missing a step zero here, *read the GUI guidelines for the platform you are targetting*. If you're making a MacOS application, read Apple's GUI guidelines (yes, even the ones that contradict the other ones ;) If you're making a Windows application, read Microsoft's GUI guidelines. If you're making a Linux application-- well, Linux doesn't have any, which is why most Linux applications suck ass, but try using the ones that the Gnome of KDE window managers use.

Good luck.

Two great resources

[nicke999]

Joel Spolsky's "User Interface Design for Programmers" is a great resource. Recommended highly.

Also try usability guru Jakob Nielsen's site Useit. Although mostly focused on web design it s a good read for anyone designing interfaces.

First Joel!

[IdleMindUI]

You should really check out Joel On Software . His articles on user interface design are right on the mark. Specifically, you might want to read his User Interface Design for Programmers book (available mostly online, free).

One word:

[Anonymous Coward]

Text.

Seriously.

Good resource

[hcdejong]

Bruce Tognazzini's site.
He founded the Apple Human Interface Group and acted as Apple's Human Interface Evangelist. He's also written two books on UI design.

IBM Guidelines

[Anonymous Coward]

IBM has a good set of guidelines.

http://www-306.ibm.com/ibm/easy/eou_ext.nsf/publis h/561

Re:Lotus Improv

[Blakey Rat]

Yes, but Lotus is the same company that produces Notes, about the worst GUI in existence. So don't think, "hmm, Improv is good, let's see what other Lotus programs are out there to learn from..."