Ulf Schubert, too, accumulated the essential demands on interface design based on Nielsen, J. (1993, Usability Engeneering):
And anyway, I had wanted to put a tiny little picture up.
It's a detail from Ulf's interface design. He had put little squares to give a short introduction on each class/file/subject/whatever. In order to show how many people where attending this class and to promote cooperative learning, each users was shown in form of a circle clustering onto the respective square. The circles were marked in different colors and had special features to show their online status, if they were available or if they previously had been marked in your list of friends (or any other characteristics which you might consider important....).
I just thought it looked cute. (And yes, I know, that cute is not the appropriate comment but it's true!)
- easy to learn/understand
- high efficiency: the interface allows the user to fulfill his/her aim fast and easy
- easy to remember even when you haven't used the programme for a long time
- low rate on mistake
- high degree of content and satisfaction: the user likes the programme since it helps to achieve set goals faster and easier
- The best guess is not enough. (As in: you might wanna test drive your interface.)
- It's not the user's fault. (As in: well, it's kind of self-evident.)
- The user is not always right. Plus: the user is not a designer. (As in: after all you're the expert.)
- Less is more. (As in: if you didn't hear this universal design principle until now, it was about time. Plus: it's right. But: design principles are there to be overthrown as well.)
- Help doesn't help. (As in: if the interface is too complicate then something is wrong... wonder what?)
And anyway, I had wanted to put a tiny little picture up.
It's a detail from Ulf's interface design. He had put little squares to give a short introduction on each class/file/subject/whatever. In order to show how many people where attending this class and to promote cooperative learning, each users was shown in form of a circle clustering onto the respective square. The circles were marked in different colors and had special features to show their online status, if they were available or if they previously had been marked in your list of friends (or any other characteristics which you might consider important....).I just thought it looked cute. (And yes, I know, that cute is not the appropriate comment but it's true!)
