User interface

From open-encyclopedia.com - the free encyclopedia.

The user interface is the part of a system exposed to a user. In general, the system can be any kind of system with which a user may interact at will, such as a mechanical system or a computer system. For example, in an automobile the user interface consists of the steering wheel, the accelerator pedal, the brake pedal, the various instruments that the user requires, and similar facilities. In a computer system the user typically interacts with an operating system or with application software such as a spreadsheet or a word processor. With these the user interacts using menus, icons, keystrokes, mouse clicks,and similar capabilities.

Recently, as systems have become increasingly complex, and thus more difficult to control, much thought has been given to the design of interfaces that enable a user to operate the system naturally thus increasing its usability by allowing the user to form a more intuitive mental model of the system. The term user friendliness has been coined as a measure of how well the user interface fulfills this goal.

References

Soren Lauesen: User Interface Design, A Software Engineering Perspective, Addison-Wesley, ISBN 0-3211-8143-3
Ben Shneiderman, Catherine Plaisant: Designing the User Interface: Strategies for Effective Human-Computer Interaction, Addison-Wesley, ISBN 0-3212-6978-0
Jef Raskin: Humane Interface - The New Directions for Designing Interactive Systems, Addison-Wesley, ISBN 0-2013-7937-6
Jennifer Preece, Yvonne Rogers, Helen Sharp: Interaction Design, John Wiley & Sons, ISBN 0-471-49278-7
Alan Dix, Janet Finlay, Gregory D. Abowd, Russell Beale: Human Computer Interaction, Prentice Hall, ISBN 0-13-046109-1
Donald A. Norman: Emotional Design: Why We Love or Hate Everyday Things, Basic Books, ISBN 0-465-05135-9
Donald A. Norman: The Design of Everyday Things, Basic Books, ISBN 0-465-06710-7
Steve Krug: Don't Make Me Think, New Riders Publishing, ISBN 0-7897-2310-7
Jesse J. Garrett: The Elements of User Experience, New Riders Publishing, ISBN 0-7357-1202-6
Theo Mandel: The Elements of User Interface Design, John Wiley & Sons, ISBN 0-471-16267-1
Jeff Johnson: GUI Bloopers, Morgan Kaufmann Publishers, ISBN 1-55860-582-7
Jakob Nielsen: Usability Engineering, Morgan Kaufmann Publishers, ISBN 0-12-518406-9
Jakob Nielsen: Coordinating User Interfaces for Consistency, Morgan Kaufmann Publishers, ISBN 1-55860-821-4
Joel Spolsky: User Interface Design for Programmers, Apress, ISBN 1-893115-94-1
Lon Barfield: The User Interface: Concepts and Design, Bosko Books, ISBN 0-9547239-0-2
Jeffrey Rubin: Handbook of Usability Testing: How to Plan, Design, and Conduct Effective Tests, John Wiley & Sons, ISBN 0-471-59403-2
Deborah Mayhew: The Usability Engineering Lifecycle - A Practitioner's Handbook for User Interface Design, Elsevier Books, ISBN 1-55860-561-4
Y. y. Tang, P. S. P. Wang, P. C. Yuen: Multimodal Interface for Human-Machine Communication, World Scientific Publishing, ISBN 9810245947
Robin Williams: The Non-Designer's Design Book - Design and typographic principles for the visual novice, Peachpit Press, ISBN 0-321-19385-7
Ian Horrocks: Constructing the User Interface with Statecharts, Addison-Wesley, ISBN 0201342782
David Hu: Object-Oriented Environment in C++: A User-Friendly Interface, MIS: Press, ISBN 1558280146
Constantine Stephanidis: User Interfaces for All, Lea, ISBN 0805829679
Jenny Le Peuple, Robert Scane: User Interface Design, Crucial, ISBN 1-903337-19-4
Dave Collins: Designing Object-Oriented User Interfaces, Benjamin Cummings, ISBN 080535350X
Susanne Bdker: Through the Interface: A Human Activity Approach to User Interface Design, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, ISBN 0805805702
Larry E. Wood: User Interface Design: Bridging the Gap from User Requirements to Design, CRC Press, ISBN 0849331250
Jane Carey: Human Factors in Information Systems: The Relationship Between User Interface Design and Human Performance, Intellect L & D E F a E, ISBN 1567502865
Ernest Edmonds: The Separable User Interface, Academic Press, ISBN 0122321502
Carl Zetie: Practical User Interface Design: Making Guis Work, McGraw-Hill Publishing, ISBN 0077091671
R. J. Torres: Practitioner's Handbook for User Interface Design, Prentice Hall, ISBN 0130912964

User interface

References

See also