Important Short Questions and Answers: User Interface Design - Design Process

DESIGN PROCESS

1.Define the term usability.

Usability describe effectiveness of human performance

Usability as “the capability to be used by humans easily and effectively.

Easily = to a specified level of subjective assessment.

Effectively = to a specified level of human performance

2.What is the impact of business function in user interface design?

Perform a business definition and requirements analysis.

Determine basic business functions.

Describe current activities through task analysis.

Develop a conceptual model of the system.

Establish design standards or style guides.

Establish system usability design goals.

Define training and documentation needs.

3.What are system training tools?

System training will be based on user needs, system conceptual design, system learning goals

and system performance goals.

Training include tools such as video training manuals, online tutorials, reference manuals,

quick reference guides and online help.

4. What are the structures of menus?

The most common structures are the following.

Single Menus

Sequential Linear Menus

Simultaneous Menus

Hierarchical or Sequential Menus

Connected Menus

Event-Trapping Menus

5.State the few application where interaction speed has an effect on the user interface design?

Reading, Listening, Speaking, Keying & hand printing these application effect on the user interface design.

6.What are the needs for requirement analysis?

Needs for requirement analysis

A product description is developed and refined based on input from user or marketing.

Capturing information through direct and indirect methods.

User should be familiar with any current system.

Conceptual model of the system will be formulated.

Creation of design standards.

Establishment of usability goals.

7.What are the design guidelines expected for user interface design

A design standard or style guide documents an agreed-upon way of doing something.

It also defines the interface standards, rules, guidelines, and conventions that must be followed in detailed design.

8.Give any 2 applications which utilize the human interaction speed.

Reading-The average adult, reading English prose in the United States, has a reading

Speed in the order of 250 to 300 words per minute.

Listening-Words can be comfortably heard and understood at a rate of 150 to 160 words per minute.

9.What is the need for Design standards?

Design standards must also be created (if not already available), usability goals established,

and training and documentation needs determined.

A design standard or style guide documents an agreed-upon way of doing something.

In interface design it describes the appearance and behavior of the inter-face and provides some guidance on the proper use of system components.

It also defines the interface principles, rules, guidelines, and conventions that must be followed in detailed design.

10.State the Different types of users.

The users of intranets, being organization employees, know a lot about the organization, its structure, its products, its jargon, and its culture.

Customers use Internet sites and others who know much less about the organization, and often care less about it.

11.Give any three Guide lines for designing conceptual model. Reflect the user’s mental model not the designer’s:

A user will have different expectations and levels of knowledge than the designer.

So, the mental models of the user and designer will be different.

The user is concerned with the task to be performed, the business objectives that must be fulfilled.

12.Draw physical analogies or present metaphors:

Replicate what is familiar and well known.

Duplicate actions that are already well learned.

A metaphor, to be effective, must be widely applicable within an interface.

13. Comply with expectancies, habits, routines, and stereotypes:

Use familiar associations, avoiding the new and unfamiliar.

With color, for example, accepted meanings for red, yellow, and green are already well established.

Use words and symbols in their customary ways.

14. State the five Design Commandments.

The complexity of a graphical or Web interface will always magnify any problems that do occur.

Pitfalls can be eliminated if the following design commandments remain foremost in the designer’s mind.

Gain a complete understanding of users and their tasks

Solicit early and ongoing user involvement

Perform rapid prototyping and testing

Modify and iterate the design as much as necessary

Integrate the design of all the system components

13.Write the Merits of Casecade Menus.

The advantages of cascading menus are that:

The top-level menus are simplified because some choices are hidden.

More first-letter mnemonics are available because menus possess fewer alternatives.

High-level command browsing is easier because subtopics are hidden.

14.List some obstacles for UI design.

Reduce visual work

Reduce intellectual work

Reduce memory work

Reduce motor work

15. What are the common pitfalls in the design process?

The common pitfalls are.

No Early analysis and understanding of the user's needs and expectations

Little or no creation of design element Prototypes

No usability testing.

Poor communication between members of the development team.

16.What are the common usability problems?

Ambiguous menus and icons.

Highlighting and selection limitations.

Unclear Step sequence.

Complex linkage between and within an application.

Inadequate feedback and confirmation

17. Identify human characteristics in design?

The important human characteristics in design are perception, memory, visual and peripheral vision, sensory Storage, information processing & skill and individual differences.       

18. Differentiate between short-term and long-term memory.

Short –term

Contains limited amount of information

Receives information from either the senses or long term memory

Long-term

Contains unlimited amount of information

Receives information from short term through learning process.

19. What is meant by visual activity?    

The Capacity of the eye to resolve details is called visual activity.

Visual activity isapproximately halved at a distance of 2.5 degrees from the point

of eye fixation.   

20. What are the direct methods in requirement analysis?

The direct methods consist of

Individual Face to Face interview.

Telephone Interview or survey.

Traditional Focus group.

Facilitated team work group.

Requirements Prototyping.

Usability Laboratory testing.

21. What are the indirect methods in requirement analysis?

The indirect methods include

Paper survey.

Electronic survey.

Electronic focus group

Marketing and sales.

Support Line.

Email Of Bulletin Board.

System Testing.

22. Define mental model.

It is an internal representation of a person's current conceptualization and understand of something.

Mental model are gradually developed in order to understand, explain and do something.

23. What are the guidelines for designing conceptual model?

Reflect the user's mental model.

Provide proper and correct feedback.

Provide action-response compatibility.

Provide design consistency.

24. What are goals of interface design?

The goals in interface design are

Reduce visual work.

Reduce intellectual work.

Reduce memory work.

Reduce motor work.

What are the elements of screen?

Elements of a screen include control captions, data or information displayed on the screen &headings and headlines.

26. What are the components of a statically graphic?

They have at least 2 axes, 2 scales, an area to Present the data, title, legend and key.

27. What are System Training tools?

System training will be based on users needs, system conceptual design,system learning goals and System performance goals.

Training may include tools such as videotraining, manuals, online tutorials, reference manuals, quick reference guides and online help.

28. What is test for a good design?

It simply involves the use of display techniques, consistent location of elements, the proper useof “white space” and groupings and an understanding of visually pleasing composition.

The best interface makes everything on the screen easily seen.

29. How to achieve clarity?

Clarity is influenced by a multiple factors, such as consistency in design, visually pleasingcomposition, a logical and sequential ordering, the presentation of the proper amount ofinformation, groupings and alignment of screen items.

30. What are the qualities in visually pleasing composition?

Visually pleasing composition contain following qualities such as Balance, Symmetry,

Regularity, Predictability, Sequentially, economy, unity, proportion, simplicity and groupings.

31. What is known as Tabbing?

When a screen is first presented, the cursor must be positioned in the first field or control in which information can be entered.

Tabbing order must then follow the flow of information as it is organized on the screen.

32. What is necessary for ordering?

Ordering is necessary to

Facilitate search for an item.

Provide information about the structure and relationship among items.

Provide compatibility with the user’s mental model of the item structure.

33. Define pull down menu.

It is the first level menus used to provide access to common and frequently used application action that take on a wide variety of different windows.