Re: User Interface Design (was Thin Clients)

[Pete Helgren <Pete@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Trevor,

Reference from the Apple GUI guide (first bullet, in fact):

"Users will learn your application faster if the interface looks and 
behaves like applications they're already familiar with."

Hmmm.  Thank goodness Apple broke their own rule very early on.  
Otherwise we would be feeding punch cards into our personal 
computers.... It also begs the question: If this is the first principle 
of UI design, then shouldn't all applications look like MS Windows 
applications, since 95%  (well, 93.62%) of the computing populace uses 
Windows?  But I digress....

Seriously though, that sentence should read:

"Users will learn your application faster if the interface looks and 
behaves /similar to other interfaces/ they're already familiar with" 
(not necessarily other applications, since many applications are 
designed poorly).  Think of a calendar "interface", or a checkbook 
"interface", they should mimic what the real world version looks like.

Actually, the "Introduction to Apple Human Interface Guidelines" has 
good stuff for making good UI happen.  Thanks for that link.  I have it 
bookmarked even though I think I am too right-brained to use it :-)

Pete


Trevor Perry wrote:
> Pete,
>
> Here is the interesting part of that equation. There are HTML monkeys who
> know less about UI than our RPG community. HTML programming, itself, still
> needs a designer. As you say, you " don't think a programmer should be
> designing a UI in a web solution."
>
> HTML is great for organizing text and images, but not that wonderful in
> delivering a decent user experience - especially for a business application.
> What we need is more "user experience" and "graphic DESIGN" qualified
> people.
>
> Or, buy a mac - you learn a lot that way :-)
>
> Trevor
>
>
>
> On 9/13/07 8:10 PM, "Pete Helgren" <Pete@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
>   
> > And from IMHO a while back -  System i evolution: The missing link is
> > still missing (Part 2):
> >
> > "It was recommended very early on that we hire at least two "HTML
> > Monkeys" (as one programmer called them) to offload the UI to folks with
> > the proper orientation to UI. That recommendation was never followed but
> > would have saved countless hours of programmer time. I honestly don't
> > think a programmer should be designing a UI in a web solution. Period."
> >
> > Yeah, we should know about it abut never do it.
> >
> > Pete Helgren
> >
> >
> > Jon Paris wrote:
> >     
> > > Our blog entry this week (http://ibmsystemsmag.blogs.com/idevelop/) was
> > > intended to get try and get people to think about UI design from a different
> > > perspective.  A completely different perspective!  Although not a million
> > > miles from the kind of thinking that Trevor alluded to in his comments on
> > > RFID tags.
> > >
> > > Jon Paris
> > > Partner400
> > >
> > > www.Partner400.com
> > >
> > >
> > >   
> > >       
>
>
>