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Safe Systems Through Better User Interface

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Title: Safe Systems Through Better User Interface


1
Safe Systems Through Better User Interface
  • By Niall Murphy

2
Roadmap
  • What is the connection between user interface and
    safety?
  • What is the tradeoff between usability and
    safety?
  • What kind of features in the interface are
    related to safety?
  • How should we validate the user input?
  • What kind of safety related parameters should be
    presented to the user?
  • How should we alarm the user ?

3
Safety-design Connection
  • Sometimes the worst accidents take place on
    perfectly functioning hardware and software that
    the operator simply misunderstood or misused
    because of a deficient user interface.
  • When you analyze the safety properties of a
    system, its important to ensure that the design
    is both true to the safety requirements and
    robust enough to tolerate certain failures.

4
The Usability vs. Safety Tradeoff
  • To provide safety, you must often make the user
    work harder.
  • Many situations involve a direct trade-off
    between usability and safety.
  • Example Therac-25 - cancer irradiation device.

5
The Usability vs. Safety Tradeoff
  • Therac-25
  • One of the safety features in the original design
    was that all the settings for the device had to
    be entered through a terminal, as well as on a
    control panel.
  • This was seen as redundant by users of a
    prototype, so the design was changed before
    release so that the settings could be entered on
    the terminal alone.
  • Once the settings were accepted by hitting the
    return key, the user was asked to confirm that
    the settings were correct.

6
The Usability vs. Safety Tradeoff
  • Therac-25
  • With repetition, the action became like
    double-clicking a mouse, and thus the settings
    were never really reviewed.
  • Because of a bug in the software, though, some
    settings werent properly recorded.
  • The user of the device didnt review the
    confirmation message (which included the wrong
    data).
  • The outcome several people were killed !!
  • Note too that the later design was more
    susceptible to the simple user error of entering
    a wrong value.

7
The Usability vs. Safety Tradeoff
  • Often, safety measures can serve this dual
    purpose of protecting against device error and
    user error.
  • Example intensive care medical ventilators.
  • A pressure valve opens at a fixed pressure limit.
    An alarm sounds and the patient is exposed to
    room air pressure in the fail-safe state.
  • This feature protects the patient against an
    electronic or software fault that may deliver a
    large volume of gas, as well as from a user
    accidentally setting 3.0 liters rather than the
    intended 0.3 liters.

8
Types of Information
  • Three types of information must be presented
    clearly
  • Direct feedback to actions taken by the user
    (validating inputs).
  • Monitored parameters of the system.
  • Alarms that alert the user, usually audibly, to
    unusual patterns in the monitored parameters.

9
Validating Input - Irreversible Actions
  • If the user can easily perform irreversible
    actions, a mistake may have serious consequences.
    The system must make it obvious that an important
    action is about to take place.
  • Asking the user to confirm an action is common,
    but not necessarily the best approach. (as we saw
    in the Therac-25 example).
  • Sometimes, making the action different from usual
    user actions is enough.

10
Validating Input Irreversible Actions
  • Example a piece of medical equipment might have
    an apply to patient button that would be
    pressed only when the adjusted settings are to be
    made active on the patient.
  • This button can be placed a distance from the
    other input controls, just as the power switch on
    a desktop computer is not placed on the keyboard.

11
Validating Input Removed Risks
  • The system can attempt to guarantee that risk has
    been removed before proceeding.
  • Example paper-cutting machines.
  • You can remove this risk by placing two buttons
    on either side of the machine, which the user
    must press simultaneously to lower the blade.

12
Validating Input Ambiguity
  • Construct dialogs that are clear and unambiguous.
    Example
  • Note that this example also breaks the earlier
    rule that irreversible action buttons should be
    placed far from any other button. It is better to
    place the ACCEPT button left to the screen.
  • A state of emergency is obviously the worst time
    to make a mistake In this case, it is also the
    most likely because of the stress that user might
    be in.

13
Monitoring
  • Monitored values are the users window into the
    process. The monitored values should tell the
    user the state of the system at a glance.
  • An alarm that only detects whether the settings
    are being applied isnt sufficient in a
    safety-critical system.
  • Monitored values will tell the user when hes
    approaching the danger zone, while alarm can only
    give indication when the values are in the danger
    zone itself

14
Monitoring
  • The problem with relying solely on settings and
    alarms is that alarms simply cant react quickly
    enough
  • If you set alarm bands so tightly that a slight
    system anomaly causes an alarm to sound, youll
    see a lot of false alarms.
  • If the bounds are set widely enough to avoid
    false alarms, alarms wont occur as early as
    youd like when a parameter slowly drifts out of
    its desired range.
  • The only solution is to provide monitored
    information that allows observation of the state
    of the system over time.

15
Monitoring Analog and digital displays
  • Values displayed in an analog fashion, such as a
    bar graph or an analog needle indicator, are
    quicker to read and better at providing relative
    measures.
  • Digital displays are more precise but require
    more concentration by the user.
  • Ideally, you should provide both.

16
Monitoring
  • If average or recent values are available, the
    user can notice sudden changes in behavior.
  • Example monitoring heart beats.

17
Monitoring independent channels
  • On the one hand, we should avoid presenting too
    much information, as that could make important
    patterns difficult to decipher.
  • On the other hand, when safety is an issue, we
    should present information from as many
    independent channels as possible in order to make
    the system more robust.
  • The way to combine this two principles can be
    done by multiplexing the information. Consider
    this furnace display

18
Monitoring independent channels
  • Example furnace display
  • Two options of displaying the average and current
    temperature monitored by two separated
    thermostats placed on two different sides of a
    furnace. Which display is safer?

19
Monitoring independent channels
  • Example furnace display (continue)
  • You can argue that a simple alarm can check the
    difference between the two thermostats and
    annunciate if the difference becomes too large.
    But
  • During warm-up or cool-down, the differences may
    be larger than those seen during quiescent
    conditions.
  • If an alarms tolerance is set wide enough to
    cover all possible situations, it may be wide
    enough to allow a faulty sensor to pass its test.
    This leaves you back at square one

20
Alarms
  • Safety-critical systems require both an alarm
    system and a monitoring system to provide
    warnings of device failure and to warn of
    possibly dangerous patterns in the monitored
    parameters.
  • There are two ways to display alarms to the user
  • Text lists (LCD or VDU).
  • Dedicated alarms (visual or audible).

21
Alarms Text lists
  • Video display units (VDUs), allow you to display
    an alarm as a text message, rather than requiring
    a dedicated indicator.
  • Advantages
  • If the number of possible alarms is high then the
    VDU is the only option because of the amount of
    space that would be occupied by many individual
    indicators.
  • Example nuclear power station monitoring rooms
    have hundreds of possible alarms.
  • The VDU has an added advantage if secondary
    information, such as a value for the monitored
    parameter, can be displayed with the alarm.

22
Alarms Text lists
  • Advantages
  • A VDU can also order the alarms, either
    chronologically or priority-based. The user can
    be given several filtering options, such as
    displaying only temperature-related alarms or
    alarms that occurred in the last five minutes.
  • Several views of the system can provide the user
    with extra insight into the cause of the alarms.

23
Alarms Text lists
  • Disadvantages
  • Text-based alarms on a VDU may cause confusion by
    giving the user too much information. In an
    emergency, many conditions are annunciated
    simultaneously, challenging the users ability to
    read all of the generated text.
  • Its too easy for developers to give a long and
    informative description of the condition.
  • An LCD-based VDU may not be bright enough for an
    alarm to be noticed from the far side of the
    room.

24
Alarms Dedicated indicators
  • The designer of a critical-safety device may
    choose to present alarms by using dedicated
    alarms (audibly or visually).
  • Advantages
  • Individual indicators (often LEDs and a label)
    allow a visible pattern to emerge from the
    combination of conditions at any given moment.
  • No real-estate competition exists between alarms
    one alarm never forces another off the screen.

25
Alarms Dedicated indicators
  • Advantages
  • The user knows which condition is associated with
    an indicator and does not have to read a lot of
    text to establish it.
  • Disadvantage
  • Sometimes, audible alarms are not directional
    enough and the user may need to establish the
    alarms source by glancing at many devices.
  • This is particularly true in hospital
    intensive-care units, where each patient can be
    connected to several devices capable of
    generating audible alarms.

26
Alarms
  • How can we combine the advantages of dedicated
    alarms and text lists?
  • You can effectively compromise by using bright
    indicators for the most urgent alarm, and
    including further information on the VDU.
  • Alternatively, you can use a small number of
    indicators for the most important conditions,
    while the less-frequent or less-urgent conditions
    can be displayed only on the VDU.

27
So, what have we seen?
  • Safety-design connection.
  • Usability-safety tradeoff.
  • Types of safety related information.
  • Validating inputs.
  • Irreversible Actions
  • Removed Risks
  • Ambiguity
  • Monitoring
  • Analog and digital displays
  • Recent values over time
  • independent channels
  • Alarms
  • Text list
  • Dedicated alarms

28
Principles of User Interface Design By Niall
Murphy
29
Roadmap
  • Approaches to UI design
  • Usability by evaluation
  • Usability by principles
  • Issues concerning UI design
  • Robustness
  • Affordance
  • Surface area
  • Compatibility
  • Directed interfaces
  • Equal opportunity
  • Multiple paths
  • Migrating From mechanical to software

30
Interface Design
  • There are two fundamental approaches to usability
    design
  • Usability by evaluation
  • Usability by principles

31
Usability by evaluation
  • Dissecting a design to find its strong and weak
    points, with a view to making improvements
  • Historically, a lot of usability work is done
    this way
  • usability is not considered until someone
    realizes that the product is hard to use
  • Pros
  • Its easy to criticize an already built design
  • Cons
  • Its difficult to decide what to improve
  • Hard to make changes (product already built)

32
Usability by principles
  • Its about deciding ahead of time
  • what usability properties will be desirable on
    this interface
  • what kind of people will use it
  • Pros
  • The product's usability features can be discussed
    and documented more powerfully
  • Allows transfer of usability concepts from one
    product to another
  • Cons
  • Sometimes, can you never know how the interface
    would act,
  • until you try it

33
Robustness
  • Robustness - indicates how well the object
    tolerates rough use and
    carelessness
  • A robust user interface is not necessarily
    physically strongbut,
  • tolerates improper inputs (or makes them
    impossible )
  • protects the device from accidental damage due to
    an incorrect input , and
  • Protects the user himself

34
Robustness Spectrum
  • From the Sinclair ZX Spectrum (1982) home
    computer's user manual
  • "Nothing typed at the keyboard can damage
    this computer."
  • It reduced users' anxiety - they would not
    destroy their purchase no matter how many silly
    mistakes they made
  • It was sign of good design of the computer- ITS
    ROBSUT
  • As a result
  • Many programmers wrote their first programs on
    that system, without having to worry about any
    damage a buggy program might cause

35
Robustness Deleting a file
  • Deleting a file by mistake
  • A robust interface should not allow an accident
    like that to occur easily
  • The system could ask users "Do you really want
    to delete VeryImportantFile.txt?"
  • system more robust, but
  • less usable (now it takes more key strokes to
    delete a file )
  • Better - allow an undelete command
  • system more robust, AND
  • ease of use has not been compromised

36
Robustness confirmation
  • In general, asking for confirmation of an action
    is a clumsy way to add robustness
  • Using an interface should be as natural as using
    a tool from your toolbox - Your hammer does not
    ask you if you want to hit something, just before
    impact
  • In fact, confirming actions often becomes
    automatic
  • The user will kit the OK button without reading
    the question,
  • therefore, it adds little protection in any
    case

37
Robustness Limiting the users
  • Limiting the users - prevent them setting illegal
    values
  • Important make the user know he has been
    limited !!
  • using an internal limit can have the disadvantage
    that the user may believe that the device is
    acting on the entered input values, while its
    really acting on the limited values
  • Its better to limit the user at the time of
    input
  • An ATM machine will not allow a request for too
    much money - The system is protecting the user
    from becoming overdrawn

38
Robustness Wording error messages
  • A message that says "Illegal action" not only
    gives the user very little information, it also
    suggests that he is a criminal!
  • Its better telling the user what is actually
    wrong, something like
    "Can't record no tape inserted."

39
Robustness Wording error messages
40
Robustness error messages
  • Ok, so we improved the product, but the
    interface has become less user friendly !
  • Devices that tell you what you can and cannot do
    are unpleasant to use
  • In many cases you can get the best of both worlds
  • What happens when you reach the highest channel
    at the TV?
  • The TV could beep and flash if the user tries to
    go any higher
  • It is much better to wrap around to the lowest
    channel

41
Robustness avoiding error messages
  • Users find it unpleasant to be told they have
    made a mistake, so design fewer paths that end in
    error messages.
  • error message is like an airbag-it minimizes
    damage once the accident has happened
  • Its far better to supply the user with an
    anti-lock braking system, which might avoid the
    accident in the first place
  • Input from numeric keypad you can reject
    illegal values
  • Input from a dial you can simply limit the
    range mechanically

42

43
Robustness undo
  • What about the case where the user performs an
    action that is a valid input to the system and
    then realizes that it was not the appropriate
    action ?
  • Undo operation
  • The problem
  • how much will get undone ?
  • Will a second undo go back further into history,
    or will it redo the undone command ?

44
Robustness undo
  • An important guideline to a more robust system
  • The effort taken to undo the action is equal to
    the effort taken to perform the action in the
    first place
  • A tape recorder (and they do exist) with a fast
    forward button but no reverse button
    ..not so robust
  • Or - from mode A to mode B 10 steps from
    mode B to mode A 1 step
  • Expect your users to be displeased if they are in
    mode B, and entered mode A by accident

45
Robustness undo
  • Some exceptions
  • When mode A is a safer mode than mode B
  • You may then wish to make it quite difficult to
    get into the high risk mode B, but easy to
    escape from it
  • This does not make the system easier to use, but
    it surly makes it safer.

46
Robustness undo/ confirmation
  • Sometimes, a physical action taken by the device
    cannot be undone
  • You cannot unlaunch a rocket!
  • In that case, some confirmation is required
  • Typing in a complex sequence every time an
    irreversible action is to be done, will reduce
    the chance doing it by accident , or
  • Two buttons that are to be pressed simultaneously
  • But again, avoid forcing the users to confirm so
    many details, so many times per day, that they
    confirm actions automatically

47
Robustness Guidelines
  • Avoid too many confirmation messages
  • Confirmation of irreversible action should be
    done through typing a complex sequence
  • Allow undo action, if possible
  • Control the ease of the undo action
  • Limit the user from inserting illegal input
  • Try to avoid the need of error messages
  • Error message should be informative

48
Affordance
  • Affordance the property that indicates how
    obvious a devices function is from
    its appearance
  • Take a pair of scissors for instance
  • The scissors afford holding and cutting!
  • Some things are obviously easy to use because you
    can see all of the controls
  • The buttons to control the tape may be marked
    PLAY, REWIND, FAST FORWARD, and STOP giving
    further information
  • A camcorder with speakers suggests it can play
    sound

49
Affordance
50
Affordance touchscreen
  • But what if the device has a less conventional
    control?
  • A device controlled by a touchscreen
  • The user might not immediately realize that the
    screen's surface is touch sensitive
  • Making the on-screen buttons three dimensional
    will hint to the user that they can be pressed
    down just like a mechanical button.

51
Affordance touchscreen
52
Affordance labeling
  • What do those buttons actually do?
  • Labeling is a delicate art
  • Sometimes a button performs more than one action
    -requires two labels
  • The double label looks awkward
  • POWER does a good job of replacing ON/OFF.
  • . , but such replacements are not always
    available !

53
Affordance labeling
  • The Microsoft Word 5.0 toolbar
  • Is it an ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs??
  • icon as a metaphor how much imagination do you
    need?
  • The Netscape toolbar

54
Affordance placing buttons
  • A common fault in industrial design - to place
    buttons in a symmetrical pattern
  • They line them up like soldiers, each one looking
    like the next
  • This makes sense if each has a similar meaning
  • such as each one representing a different TV
    channel
  • But, If the buttons perform separate functions?
  • Try to group them according to function
  • Use bigger buttons for the more popular functions
  • and keep the rare-but-nasty functions out of the
    way

55
Affordance placing buttons
56
Affordance pressing in sequence
  • If certain buttons, or a number of choices are
    likely to be pressed in sequence
  • Arrange them in a left to right ordering (since
    this is the way people read)
  • If the path is not trivial use arrows

57
Affordance Guidelines
  • The labeling of controls should be clear and
    simple
  • Group controls with similar functionality
  • Frequently used buttons should be bigger
  • If certain buttons are likely to be pressed in
    sequence arrange them in a way which reflect the
    right order

58
Surface area definition
  • Surface area - the number of controls available
    and the number of actions that can be
    performed upon them
  • A device with more dials, buttons, and displays
    has a greater surface area
  • As the number of features in a device grows,
  • the design is likely to hide many of them
  • Industrial designers who want a simple form
  • Mechanical engineers who want fewer parts

59
Surface area more buttons
  • A telephone that can access voice mail
  • If you still have to use the digits buttons, you
    cant guess its capable to enter the voice mail
  • The phone would be far easier to use if the
    buttons ENTER VOICE MAIL, NEXT MESSAGE, and
    DELETE MESSAGE were added
  • The phone may look more complex, but you can
    always ignore those buttons
  • The more of the user interface's functionality
    that is visible to the user, It will be easier
    to learn and understand the device.

60
Surface area multiplexing a button
  • Some of the worst designs are a result of taking
    a product with complex interface, and trying to
    deliver it through a simple front panel.
  • Fewer buttons, often require multiplexing them.
  • Multiplexing a control when one button has
    several different uses
  • An interface will be less usable if the user has
    to decide, whether button "2" means exit voice
    mail, or delete message

61
Surface area multiplexing output
  • Output can be multiplexed as well
  • A single LED might indicate power on most of the
    time, but it can flash to indicate low battery at
    other times
  • A single numeric display can show temperature at
    one stage, and the time of day at another point
  • The user should have some hint,
  • to show which mode it is in
  • AM/PM indicator
  • Having many displays would make life easier on
    the user, not harder
  • Assuming that the displays are properly labeled

62
Surface area Guidelines
  • A device with many function should have as many
    controls
  • Try to make the functionality of the device as
    visible as possible through the surface area
  • Avoid multiplexing input controls and output
    displays
  • If multiplexing is unavoidable, give sufficient
    indication

63
Compatibility
  • Three levels of compatibility should be in an
    interface
  • Compatibility between what the user expects and
    what the user gets
  • Compatibility between different products of the
    same type
  • Compatibility between the device and its
    surroundings

64
Compatibility expects-gets
  • A lever-operated press moves down when
  • the arm is raised and up when the arm
  • is lowered
  • Good engineering
  • Bad usability the user may revert to the more
  • natural mapping in an emergency, thus causing
  • an accident
  • But in software (GUI), engineering issues are not
    relevant
  • So UP buttons should be above DOWN buttons
  • In general, you do not want to surprise the user

65
Compatibility between products
  • Compatibility between products is not such a
    simple issue
  • The history of products in your market may
    dictate rules, even if
  • a better way of doing the job has been found
  • Predecessors of a particular piece of equipment
    may have set a precedent for the way certain
    operations are performed
  • Engineers often find this frustrating - their
    elegant design is being soiled by unfair
    requirement created by history
  • ?
  • Even though you have a good product, if its not
    compatible with the majority, users will think
    twice before purchasing it

66
Compatibility between products
  • The same functions should be similar on different
    devices
  • ISO 9995 has set a standard for the arrangement
    of letters on the buttons of a telephone or other
    numeric keypad
  • Though phones the world over still vary in the
    placement of letters
  • Annoyingly, numeric keypads on computers are
    upside-down when compared to the telephone
    standard

67
Compatibility between products
  • The symbols on the main buttons of a VCR have
    also been standardized
  • though the rest of the controls on the VCR may
    vary greatly-even within one product line.

68
Compatibility between products
  • Some standards are not so quickly accepted
  • ISO 8601 is a standard for date and time formats.
    It dictates a yyyy-mm-dd format for dates
  • Europe uses the dd/mm/yy format
  • The U.S. uses the mm/dd/yy
  • The ISO standard is a more logical format
  • It starts with the most significant unit and then
    moves to the successively smaller units as you
    read it from left to right
  • It has a distinct advantage - it can be sorted
    chronologically (since the most significant unit
    is to the left )
  • This standard is common only in Japan and a few
    other countries
  • The other formats are so well established - so
    the vast majority of the world doesnt use it

69
Compatibility between products
  • If no standard is in place
  • At least try to ensure that all products
  • from the same type/company, are
  • compatible
  • In a rack stereo system, the on/off button for
    each one should have similar positioning
  • Compatible mental models and behavior are more
    important than compatible appearance
  • Matching interactions is more important than
    matching the color or the company logo

70
Compatibility surrounding environment
  • You must also attempt to be compatible with the
    surrounding environment
  • If the device will be used in a noisy
    environment, very quiet alarm sounds will not be
    appropriate
  • A pocket calculator may be used by students in a
    quiet library, so you do not want it to make loud
    key-click noises
  • But sometimes you will not be able to guess the
    environment in advance
  • An automatic teller machine lobby with mirrored
    walls, to prevent customers feeling
    claustrophobic, would make the user's key
  • presses - including their PIN-visible from
    almost anywhere in the lobby !

71
Compatibility Guidelines
  • Dont surprise the user (what you see is what you
    get)
  • Design the UI to be compatible with other
    similar devices
  • Apply international standards if possible
  • Be compatible with the surrounding environment

72
Directed interfaces definition
  • Some interfaces strongly suggest a direction
  • A question-and-answer session provides an
    interaction where the direction is dictated by
    the user interface-
  • That type of interaction is considered directed
  • In a car dashboard You start the ignition and
    any number of things are available for you to do
  • This is a non-directed interface

73
Directed interfaces when to apply
  • When should you design a directed interface?
  • When the device has a single simple goal
  • It also good for the novice user

74
Directed interfaces when to apply
  • What about non-directed interface?
  • It provides more power to the user who knows how
    to navigate the device's features
  • Sometimes you can combine both
  • An ATM will give you little or no options until
    you have entered your card and personal
    identification number
  • Once the card has been validated, you get much
    more flexibility

75
Directed interfaces Guidelines
  • Novice users usually prefer directed interfaces
    with an obvious path
  • Non-directed interfaces are more powerful but
    more difficult to use
  • Try to combine directed and non-directed
    interface if needed

76
Equal opportunity
  • Equal opportunity- The principle of using a piece
    of device output as a
    piece of user input
  • Keeping the paths that the user has to follow
    short and simple is always an advantage
  • Devices output that can be treated as an input
  • A cruise control in a car
  • Last caller display on a phone

77
Equal opportunity
  • Some windowing systems dont allow the copy
    paste action
  • If data is already available, do not force the
    user to enter it again

78
Multiple paths
  • If your interface provides more than one way to
    perform a function, ask yourself "Is there a
    reason for each path?"
  • When is it necessary?
  • When one way is slow but obvious, and another is
    quick but only likely to be known by the expert
    user
  • However, if the alternatives are arbitrary, the
    user may assume that there is some difference in
    the result
  • Some side effect that he haven't noticed before
  • This may lead to user discomfort

79
From mechanical to software
  • A software-based device can hide the mechanics of
    the device from the user, and
  • can greatly increase the amount and types of
    information presented to the user
  • Engineers are inclined towards a
    more-information-is-always-better philosophy
  • This does not always lead to better interfaces

80
From mechanical to software
  • Users want enough information to solve the
    problem at hand
  • They may not be as skilled as a typical engineer
  • A lot of information is only of peripheral
    interest

81
From mechanical to software fuel
  • When converting from mechanical indicator to a
    software-controlled display
  • It may be tempting to change the type information
    presented
  • A fuel level indicator on a car dashboard
    replaced by a small liquid crystal display
  • Variety of information can be presented to the
    user
  • In each case the user forms a conceptual model of
    the fuel tank

82
From mechanical to software hidden rules
  • When changing the type of information presented
  • The user might need to learn some new rules
  • Fuel consumption in a traffic jam
  • Not everyone reads the user manual
  • and the interface does not explicitly tell
    him
  • Hidden rules can be dangerous
  • If there are too many of them, the user will
    constantly find himself surprised by the device's
    actions

83
From mechanical to software too much info
  • Many interfaces fall into the trap of giving the
    user far more precision than they require
  • There is little value in telling users
  • You have enough fuel for another 31.7 miles
  • The vagueness of the needle in this case is an
    advantage
  • The needle says
  • "I don't know exactly how much further you can
    go, and we are not at the panic stage yet, but if
    you see a gas station, you may as well stop."

84
From mechanical to software too much info
  • An alternative may be to present the driver with
    a range of values
  • 31.7 miles plus/minus 10 ???
  • If the tank is low on fuel, the sensible thing to
    do is fill up at the next opportunity

85
From mechanical to software copy functionality
  • The designer may do well to copy the
    functionality of the needle
  • This will be less threatening for the new user
    because he can relate easily to his past
    experience with the needle display
  • An interface controlled from software could
    control a needle in a number of ways
  • Digital needle, use of LEDs
  • Whats important is the functionality !
  • Users will quickly adapt to a new appearance, but
    not to changes in functionality

86
From mechanical to software Guidelines
  • Avoid giving unnecessary information
  • Design the software UI to be consistent with its
    mechanical predecessor (do not change the
    functionality)
  • When converting from mechanical indicator to a
    software-controlled display dont change the type
    information presented.
  • Avoid hidden rules
  • Avoid giving the users more precision then they
    require

87
summary
  • The interface properties we have talked about
    are
  • Robustness
  • Affordance
  • Surface area
  • Compatibility
  • Directed interfaces
  • Equal opportunity
  • Multiple paths
  • From mechanical to software

88
Pros Cons
  • Cons
  • Only few examples
  • Many repetitions
  • Pros
  • Interesting easy to relate
  • Use of cynicism

89
Reference
  • Leveson, Nancy. Safeware, System Safety and
    Computers . Reading, MA Addison-Wesley, 1995.
  • Stanton, Neville. Human Factors in Alarm Design .
    London Taylor Francis Ltd., 1994.
  • Neumann, Peter G. Computer Related Risks.
    Reading MA Addison-Wesley, 1995.
  • Thimbleby, Harold. User Interface Design. New
    York City ACM Press, 1990.
  • Equal Opportunity Tutorial available at
    www.panelsoft.com/tut_equal.
  • http//www.interfacemafia.org
  • http//cfg.cit.cornell.edu/cfg/design/concepts.htm
    l
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