User Interface Design

1
User Interface Design

• Jie Cai
• Tiem-Yen Liang
• Soodtida Tangpraphaphorn

2
What is a User Interface?

• UI is the basic format allowing a user to operate
  a program
• Command Line (CLI) is text-based
• Graphical User Interface (GUI) relies on pictures
• Both user interfaces can be applied to biomedical
  informatics
• But when?

3
UI Components

• Most common GUI configuration
• WIMP window, icon, mouse, pointer
• CLI configurations can vary
• Scripts
• TUI looks like graphic, but comprised of text
  characters

4
Design Principles

• Know your users!
• Needs and goals
• Special professional jargon
• Computer literacy
• Emulate a familiar system
• Nobody loves an ugly GUI

5
Human-Computer Interaction

• Study of interactions between computers and
  people
• Interdisciplinary field draws from informatics,
  psych, cog. sci., comp. sci., etc.
• Clear understanding of HCI improves
  user-friendliness

6
Clinical Contexts

• Identify need
• Clinical, administration, research
• A precise definition of the problem
• Tech solution is unacceptable if it misses the
  point
• Technology addresses the need
• Development driven by tech often fails
• To do or not to do?

7
Buy It? Develop It?

• Off-the-shelf software
• Less expensive
• Expensive to customize
• If it works well enough, BUY it!
• Custom development
• Expensive
• Can we actually do this?
• If it aint broke, dont fix it

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When Things Go Awry

• If the user is not comfortable with the
  interface, he/she will give up
• Mistakes can be oty
• Case example (Ch. 5)

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How to Make It All Better

• User involvement
• Model user habits indirectly
• Direct user involvement better, but complicated
• Medical information specialists
• Mediate between users and software developers

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How to Make It All Better (cond)

• User testing
• Prototyping
• Spiral model
• Evaluation
• Case example (Ch. 5)

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THE END