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user interface

The way a person interacts with a computer or electronic device. The user interface (UI) comprises the screen menus and icons, keyboard shortcuts, mouse and gesture movements, command language...

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Definition: user interface

The way a person interacts with a computer or electronic device. The user interface (UI) comprises the screen menus and icons, keyboard shortcuts, mouse and gesture movements, command language and online help, as well as physical buttons, dials and levers. Also included are all input devices, such as a mouse, keyboard, touch screen, remote control and game controller.

Slowly, and although fraught with errors that are often laughable, voice and natural language recognition are becoming standard components of the user interface.

The Bar Was Always Set Low
The user interface is the most important, yet least-understood area in the computer industry. Every application has only a handful of basic functions that users need all the time, yet they are often buried in arcane submenus that must be memorized. Worse yet, once bad examples are set by major vendors, others follow like sheep. Since popular applications are often hard to learn, users have come to expect that using software has to be difficult, when in fact, it could be downright simple if educated designers were involved.

Users Are Reluctant to Change
Because of the steep learning curves people have to endure, many are loathe to change applications. While the software industry constantly touts "productivity gains" for every new product, the lost hours figuring out how to do something, combined with the gun-shy reluctance to actually try a different product that might really be an improvement often do not enhance productivity. See RTFM, naming fiascos, Freedman's law, Web rage and HCI.

It Can Change World History
Nothing better highlights the importance of a user interface than the 2000 U.S. presidential election. The confusing punch card ballot used in Palm Beach County, Florida caused thousands of voters to vote for Buchanan rather than Gore or Bush, and the presidency hinged on the results. Is a ballot a user interface? Of course; any engineered interaction between people and machines is a user interface.


user interface

Give Us a Break!
These delightful names were the folders on a digital camera's memory card. Is there something wrong with names such as Still, Moving, Audio, and Email? This insanity is perpetrated by countless vendors.



user interface

Give Us Another Break!
We may have dazzling HDTVs, but we often contend with dopey button naming. The salvation for this family was to attach labels to clarify P.Size, S.Mode and P.Mode.



user interface

Wretched Design
Common on inexpensive remotes with limited room, this uniform matrix of buttons makes it impossible to select a function by feel in a dimly lit room.



user interface

Great Design
Much of the iPod's initial success is attributed to its easy-to-use click wheel. Originally rotating, and later changed to stationary and touch sensitive, the wheel is clicked and also scrolled by moving a finger around it.



user interface

Keep the Elevator Door Open
The big red button that catches your eye quickly in this building elevator is for an exceedingly rare fire emergency. Wouldn't a big red button be better for the countless times people panic every day to keep the door from closing.



user interface

A Century of Experience Doesn't Help
With nearly 100 years of audio experience between them, Alan Freedman, author of this encyclopedia (right), and his colleague Pete Hermsen, who built his own radio at age eight, struggled in vain to balance the speakers on Freedman's new receiver. The manual was worthless (see RTFM).



user interface





THIS DEFINITION IS FOR PERSONAL USE ONLY
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© 1981-2010 The Computer Language Company Inc. All rights reserved.

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