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| Question | Answer |
| system interfaces | – inputs or outputs that require minimal human intervention |
| user interfaces | – system interfaces that directly involve a system user |
| user-centered design | – design techniques that embody the view that the user interface is the entire system |
| usability | – degree to which a system is easy to learn and use |
| metaphors | – analogies between features of the user interface and aspects of physical reality that users are familiar with |
| direct manipulation metaphor | – metaphor in which objects on a display are manipulated to look like physical objects (pictures) or graphic symbols that represent them (icons) |
| desktop metaphor | – metaphor in which the visual display is organized into distinct regions, with a large empty workspace in the middle and a collection of tool icons around the perimeter |
| document metaphor | – metaphor in which data is visually represented as paper pages or forms |
| dialog metaphor | – metaphor in which user and computer accomplish a task by engaging in a conversation or dialog via text, voice, or tools such as labeled buttons |
| human-computer interaction (HCI) | – field of study concerned with the efficiency and effectiveness of user interfaces vis-à-vis computer systems, human-oriented input and output technology, and psychological aspects of user interfaces |
| affordance | – when the appearance of a specific control suggests its function visibility when a control is visible so that users know it is available, the control providing immediate feedback to indicate that it is responding to the user |
| storyboarding | – sequence of sketches of the display screen during a dialog |
| text box | – a rectangular box that accepts text typed on a keyboard or recognized from speech input |
| list box | – a text box that contains a list of predefined data values |
| combo box | – a text box that contains a predefined list of acceptable entries but permits the user to enter a new value when the list doesn’t contain the desired value |
| radio buttons | – a group of choices from which the user selects only one; the system then automatically turns off all other buttons in the group |
| check boxes | – similar to radio buttons, but the user can select multiple items within the group |
| cascading style sheets (CSS) | – Web page encoding standard that enables a Web site designer to specify parts of a page that will always look the same and parts that will vary by task or audience |
| assistive technologies | – software (such as text-to-speech and voice-recognition utilities) that adapts user interfaces to the special needs of persons with disabilities |
| Extensible Markup Language (XML) | -extension of HTML that embeds self-defining data structures within textual messages |
| XML tags | – character sequences (such as <name> and </name>) that define the beginning, end, and meaning of the text that appears between them |
| detailed reports | – reports that contain specific information on business transactions |
| summary reports | – reports that summarize detail or recap periodic activity |
| exception reports | – reports that provide details or summary information about transactions or operating results that fall outside a predefined normal range of values |
| executive reports | – reports used by high-level managers to assess overall organizational health and performance |
| internal outputs | – reports or other outputs produced for use within the organization |
| external outputs | – reports or other outputs produced for use by people outside the organization |
| turnaround documents | – external outputs that includes one or more parts intended to be returned with new data or information |
| drill down | – user-interface design technique that enables a user to select summary information and view supporting detail |
| What are the three aspects of the system that make up the user interface for a user? | Physical, perceptual, and conceptual aspects. |
| What are some examples of the physical, perceptual, and conceptual aspects of the user interface? | Keyboard, mouse, touch screen, reference manuals, documents, data entry forms. Data on the screen, shapes, lines, numbers, words, beeps, clicks, menus, dialog boxes, icons, drawings. Conceptual aspects of the user interface include everything the user knows about using the system, including all of the problem domain “things” in the system the user is manipulating, the operations that can be performed, and the procedures followed to carry out the operations. |
| What are the four metaphors used to describe human-computer interaction? | Direct manipulation metaphor, desktop metaphor, document metaphor, and dialog metaphor. |
| A desktop on the screen is an example of which of the metaphors used to describe human-computer interaction? | This started as a direct manipulation metaphor, which over time grew into the desktop metaphor itself. |
| What type of document allows the user to click a link and jump to another part of the document? | Hypertext |
| List and briefly describe four guidelines for interface layout and formatting that apply to all types of user display and input devices. | Consistency—All the forms within a system need to have the same look and feel. Consistent use of function keys, shortcuts, control buttons, color, and layout makes a system much more useful and professional looking. Labels and headings—Labels should also be easy to identify and read. A clear, descriptive title at the top of the interface helps to minimize confusion about a form’s use. Distribution and order—Related fields are usually placed next to each other and can be grouped within a box. Tab order should follow the users’ usual reading order. Fonts and colors—Variations in font face and size can help users distinguish different parts of the form, but only a handful of font and size variations should be used for larger screens and as few as possible should be used for small screens. |
| What additional guidelines apply to Web sites/pages and user interfaces for mobile computing devices? | Consistency Performance Pictures and video display Users with disabilities Small screen sizes |
| What is the technique that shows a sequence of sketches of the display screen during a dialog? | Storyboarding |
| What are some of the input controls that can be used to select an item from a list? | List boxes and combo boxes. Radio buttons and check boxes also show lists (or groups). |
| What two types of input controls are included in groups? | Groups are radio buttons and check boxes. |
| What popular analogy is used for direct customer access with a Web site when customers shop online? | Shopping cart analogy. |
| What does XML stand for? Explain how XML is similar to HTML. Also discuss the differences between XML and HTML. | XML stands for Extensible Markup Language. It is similar to HTML in that it has tags that are used to identify groups of elements. It also allows nested tags. However, in XML the tags are user defined and must be done with another data definition file to define what the tags are and how they relate to each other. |
| How do you identify the data fields of a system interface by using UML and the object-oriented approach? | In a system sequence diagram, the parameters on the input messages are the data fields that are passed into the system (e.g. to the user interface) from the user. |
| What are the different considerations for output screen design and output report design? | Output screens are more dynamic but have limited information available at one time. It is harder to view multiple pages at the same time with screen output. However, dynamic features, such as drill down, can be provided so that summary information does not have to stand alone. Printed output is more permanent. Consequently, it should always include identifying fields, such as date printed. Because reports are not dynamic, they must be self-contained and include all necessary information to be understandable. |
| What is meant by drill down? Give an example of how you might use it in a report design. | Drill down means the ability (with online reports or output screens) to select a field and “drill down” to show more detail on the data in that field. It is often used on summary reports. Clicking on a summary amount, for example a yearly total, could open up another window showing the month by month totals. |
| What is the danger from information overload? What solutions can you think of to avoid it? | Information overload can cause users to miss important facts, such as exception conditions. Users can also become discouraged when they are unable to find the information they need within reams of unimportant data. Solutions generally include identifying the information that is important and highlighting it using color or graphics, or by visually separating it from the other data. |
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