Methods for User Interface Design

Traditional user interface design has been bound to conventional technology. The variety of choices has been limited, although it is possible to exploit the technology differently, to apply command languages with more or less complicated structure, and so on. The distinction between instrumental and communicative actions and operations is important not only for the purposes of the design activities, but also for the product of design. A return to the distinction between whether the method primarily focuses on practice in use or on breakdown knowledge also leads to the distinction between whether the method when applied will lead designers to start from the intentional aspects of the future artifact or from the operational aspects. Flexibility, simplicity, and consistency are concepts that can characterize the aspects of the user interface. Within psychology, there is a long tradition of investigating and evaluating the performance of human tasks, especially where a computer is involved.