The User Interface: Interacting with the Web
The Graphical User Interface, or GUI, is the layer or feature of a website where design meets technology so that the Computer Human Interface, or CHI, becomes usable, if not interesting. We have always enjoyed the acronyms used here... very ZEN of the computer world -- to mix puns and metaphors. The GUI is more than just the links and buttons. It is the order of links, the placement, the grouping of information on a page, and the choice of colors. It is the font choice and the font size. It is the layout of a form. And more.
A poorly designed user interface can make your website a virtual pain in the buttocks... and therefore, a place where no one will go... A well designed user interface can mean the difference between success and failure... It has been seen, with sites as busy and large as Amazon.com, that upgrades in interface are not always considered upgrades to the end user... And the end user is the one we should address...
What Makes the GUI a Good One?
Methods of organizing information on your site often have an impact on the GUI... By grouping information in certain ways, we insist that the interface for accessing that information accommodate that grouping. Thus we can see that Information Architecture and GUI Design go hand in glove... so to speak.
What makes a good GUI? What is CHI? How does information architecture impact the interface design? How many links should be on a page? Where should they be placed? Is it useful to have links within content? How do I make my customers click this special button?
This area of the site contains articles, notes, and links to other resources that will help you answer these questions. |
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Resource Links
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alt.hypertext Frequently Asked Questions - some of the most frequently asked questions in the alt.hypertext newsgroup (+info)
Developer resources at Sun Microsystems - Java, Forums, tools, and more. (+info)
Directory of articles by Mary Czerwinski - Microsoft's IA and Interface guru... tells all (+info)
Dr, Dobb's Reference - Software tools, guides, etc. (+info)
EVRSOFT: A developer resource - a fairly comprehensive collection of tools, articles, scripts, etc. (+info)
GUI Design, some high level ideas - By Owen Ransen of Ransen Software. (+info)
Human Factors Internations GUI Articles - Also includes articles on Usability, Menus, Accessibility, and other User Interface issues. (+info)
Hypermedia structures and systems - Dr. PME De Bra discusses details of hypermedia strucures and systems (+info)
information architecture resources - a good well maintained resource for IA and GUI design (+info)
Jakob Nielsen: Is Navigation Useful? - users look straight at the content and ignore the navigation areas (+info)
Jakob Nielsen: Why Web Design is Similar to GUI Design - Commentary by Scott Butler of Rockwell Software about Nielsen's ideas. (+info)
Mailing List: CHI WEB - Computer Human Interface email list... very professional, very interesting, very much "applied" -- sponsored by ACM (+info)
Online Learning: GUI stuff - includes: planning an interface, developing an interface, and designing screen elements (+info)
Principles of Good GUI Design - By the CEO of Classic Systems James Hobart. (+info)
Rapid Navigation in Online Documents - An in depth discussion of navigation issues (+info)
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GUI Design
