System

Analysis &
Presented By
Menna Ibrahim Gabr

Design 2
Chapter 5
Part 2
User Interface
Design
 Agenda
1. Basic principles of navigation, input an
output design
2. Types of navigation, input an output controls
 Introduction
❖The user interface includes three fundamental parts.
❖The first is the navigation mechanism, the way in which the user gives
instructions to the system and tells it what to do such as buttons, menus.
❖The second is the input mechanism, the way in which the system captures
information such as using forms for adding new customers.
❖The third is the output mechanism, the way in which the system provides
information to the user or to other systems such as reports, Web pages .
 Navigation Design
❑Navigation design The navigation component of the interface enables the user to enter
commands to navigate through the system and perform actions to enter and review
information it contains
❑Basic Principles One of the hardest things about using a computer system is learning how
to manipulate the navigation controls to make the system do what you want.

❑Prevent Mistakes The first principle of designing navigation controls is to prevent the user
from making mistakes. A mistake costs time and creates frustration. It can be reduced by
labeling commands and actions appropriately and by limiting choices.
 Navigation Design
❖Simplify Recovery from Mistakes No matter what the system designer does, users will make
mistakes. The system should make it as easy as possible to correct these errors. Ideally, the
system will have an “Undo” button that makes mistakes easy to override; however, writing the
software for such buttons can be very complicated.
❖Use Consistent Grammar Order One of the most fundamental decisions is the grammar
order. Most commands require the user to specify an object (e.g., file, record, word) and the
action to be performed on that object (e.g., copy, delete).
 ❖There are three basic software approaches for
defining user commands: Languages, menus, and
direct manipulation.

Types of 1. Languages

Navigation ❖With a command language, the user enters

commands in a special language developed for the
Controls computer system (e.g., UNIX and SQL both use
command languages).
❖Command languages sometimes provide greater
flexibility than other approaches.
Types of Navigation
Controls
2. Menus
❖ The most common type of navigation system today is
the menu. A menu presents the user with a list of
choices, each of which can be selected. Menus are
easier to learn than languages because the user sees an
organized, but limited, set of choices.
3. Direct Manipulation
❖ With direct manipulation, the user enters commands
by working directly with interface objects such as icons,
buttons, or visual representations of objects, to initiate
actions or control navigation.
Types of Navigation
Controls
Messages
❑Messages are the way in which the system responds
to a user and informs him or her of the status of the
interaction.

❑There are many different types of messages, such as

error messages, confirmation messages,
acknowledgment messages, delay messages, and help
messages.

❑ In general, messages should be clear, concise, and

complete. All messages should be grammatically
correct and free of jargon and abbreviations.
Types of
Navigation
Controls
Common types of the menus
Types of
Navigation
Controls
Common types of the menus
 ❖Input mechanisms facilitate the entry of data
into the computer system, whether highly
structured data, such as order information (e.g.,
item numbers, quantities, costs), or unstructured
information (e.g., comments).
Input Basic Principles
Design oThe goal of input design is to capture accurate
information for the system simply and easily.
oThe fundamental principles for input design
reflect the nature of the inputs (whether batch or
online) and ways to simplify their collection.
Input Design
Capture Data at the Source
❑Perhaps the most important principle of
input design is to capture the data in an
electronic format at the original source or as
close to the original source as possible.
❑In the early days of computing, computer
systems replaced traditional manual systems
that were based on paper forms.
Input Design
Minimize Keystrokes
❑ Another important principle is to minimize keystrokes.
❑Keystrokes cost time and money, whether they are
performed by a customer, user, or trained data-entry
operator.
❑The system should never ask for information that can
be obtained in another way (e.g., by retrieving it from a
database or by performing a calculation).
❑Likewise, a system should not require a user to type
information that can be selected from a list; selecting
reduces errors and speeds up entry.
 Types of Input Controls

❑Each data item that must be input is linked to a field, on the form into which its value is
typed. Each field also has a field label, which is the text besides, above, or below the field,
that tells the user what type of information belongs in the field.

Text
❖As the name suggests, a text box is used to enter text. Text boxes can be defined to have a
fixed length or can be scrollable and accept a virtually unlimited amount of text. In either
case, boxes can contain single or multiple lines of textual information. Never use a text box if
you can use a selection box.
Types of Input Controls
Numbers
❑A number box is used to enter numbers. Some
software can automatically format numbers as they
are entered, so that 3452478 becomes $34,524.78.
Dates are a special form of numbers that sometimes
have their own type of number box. Never use a
number box if you can use a selection box.
Types of Input Controls
Selection Box

❑A selection box enables the user to select a value

from a predefined list. The items in the list should be
arranged in some meaningful order, such as
alphabetical for long lists, or in order of most
frequently used.
❑The default selection value should be chosen with
care. A selection box can be initialized as “unselected”
or, better still, start with the most used item already
selected.
 Types of Input
Controls
Input Validation
❑All data entered the system must be validated to ensure
accuracy. Input validation (also called edit checks) can take
many forms.
❑ Ideally, to prevent invalid information from entering the
system, computer systems should not accept data that fail
any important validation check. However, this can be very
difficult, and invalid data often slip by data-entry operators
and the users providing the information.
Input
Design
User Input Options
 Output Design

❑Outputs are the reports that the system produces, whether on the screen, on paper, or in
other media, such as the Web. Outputs are perhaps the most visible part of any system
because a primary reason for using an information system is to access the information that it
produces.

Basic Principles
❑The goal of the output mechanism is to present information to users so that they can
accurately understand it with the least effort. The fundamental principles for output design
reflect how the outputs are used and ways to make it simpler for users to understand them.
Understand Report Usage
The first principle in designing reports is to understand how they are used.
Reports can be used for many different purposes. In some cases, but not
very often reports are used to cover all needed information (Detailed
reports).
In most cases, reports are used to identify specific items or are used as
references to find information, so the order in which items are sorted on the
report or grouped within categories is critical.

Output Design
 Manage Information Load
❑ Most managers get too much information, (i.e.,
the information load confronting the manager is
too great). The goal of a well-designed report is to
provide all the information needed to support the
task for which it was designed.

Output Design Minimize Bias

❑ No analyst sets out to design a biased report.
The problem with bias is that it can be very subtle;
analysts can introduce it unintentionally.
❑Bias can be introduced by the way in which lists
of data are sorted, because entries that appear
first in a list may receive more attention than those
appearing later in the list.
Output Design

Types of Outputs

❑ There are many different types of reports, such as detail reports, summary reports,
exception reports, turnaround documents, and graphs.

❑Classifying reports is challenging because many reports have characteristics of several

different types. For example, some detail reports also produce summary totals, making them
summary reports.
 Media
➢There are many different types of media used
to produce reports.
➢The two dominant media today are paper and
Output electronic. Paper is the more traditional
medium and is relatively permanent, easy to
Design use, and accessible in most situations.
➢It also is highly portable, at least for short
reports.
➢Paper also has several rather significant
drawbacks.
 Media
➢Paper also has several rather significant
drawbacks.
➢It is inflexible. Once the report is printed, it
cannot be sorted or reformatted to present a
Output different view of the information.

Design ➢ Likewise, if the information on the report

changes, the entire report must be reprinted.
Paper reports are expensive, are hard to
duplicate, and require considerable supplies
(paper, ink) and storage space.
➢Paper reports are also hard to quickly move
long distances.
Media

Output
Many organizations are therefore moving to
Design
electronic production of reports, whereby
reports are “printed,” but stored in electronic
format on file servers or Web servers so that
users can easily access them.
 Summary
1. Basic principles of navigation,
input an output design
2. Types of navigation, input an
output controls