What makes a good user interface

.story-ad {

width: 310px;

float: left;

margin: 0 10px 10px 0;

padding: 4px;

}

- Advertisement -

OAS_AD('x22');

I talk a lot about user interfaces that I like or dislike in new programs and gadgets. What goes into these rants and raves?

I look for four basic qualities: One, an interface should be "discoverable"; you shouldn't have to read the manual or scan every menu to find out how to perform basic jobs. Two, it has to be efficient; you should be able to perform these tasks with a minimum number of steps. Three, it must be consistent; learning how to do one task should make you that much smarter about the next one. Four, I would like it to be elegant; it's no crime for an application or a device to show a little style that makes it a pleasure to use. (Warning: Spending too much time pondering these aspects may lead you to find fault with the interfaces of random everyday objects, from stovetops to bus stops.)

When you copy text from what I'll politely call an "aggressively designed" Web page into an e-mail message, the results can look awful. Your recipient can be stuck trying to read characters that are too small or appear in a color that barely stands out from the background.

To avoid this risk, you can paste the text and nothing but the text: Most mail programs include a command under their Edit menus that will ignore any formatting in the original page. In Microsoft's Outlook, select the "Paste Special ..." command and then choose "Unformatted Text." In Mozilla Thunderbird, choose "Paste Without Formatting." In Apple's Mail, this option is called "Paste and Match Style." Microsoft's Outlook Express and Windows Mail, unfortunately, don't offer this option.