Topic 7 - Interfaces

What are the primary advantages and disadvantages of a Command Line Interface (CLI)?

Advantages: Efficient, precise, and fast. Disadvantage: Large mental overhead to learn the command sets.

What is the most critical design principle for Command Line Interfaces?

Consistency. For example, a system should always use the first letter of a command across functions.

What does the acronym WIMP stand for in graphical interface history?

Windows, Icons, Menus, and Pointing device (originally popularized by the Xerox Star).

Why were computer "Windows" originally invented in GUI design?

To overcome the physical size constraints of a computer display, enabling more information to be viewed and multiple tasks to be performed simultaneously.

What are three UI techniques used to help users locate a desired window when multiple windows are open?

Listing, tabbing, and using visual thumbnails.

What is a Mega Menu, and how does it compare to a standard drop-down menu?

A mega menu shows all options at once using a 2D drop-down layout, making it significantly easier to navigate than cascading drop-down menus.

What are Similar, Analogical, and Arbitrary icon forms?

Similar: Direct picture (e.g., file icon). Analogical: Represents a related action (e.g., scissors for 'cut'). Arbitrary: Random mapping (e.g., an X for 'delete').

According to your slides, which icon mapping form is the most effective for human understanding?

Similar icon forms are the most effective.

What design fallback should be used alongside icons to help users identify their functions?

Text labels can be placed alongside small icon sets, or a "hover" tooltip function can be used for large, complex icon sets.

What is the key disadvantage of a multimedia interaction style?

Users have a strong tendency to blindly play animations or video clips while quickly skimming through the accompanying instructional text or diagrams.

How do your slides define the "illusion of participation" in Virtual Reality (VR)?

A computer-generated graphical simulation providing the psychological sense of being inside a synthetic environment rather than observing it externally.

What are the key physiological and psychological design risks of early VR headsets?

They were uncomfortable to wear, could cause motion sickness, and led to user spatial disorientation.

How did Steve Krug (2014) describe the reality of how users read content on web interfaces?

Users do not read deeply; they read the web like a "billboard going by at 60 miles an hour."

What three core questions did Veen (2001) state must be answered by any good website interface design?

1. Where am I? 2. Where can I go? 3. What’s here?

What are the negative usability trade-offs of using responsive web design on small mobile screens?

Downsizing content means more total pages must be loaded, which can make navigating multiple pages and menus time-consuming and fiddly.

What is a common cognitive side effect of interfaces utilizing infinite scrolling?

Users have a strong tendency to glance rapidly while scrolling downwards without actually focusing on individual items.