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Interface Requirements
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- The software should
be usable without reading a printed guide. If the complexity of the
tasks being automated cannot feasibly be embedded into the software
interface, reading a printed guide may be unavoidable. In this case,
the most that any individual user should have to read for a particular
role is 50 pages-short enough to read in one sitting.
- The interface
should enable all interaction techniques and input to be discoverable
and chosen
from a browse-able, hiearchical structure, arranged in order of the
functions the user needs to perform. Until recently this simply
meant
supplying an exhaustive menu or menu-like outline of choices, supported
by dialogs with options and click-able choices. More recently, this
requirement is being satisfied by multiple graphical choices, in the
form of icons and segmented, click-able graphics known by various
names,
such as imagemaps. In either case, what this requirement specifically
precludes is reliance solely on any of the following techniques:
command
line syntax; parameter (INI) file options not built into the interface;
techniques supported only by combination keystrokes, mouse techniques,
or combinations thereof; techniques requiring knowledge of special,
manually entered values.
- Users should be
able to accomplish every task and entry with the fewest possible keystrokes.
For instance, dates should not necessitate typing four digits for the
year unless the context of the given field leaves considerable doubt
as to which millennium might be intended. In many cases, keying in any
characters at all for the year may be an unnecessary expense of the
users' time.
- The software should
enable users to do things out of order without being penalized.
- The software should
enable users to make outright mistakes without being terminated, executed,
canceled, re-booted, or erased.
- The system should
save all of what the users type, by default, meaning without extra steps.
- Users should be
forewarned when any work is over-written, undone, or erased.
- The interface
and messages should make it clear why the program does what it does.
- Most of the users'
work should be retained after power interruptions.
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