How to design usable systems

Publisher Summary This chapter describes the way in which usable systems can be designed. Usability is a combination of many factors, each of which is often developed independently. User-interface code is becoming an increasingly large percentage of the total system code. Standards are beginning to emerge for user interface design. Establishing standards for software aspects of the user interface is probably premature. There are lots of guidelines for a good system design. However, these are not enough for the design of good systems. One should at the beginning and throughout development focus on prospective users and their work. It is often heard that people buy computer systems for the functions in them. One is unlikely to figure out what the functions should be without talking with users. One should continuously measure each aspect of usability, and then iterate in a hill-climbing way toward a better system. All aspects of usability should begin evolving from the beginning and should be under one focus.

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