    Next: Knowing the User and Up: Design Principles in Human-Computer Previous: User Control > Feedback and DialogFeedback to user input has to be made as immediate as possible, be it visible or auditory or both, according to the principles of direct manipulation and user control (Apple Computer Macintosh Human Interface Guidelines 9; see also section 3.3.3 and section 3.3.5). Feedback has to be understandable, which means that it should use the user's vocabulary, not the programmer's. The status of an action being carried out also has to be shown to the user, for which the "flying files" of Microsoft Windows (see Figure 4) when copying a file is a good example. Furthermore, the user has to be informed of how long such an operation will take.
> Tom Alby 2000-05-30 |
