Good HCI design?

[Prince]

what principles constitutes a good HCI design?

[bcolflesh]

[www-2.cs.cmu.edu...]

[Wilma]

Also relevant, the Blinks Interface Design Rules:

1. People do what people are good at, such as observation and planning, determining what is important, and making decisions.
   
2. The technology does what it is good at, such as repetition and routine.
   
3. Neither people nor technology are forced to do what the other does better.
   
4. Your limiting factor is nearly always quality human attention -- the kind that can notice what's really important and make good decisions -- not computrons. Therefore, the technology diverts human attention toward what it is best at and most relevant for, and away from distractions. (This article [managingwholes.com] has some examples.)

Unfortunately, computers are designed almost completely backwards from a Blinks Rules perspective. Because the original computers were so short on memory, humans ended up managing file systems and backups -- something computers are much better at doing. Meanwhile, conventions in programming impose canned decisions on users, despite computers' notorious inability to make good ones. (Example: programs that automatically substitute characters when pasting in from another program, or fonts when opening a file on a computer with those fonts missing; the canned decisions are almost always atrocious.)

IMO computer design is so thoroughly, relentlessly, consistently backward to good usability that computers will have to get redesigned from the ground up before we even begin to approach systems that are actually "user-friendly". I've been using computers since 1978, owned Macs since 1987, and I have yet to encounter a computer that does better than "less user-hostile than the alternatives".

Okay, I'll get off my soapbox now... <g>