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CHAPTER 1
Definition of the User Interface
Hello everyone, my name is Dario, and I will guide you through this chapter, where you will learn what is usually defined as interface and user interface and why they are important, even if you donât know they are there (and usually that happens when theyâre well designed).
Then, weâll take a quick look at some of the different kinds of onscreen ones because, as of today, there is almost always one screen around us everywhere we go; our bonds and interactions with them have only started.
For this chapter, like the next couple of ones, you wonât need any special software â just your brain, imagination and curiosity. Things that are always lovely to bring around, donât you think?
Structure
In this chapter, we will discuss the following topics:
- Take a look around
- Do a click!
- Command Line Interface (CLI)
- Graphical (GUI)
- Menus
- Forms
- Natural Languages Ones
Objective
The objective of this chapter is to help you understand concepts and designed systems that lie all around us so that youâll be more prepared to design some of them in the future.
Take a Look Around
Breathe. Relax. Where are you now?
Are you at home, laying under the cosy duvet you choose? Or are you sitting on that beautiful sofa of yours, looking at your 55-inches brand new TV?
Are you sipping a cup of tea in your favourite café? Or are you in the metro, waiting for it to reach your destination?
Whenever you are, whatever youâre doing, thereâs the good possibility of a user interface being near you, if not dozens or hundreds of them.
The term âinterfaceâ is usually regarded as the place or a point of connection/ intersection of two things (users, objects, or anything else), that comes together and interact with each other, affecting one or both of them. Where worlds collide, we hope thereâs a well-done interface to save us.
Itâs a complex, sometimes more virtual concept.
Where do you fit in the picture? Letâs take an example for better understanding: every book you see is a user interface. Through its pages and words, you can enter unknown worlds and experience them; you can feel their emotions and thoughts and interact, although virtually, with the characters and their creators. Or you can gain new knowledge about different materials and subjects, like history, geography, science; itâs up to your taste and curiosity.
A book can be seen and defined as one of the best designs ever done. Its functions and aspect are universally understandable and remained the same throughout the world; while its content and your desire to assimilate it are conceivable as two worlds, the wise mixture and balance made by the cover, pages, and words imprinted on them are exactly one of the many user interfaces that we are presented with daily.
Each time youâre doing something that seems as simple as flipping a page or your eyes jumping from word to word or line to line, youâre interacting with what should be defined as a user interface.
Letâs step back a little bit, shall we?
Put that little, now confusing book back on the coffee table â and relax a little with your new TV. But first, you need to turn it on. What better way to do this than with the remote?
Well, you guessed it! Even your TV remote control is a user interface!
Think about it: what do you use it for? You turn on your television, change the channels, adjust the volumeâŠeach button with its function, with its place on the body and their layout making for a compelling case of user interface.
And interfaces come stacked one on another too! Your cellphone? It evolved so much, from the huge buttons and heavy models that were around the same weights as portable laptops nowadays, to what is that almost keyless device that we hold in our hands. Those first bodies with clattering keys where a really smart way for users to interact with the screen and the info that is presented, a clever example of a user interface (so clever that still survives in other concepts and objects as of today.)
And yes, you were interacting with concrete keys to make your choices and push and select virtual ones â thatâs the secret of interfaces, either user or other kinds: they are layered so well, stacked on one another, that you wonât even notice â or consider them one single being. One of their rules is that âthe user must know where they areâ (, that on a book itâs the always understated page indicator, which covers this exactly designed scope) can also be seamlessly exchanged and set from one status to the other, with an indicator on the screen, an illuminated physical button, or both.
Tip: Even your voice and language could be listed as user interfaces.
As you see, user interfaces are scattered everywhere: they are in your house, in your supermarket, in your city, in your bathroom! When youâre interacting with something, when youâre reaching for something, be it in the real world or the virtual one, in search of meaning or information, youâre almost always doing so through the usage of a user interface or something that can be stretched into this definition.
Do a Click!
While the physical world offers us the chance to get a better understanding of the general concept, the cyber area permits further categorization of its specific phenomena.
There are many naming variations and different proposals about the main areas and fields of a virtual user interface, with some being more generalist and others more specifically named and divided. There isnât a âuniversally recognizedâ one.
Some of the most commonly used ones are as follows (in no specific order):
- Command-Line Interfaces (CLI)
- Graphical User Interfaces (GUI)
- Menus
- These are useful when there is the need of presenting a limited choice to the users before allowing them freedom of choice, or when there are so many choices that they can and should be broken down in a smaller bit of info. The most famous usage of such structures and UI are Automated Teller Machines, the ATMs.
- Forms
- Sometimes, gathering precise info is all you need. You may be registering for a job application, a gym membership, or a new credit card. You may be redirected or presented with a whole page made up only by form fields â and that is still a user interface.
- Natural Language ones
- These are some of the most difficult and expensive ones since the user should interact with them using the same informal language they use to interact with another human being, without much physical input.
You can find them on all the latest phones and computers, and some of them can even integrate with the smart appliances in your home! Well-known software in this field are Alexa from Amazon, Siri from Apple, Google Assistant from Google, and Cortana from Microsoft.
Conclusion
With technology always growing, new kinds of user interfaces are introduced almost daily, like stylus, interactive pens, touch-based devices, virtual reality, and robotics. Every medium brings something to the table that needs to be addressed and studied â with their peculiarities requiring understanding and development.
In the next chapter, we will take a brief look at the evolution of some of the most well-known and useful types of user interfaces.
Points to remember
- There are all kinds of interfaces: screens, printed text, packaging boxesâŠgeneral rule: it is an interface if it gives info or content.
- User interfaces allows the user to interact and gain info or take the desired action. Youâre looking at a traffic light? Chances are there is a button/sensor (UI) on it that, with your proper interaction, will make it (in due time) turn its lights green (both the lights and the color are interfaces, giving you the info of both a safer or dangerous crossing.)
- When theyâre well designed, you barely notice them (this also happens due to common usage and old solutions, like a book. Flip a page, dang! User experience)
MCQ
- Youâre surrounded by _____?
- Reptilians
- Vegans
- Interfaces
- Sometimes you donât see them. Why?
- Iâm not saying it was aliensâŠbut it was aliens
- Good design
- Iâm sorry, I was distracted by a flu...
