Girish V. Prabhu

Human Error and User-Interface Design

Publisher Summary Understanding a myriad of issues related to human performance and making important trade-offs related to time, resources, and task goals are required comprehending the possibilities of error and how to minimize its consequences. This chapter aims at discussing some of these issues and trade-offs. The chapter begins with the introduction of some of the theoretical underpinnings of human error and explores the interface design issues related to human error. The chapter attempts to outline the error management issues such as capture and recovery from human error, interface design to minimize human error, and the concept of error tolerant design. Human error cannot be separated from human performance. In some cases, errors are a part of the learning process, and such systems/interfaces should be designed to be error tolerant. It should be possible for the user to explore the system without penalty, discover what the consequences are for different actions, and be able to recover from those consequences. Wherever possible, the system should capture error at the earliest feasible instance and provide the user with a feedback that is specific and useful in correcting the error.

SIG on one size fits all?: cultural diversity in user interface design

This SIG discusses cultural diversity in user-interface design, especially in the light of international products, new laws, and universal access to the Web. The panelists will debate whether/how to alter conventional user-interface paradigms and the tradeoffs among design tactics gained by professionals who carefully researched and/or engaged in designing cross-cultural user interfaces.