The effects of graphical interface design characteristics on human-computer interaction task efficiency

摘要

The main objective of this paper was to investigate the effects of a computerscreen interface design and its related geometrical characteristics of 36graphical objects on a user's task efficiency. A total of 490 subjects tookpart in laboratory experiments that focused on the direct manipulation of avisual dialogue between a user and a computer. The subjects were asked toselect an object from among a group of items randomly placed on the computerscreen that were visible exclusively during the visual search process. A modelexpressing the mean object acquisition time as a function of graphical objectsize and the configuration was developed and statistically validated. The modelshowed an influence of geometrical design characteristics of the graphicalobjects (icons) and their groupings (icon structures) on the observed taskefficiency. The reported results can be used at those stages of a softwarelifecycle that concentrate on prototyping, designing, and implementinggraphical solutions for the efficient graphical user-computer interface.