User Interface (UI)
User interface (or UI) -- a.k.a. Human-Computer Interface (or HCI) -- is very important in computer software.
In fact, ceteri paribus (other things -- such as comparable software "functionality" -- being equal), a good UI can "make" for a successful software in the competitive software market while a bad or lousy UI can "break" a software.
Saturday, 24 May 2003 --- Norton Anti-virus 2002
Last week, I installed Symantec Corporation's Norton Anti-virus 2002 (hereafter, NAV 2002) that came with the CD-ROM that was sold with the TDK external/portable CD-R/RW Drive (Model: PCD2410U2), and already the software has asked for permission for "live update" via the Internet (I have broadband Internal connection via the cable TV company in Singapore -- i..e, Starhub-SCV) ....
Now, that's good "functionality" in a modern piece of software, even though my copy is slightly dated (being 2002) ...
But what I am really impressed with NAV 2002 is that visual part of the UI that tells me about the actual file updates during the live update from the Net. Any software worth anything should tell you the following:
- What file is being copied -- i.e., filename (and file extension, if any)
- Progress of the actual copying operation with respect to a particular file being copied
- If more than one file are to be copied, the number of files yet to be copied -- i.e., the current overall progress.
Here's where NAV 2002 excels: it has TWO horizontal "progress bars" that feed back to you (the so-called "end user") about the file copying operation during the live update from the Net.
When a file is being copied, NAV 2002's top progress bar tells you what file is being copied (by telling you the filename and file extension) and how much of the file is being copied at any instant (via not only the horizontal progress bar, but also the filesize copied at any instant vis-a-vis the total filesize of that particular file). Too bad that the top progress bar didn't spot a percentage figure within the progress bar itself -- that added touch would have increased NAV 2002's "cadence".
While NAV 2002's top progress bar deals with an individual file being copied, the bottom progress bar tells you the overall progress for all the files to be copied. Of course, if there is only one file to be copied (which is unlikely for a "live update", but it can happen), then the two progress bars would probably display identical information. But if two or more files are to be copied, then the bottom progress bar would display the overall file copying situation -- via both the progress bar as well as the filesize of files already copied vis-a-vis the total filesize of all the files that are to be copied. Again, as with the top progress bar, if NAV 2002 spots a percentage figure within the bottom progress bar, the UI would have been enhanced a little more.
Several of the "older" installer software (and thus, the installation part of older software) use vertical progress bars (within an icon of a harddisk or some such device) ... but I find this to be less intuitive and maybe even a little clumsy, compared to horizontal progress bars. I hope that software engineers stick to horizontal progress bars when they want to indicate "progressive" situations such as file installations, live updates, file copying (important especially for the more modern OS's -- such as Microsoft Windows, WinLinux, Lindows, Red Hat Linux, BeOS, and so forth) ...