vis-UI-lise

Abstract

Visibility in user interfaces (UI) is a critical element of making a product usable. However, the visibility of modern user interfaces can be compromised in a number of distinct ways. Firstly, some user interface controls have no visible attributes at all, from a visibility perspective they are effectively ‘missing’. Secondly, if an element is present then it can be ‘missed’, thirdly, if it is seen it may be ‘misunderstood’ by the user. Previous work has seen the development of a model to represent this. This model is used to inform the development of an evaluation tool called vis-UI-lise that can be used to assess the visibility of user interfaces. It presents UI visibility as a series of 5 hurdles between the user and the interface that have to be overcome for a successful interaction. The output from this highlights to designers what the key issues are to help drive further development to improve usability.