As you design a GUI, you should consider some of the changes required for the interface user. These considerations apply to standalone GUI applications and client/server applications. A good place to start is by considering the interfaces for environments that are not graphical. In traditional online transaction processing, for example, a user interacts with the system using a terminal-based screen on dumb terminals. The system drives the dialog of the user and restricts options by what the menus provide. The work pattern for the user is one of procedural tasks controlled by the system.
As a designer, you are now faced with a change in the work patterns of users from procedural tasks to information gathering tasks. Users now expect greater control of application use and the sequence in which they perform application tasks. In short, users want applications, especially the interface, to empower them to better complete their work.
Applications must address this change in work patterns and offer a user-centered design for the interface. The interface should provide a flexible user dialog with a choice of activities. To the greatest extent possible, the user must be in control. The application becomes one of a set of tools by which the user accomplishes work.
The application user tends to view the entire desktop as a collection of tools. All of the applications work together, or should from the perspective of the user, to provide an integrated solution to information gathering tasks. For example, data could be shared among a CA Gen Client Server application, a word processor, and a spreadsheet. This type of integration represents what users want, and will require, in desktop environments.
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