Java Reference
In-Depth Information
Another simple principle to consider is how users actually traverse and interpret the user
interface. In most Western societies, users generally begin analyzing an interface at the upper-
left corner. The tendency from that point is to continue down and to the right. This is due to
the nature of the written word in Western nations: Words on a page flow from left to right, so
most Western users tend to perceive the left portion of the screen as a beginning point and the
right portion as the end. Anything in between these two points represents the necessary steps
to travel from the beginning to the end. This concept is illustrated in Figure 8-3.
Figure 8-3.
Path of a Western user's eye when interpreting a GUI
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Tip
Even if you're an Asian developer working in Asia, for the purpose of the Sun assignment you should
probably assume that the assignment is being evaluated with Western expectations.
When you plan the workflow of an interface, it is advantageous to the user to arrange
items in order of importance along this path. The elements we want the user to be aware of
first should, of course, be closest to the upper-left corner. The order in which the interface
items are placed descending from the starting corner also suggests an order to the actions.
For example, consider Figure 8-4.
The path illustrated in Figure 8-4 suggests that users should perform operations on the
table and then click the Enter button when they have completed the operations. If the Enter
button was placed before the table, the user would likely still figure out and interpret the order
of operations, but the interface would seem nonintuitive and clearly not as well organized.
Grouping items also suggests similar functionality. This is why document-storage buttons,
such as Open, Save, and New Document, are located in close proximity to each other in most
word processing programs.
