Intelligent User Interfaces part 1

Before we delve into Intelligent User Interfaces (IUI), I will first of all define a User Interface. In computer science, there is a sub field called Human Computer Interaction (HCI). It is the study of humans interacting with machines. It has evolved into Interaction Design (ID), since it is now, not only humans who interact with machines, but machines also interact with machines, thanks to the Internet of Things (IoT). One of the key aspects of HCI is the User Interface.

A UI is the point of integration between a user of a machine , and the machine. It supposed to to make it easy for the user to use the machine, and the machine to give the user relevant feedback effectively and efficiently. The other major role of the UI is to give the user control over the machine, while enhancing decision making. The study of user interfaces is called user interface design – it entails the design, implementation and evaluation / assessment of user interfaces. User Interface Design covers a whole lot of subjects like visual design, interaction design, and information infrastructure and focuses on enhancing usability and the user experience, according to Orbelo – https://www.oberlo.com/ecommerce-wiki/user-interface-ui .

_{According to Wikipedia, the goal of user interface design is to produce a user interface which makes it easy, efficient, and enjoyable (user-friendly) to operate a machine in the way which produces the desired result (i.e. maximum usability).} 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_interface

In order to understand user interfaces further, we need to understand the basic elements of a user interface; there are three main ones;

1. Input Controls: These are the points at which a user gives commands to the machine / computer. For examples; checkboxes, radio buttons, dropdown lists, list boxes, buttons, toggles, text fields, date field. examples of these are
   • Navigational Components: These are the points at which the user maneuvers the machine through a system or software. For example; breadcrumb, slider, search field, pagination, slider, tags, icons
   • Input Hardware: These are different hardware components that can be used to input commands by the user to the machines. They usually relate to the five senses of humans and one more aspect. These are
     • Tactile UI (touch),
     • Visual UI (sight),
     • Auditory UI (sound),
     • Olfactory UI (smell),
     • Equilibrial UI (balance), and
     • Gustatory UI (taste).
2. Output Controls: These are points at which the machine gives feedback to the user, for whatever commands they may have given the computer.
   • Informational Components: These provide feedback to users to give them direction , and inform them about their progress in interacting with the machine. For example; tooltips, icons, progress bar, notifications, message boxes, modal windows
   • Output Hardware: These are hardware components that are designed to provide feedback from the machine to the user. Still these are designed to provide feedback by igniting certain senses in the user.
   • Containers: Every interface should have some sort of navigational menu in order for it to be efficient and effective in guiding the user. For example an accordion https://www.usability.gov/how-to-and-tools/methods/user-interface-elements.html

There are various kinds of interfaces but I would like to focus on the ones that are intelligent, we refer to them as Intelligent User Interfaces. These are some times called Interface Agents. The are interfaces that have some sort of Artificial Intelligence or computational intelligence running in the background. The motive here is to limit the cognitive load on humans who use machines, while they interact with them.

^{The challenge of pulling together the details needed by situation-aware decision support systems in a way that minimizes cognitive workload is not addressed by current user interface design.}

Nauman Jalil – https://www.intechopen.com/books

This is a basic introduction to user interfaces. I try to explain what they are, their origin, what they entail, and briefly talk about IUIs. In my next Blog, I will delve deeper into the nitty gritty of Intelligent User interfaces. Let me know what you think after reading this blog. Thank you.

Blessings, Reader