SWE 632 – User Interface Design and Development

Fall 2009

Tuesdays 4:30 to 7:10pm in Innovation Hall, room 206 (map)

This course focuses on the software aspects of the interface between computers and humans.  The goal of the course is to prepare students to design and evaluate software that provides such interfaces.  After completing this course, students should understand how to design software interfaces that are appropriate for end-users, be familiar with a variety of interface design strategies, and be able to evaluate such interfaces.

Specifically, the following topics will be covered:

·         Concepts in human factors for designing software interfaces.

·         Theories of human-computer interaction, including

–   human cognitive limitations,

–   syntactic versus semantic knowledge

–   transitionality, and

–   the "outside-in" design approach.

·         Guidelines for designing computer interfaces of various models, including

–   command interfaces,

–   menus,

–   desktop views, and

–   GUI interfaces.

Prerequisites

·         SWE 619 – Software Construction; or instructor permission.

More information on the course web site