The Windows Interface
A Summary of GUI Guidelines

The purpose of the Microsoft GUI design guidelines is to provide visual and functional consistency within and across Windows-based applications. The guidelines specifically address applications for English-speaking users, but are generally applicable for non-English-speaking users as well. The Microsoft Design Guide states that there is "no conformance requirements, expressed or implied, in this set of guidelines" (pp. xi).

The Microsoft Design Guide uses three recommendation levels to indicate the importance of a particular guideline.

Recommended: the common way a feature, function, operation, or behavior should be implemented. An application need not include all recommended techniques, but if the feature, function, operation, or behavior is implemented, the guidelines describe the preferred implementation. Some recommended guidelines are defined by the system (e.g., alt + esc), while others are at the application level. The File menu is an example of a recommended feature. It is recommended for all applications that provide access to data through files.

Optional: common extensions that an application may implement. If the feature is implemented, the guideline is the preferred implementation. The View menu is an example of an optional feature.

Suggested: a direction that an application should follow to the extent that it applies and without conflicting with other uses in the application.

The goal of GUI design guidelines is to foster the development of user interfaces that facilitate learning and application use. The underlying "mechanism" is knowledge transfer from the known to the unknown by means of familiar concepts and metaphors that are applicable in more than one knowledge domain. The object-action paradigm provides a familiar metaphor for user interaction with software. According to this paradigm, users interact with applications by selecting an object and then invoking an action to be applied to the selected object. This paradigm allows users to transfer real world knowledge to software utilization and knowledge of one software application across applications using the same design principles. The Microsoft Windows interface and design principles use the object-action paradigm.

Graphical user interfaces are similar to object-oriented interfaces in that both use bit-maps and the object-action paradigm. However, object-oriented interfaces use a special form of object-action called direrct manipulation. In direct manipulation object-action interaction, the action is defined implicitly by a moving icon (e.g., moving a file icon over a trash can icon deletes the file in the Macintosh object-oriented user interface). Direct manipulation is the "great divide" between the GUI of Microsoft Windows 3.x on the one hand, and the OUIs of Macintosh, NeXT, and OS/2. Windows offers limited direct manipulation.

Well-constructed design guidelines are the starting point for effective user interfaces. In addition, well-informed users must be actively involved in the interface design process. Users should be familiar with the basic principles and goals of user interface design. The design methodology and schedule should include interface testing by actual users and iterative redesign based on the results of usability testing.