User-friendly multiservice broadband terminals: Applications and design considerations

The author draws attention to future broadband multiservice terminals' new types of service applications which put special demands on the design of the user interface. She reports on human factors studies with an experimental terminal. Two versions of the interface, one based on 'direct-manipulation' interfaces and the other on the principle of 'generic functions', were tested and compared with a conventional interface. Results indicated that both new interface versions were superior, especially with regard to applications of high complexity. The direct-manipulation interface proved advantageous in acquainting untrained users with the multiservice terminal. Mainly for practical reasons, the generic-functions interface was rated to be more user-friendly when it comes to long-term use.