Conventional UI Components
In complex environments confusion and frustration can occur. If a designer uses too many different interaction styles it can add to a user’s confusion. The benefit of using conventional interface components is that they allow us to create usable mental models that are obvious, providing a structural approach on how the user connects between things. Furthermore, by reusing pre-built UI components you can be rest assured that these components have been tested and proven to be viable solutions to transparently solving problems.
A good example of this is the drag and drop framework. This preferred component supports moving data and one or more objects around within an app. Drag and drop performs UI actions through direct manipulation of information with a finger or pointer, following one of the more important design principles, what-you-see-is-what-you-get. In other words, drag and drop offers transparency in terms of interaction. It allows users to interact with objects on a device as they do with real world objects. Thus, drag and drop framework takes the form of a “mental model” of a process. Mental models are the cognitive representation of a person’s thought process about how something functions or is constructed (Heim, 2008).
References
Heim, S. (2008). The resonant interface: hci foundations for interaction design. (pp. 9-11). Boston, MA: Pearson education, inc.
