Brave New Interface Worlds

The ties between people and computers tighten as software and hardware interfaces become more interactive.

Alan Joch

Bartenders and therapists watch out: We may not need you to boost our egos anymore. After studying the psychological and physiological responses of people to computers, Stanford University's Clifford Nass and Byron Reeves report that computers can actually improve our self esteem. For example, participants in one study registered positive responses on brain scanners when a message of praise flashed across a screen. Even when the praise is random, we feel better when our computer treats us nicely, the researchers report (see "GUIs Get a Facelift").

Nowhere is this finding more important than in the development of interface design. In part, this means that tomorrow's GUIs will be friendlier in more concrete ways than just smiley faces and cute icons: They'll be cleaner and less cluttered, present error messages in a consistent tone and style, and, most important, be a tool to access any information we desire, whether it's on our local hard drive or halfway around the world on a Web server. To accomplish this, designers are mixing and matching the best characteristics of current GUIs and Web browsers to develop interfaces with a completely new look.

As GUIs take in a larger world view, virtual reality is settling into more mainstream applications. Virtual worlds will offer interface designers alternatives to standard 2-D icons to help us navigate GUIs easier and find information faster. New, nonproprietary authoring tools are helping to bring VR to general-purpose applications (see Dick Pountain's report in "VR Meets Reality").

Ties that bind us even more closely to computers will arrive later this decade. For example, eye-tracking technology lets computers peer into our eyes and monitor what screen images hold our attention (see "What Pupils Teach Computers"). Initial research shows that eye tracking helps people work faster than with traditional input devices and without the kinds of physical strain that can lead to carpal tunnel syndrome.

Thus we'll have better-mannered GUIs, VR systems that lead us to digital worlds, and I/O devices that gaze into our mind's eye. Every step we take away from our command-line roots takes us deeper into more efficient and more compelling relationships with our computers.