这是从微软的Windows User Experience文档中读到的一段介绍“UCD”即“以用户为中心的设计”原则的内容，凭着自己这一年多来学到的经验翻译了下，有谬误之处请多多包涵 。这段内容共有好几部分，这是第一部分，后续部分的翻译会陆续放上来。原文附在翻译之后。

以用户为中心的设计原则

这个章节主要描述了被Windows以及这个手册作为基础的设计原则。当你为Windows系统设计软件的时候你会发现这些原则是多么的有价值。

用户在控制

软件界面设计的一个重要原则就是应该时刻让用户感觉到是自己在控制软件而不是软件在控制用户。这个原则有如下几个含义：

• 设计界面时在操作上要设想是让用户启动操作，而不是计算机或者软件。用户扮演一个积极主动的角色而不是反作用的角色。你可以使一项任务变成完全自动化的，但是前提是要给用户选择或者让用户能控制它。
• 由于用户有着各种不同的喜好，所以需要让用户可以自己定制软件的界面外观。系统软件会提供途径给用户来改变这些界面。软件需要能够准确反映出用户针对颜色、字体或者其他系统属性进行的设置。
• 软件应该具有良好的交互性和反馈性。尽量避免模式。模式是不使用通用的交互方式或者使用了限制用户进行某些特定交互的一种状态。当模式是最好的 或者是可选设计方案之一的时候（譬如在一个画图程序里选择某个特定的工具）要确保模式是显而易见的，当用户有明确操作的时候也应该有确定的结果，并能很方便的取消掉。

下面是另外一些让你的程序具有良好的交互性的设计方法：

• 只要条件允许，尽量使用次要窗口（间接窗口，例如对话框、属性窗口、调色板窗口、消息提示、弹出窗口等）。
• 尽量将任务的过程分割开来，比如打印文档就是这样，如此以来你就不需要加载全部的程序来执行单项操作。
• 在后台长时间处理某个任务的时候保持前台依旧是可操作的。例如当打印文档的时候即使这个操作不能被停止也应该可以让用户将窗口最小化。Windows系统中的多线程支持允许同时在后台进行多任务或者多线程的处理。

User-Centered Design Principles

The information in this section describes the design principles on which Windows and the guidelines in this book are based. You will find these
principles valuable when designing software for Windows.

User in Control

An important principle of user interface design is that the user should always feel in control of the software rather than feeling controlled by the
software. This principle has a number of implications:

• The operational assumption is that the user – not the computer or software – initiates actions. The user plays an active rather than reactive role. You can automate tasks, but implement the automation in a way that allows the user to choose or control it.
• Because of their widely varying skills and preferences, users must be able to personalize aspects of the interface. The system software provides user access to many of these aspects. Your software should reflect user settings for different system properties, such as colors, fonts, or other options.
• Your software should be as interactive and responsive as possible. Avoid modes whenever possible. A mode is a state that excludes general interaction or otherwise limits the user to specific interactions. When a mode is the best or only design alternative – for example, for selecting a particular tool in a drawing program – make sure the mode is obvious, visible, the result of an explicit user choice, and easy to cancel.

Here are some other suggested ways of keeping your application’s design interactive:

• Use modeless secondary windows wherever possible. For more information, see Chapter 9, “Secondary Windows.”
• Segment processes, such as printing, so you do not need to load the entire application to perform an operation.
• Run long processes in the background, keeping the foreground interactive. For example, when a document is printing, the user should be able to minimize the window even if the document cannot be altered. The multitasking support in Windows allows you to define separate processes, or threads, in the background.

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