The impact of home bus standards on consumer product design: addressing the challenge for a better user interface

As home bus standards in the US and abroad near completion, scores of companies are busy developing a new generation of feature-rich products and services for the home. However, until user interface design practice catches up with the demands of increasingly complex products, ease-of-use will remain a major impediment to mass-market penetration. It is pointed out that the inadequacy of the user interface has only recently become an issue. Ever since microprocessors were introduced into the home, product functionality has outpaced design practice. It is concluded that the microprocessor must now be harnessed to hide product complexity and reduce the operational burden on the user