HCI tools, methods and information sources

Designers and implementers of user interfaces use both tools and methods which have been specifically developed to achieve highly usable interfaces. The development of user interfaces involves a highly user oriented approach in which the potential users of a system are involved in some way in the design and implementation process from a very early stage. HCI tools and methods tend therefore to assist both with the implementation of interfaces and in allowing the designers to understand as fully as possible the main characteristics of users, and to express those characteristics in such a way as to aid the design and implementation process. In general terms HCI tools and methods assist developers to achieve systems which are usable