Journal of Computer Science 9 (11): 1443-1450, 2013 ISSN: 1549-3636 © 2013 Science Publications doi:10.3844/jcssp.2013.1443.1450 Published Online 9 (11) 2013 (http://www.thescipub.com/jcs.toc) Corresponding Author: Dalbir Singh, Research Center for Software Technology and Management (SOFTAM), Faculty of Information Science and Technology, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Malaysia 1443 Science Publications JCS A REVIEW ON USER INTERFACE DESIGN PRINCIPLES TO INCREASE SOFTWARE USABILITY FOR USERS WITH LESS COMPUTER LITERACY Ali Darejeh and Dalbir Singh Research Center for Software Technology and Management (SOFTAM), Faculty of Information Science and Technology, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Malaysia Received 2013-04-03, Revised 2013-09-19; Accepted 2013-09-20 ABSTRACT This article presents a review on how software usability could be increased for users with less computer literacy. The literature was reviewed to extract user interface design principles by identifying the similar problems of this group of users. There are different groups of users with less computer literacy. However, based on the literature three groups of them need special attention from software designers. The first group is elderly users, as users with lack of computer background. The second group is children, as novice users and the third group is users with mental or physical disorders. Therefore, this study intends to focus on the mentioned groups, followed by a comparison between previous researches in the field, which reveals that some commonalities exist between the needs of these users. These commonalities were used to extract user interface design principles such as (a) reducing the number of features available at any given time, (b) avoiding using computer terms, (c) putting customization ability for font, color, size and (d) using appropriate graphical objects such as avatar or icon. Taking these principles into account can solve software usability problems and increase satisfaction of users with less computer literacy. Keywords: User Interface, Amateur and Novice Users, Elders Software Learnability, Children Software Learnability, Software Usability 1. INTRODUCTION Software development companies need to release a new version of their products periodically to ensure survivability. However an important issue is whether there is any significant differences between the features of the newer version in comparison with the previous version. It can be said that the most significant changes are on the interface rather than features as it has an important role in software marketability. One of the best examples that could illustrate the influence of user interface on the product marketability is reflected on Microsoft Windows and Microsoft Office. Smith (2010), compared Microsoft Office 2010 with its prior versions and found no significant difference in their abilities and tools. In addition, Grabham (2012) and Paul’s study on Windows 7 with Windows 8 showed the same results. It can be concluded that designing user interface is one of the most important aspects in software development process. These days most people need to work with computer and a large group of them are users with less computer literacy. These kinds of users are users who do not have computer background and working experience with computer. This lack of exposure can be because of users’ life-style and age especially among children and elders or because of disabilities that hinder people from working with computer. Lack of computer background can make many learnability difficulties for them in understanding computer software. Therefore, if we want