In custom installation, one of the business elements most critical to creating long-term satisfied clients is to maintain uniform and sensible standards for system interfaces. So what makes for great interfaces?

First off is the obvious: buttons and functions in the control system should be obvious and clear. If a thousand people a day pull on a door marked "push", says the old adage, it doesn't mean that people are stupid, it means that it's a badly-designed door. Here are a few other suggestions:

Design For The User: Integrators who are in love with technology sometimes forget that their clients aren't propeller heads. Seldom is the client going to be as keen on the inner workings of the system as the integrator. Just as important is that non-clients like grandma or the babysitter who won't have experienced the final system orientation or read the documentation shouldn't have to struggle with watching TV or turning the lights off.

Consistency Is Everything: Every interface, whether it's a keypad, touch-panel or a TV's on-screen display, should follow the same consistent layout. If multiple rooms each have a handheld remote control, the button layout should be identical, or at least very similar. To avoid clients getting lost when navigating their selections, consider the use of a "home" button. RTI and others put one on their remotes, while Control4 systems use the Big Red Four button to take users back to the main page.

Provide Control Feedback, Within Reason: Without acknowledgement that a command has been entered, people will keep mashing the same button over and over again. (In truth, even with feedback, some people will do that anyway!) Regardless, some form of feedback, like a button changing colour, a beep or click, or a status bar, should occur to indicate that the wheels are in motion. This will keep clients patient.

Keep It Simple: In an interview recently, SpeakerCraft Vice President Dave Donald reminded integrators that: "You can't make clients do more with their system than they want to." The truth of that observation can't be overstated. If the client just wants to listen to music and watch TV, throwing in additionally functionality that exceeds his desires is just going to confuse him. The control system may very well be able to do remarkably sophisticated things, but like an iceberg, 90% of that functionality should be hidden away from the client, and only come out when called for.

Like everything else in custom installation, successful interface design comes down to good processes, and as they say "Proper Processes Provide Repeatable Results." Do things for clients the same way every time: logically and simply and a huge portion of what satisfies clients has then been accomplished.

Similar to the iPhone concept with a large button that always takes you back to the home screen, Control4's Big Red Four button lets custom A/V clients instantly return to the Home screen at any time during the navigation process.

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