5.6 Information Display
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Statutory Documents - IMO Publications and Documents - Circulars - Maritime Safety Committee - MSC/Circular.982 – Guidelines on Ergonomic Criteria for Bridge Equipment and Layout – (Adopted on 20 December 2000) - Annex - Guidelines on Ergonomic Criteria for Bridge Equipment and Layout - 5 Ergonomic Requirements - 5.6 Information Display

5.6 Information Display

  5.6.1 General Display Requirements

  5.6.1.1 Lack of Ambiguity

Display indicators should clearly and unambiguously direct and guide the appropriate control response.

  5.6.1.2 Use of Digital Displays

Digital displays should be used for the presentation of quantitative data when exact values are required and continuous trend or rate of change information is not required.

  5.6.1.3 Digital Readout

A digital readout should not be used when the information changes with a frequency of more than 0,5 Hz; a higher frequency may be used when the information perception from other displays is not disturbed.

  5.6.1.4 Update of Information

The displayed information should be continuously updated.

  5.6.1.5 Information Duration

For signals or displays which frequently or consistently change their outputs, the information displayed should have durations of sufficient length to be reliably detected under expected operator workload and operational environment.

  5.6.1.6 Display Simplicity

Displays should present the simplest information consistent with their function; information irrelevant to the task should not be displayed, and extraneous text and graphics should not be present.

  5.6.1.7 Only Necessary Data Displayed

Displayed data should be tailored to user's needs, providing only necessary and immediately usable data for any transaction. Displays should not be overloaded with extraneous data.

  5.6.1.8 Uncluttered Displays

Displays should be as uncluttered as possible.

  5.6.1.9 Display of Important Information

Highly important and/or frequently used information should be permanently displayed.

  5.6.1.10 Display Fields for the Display of Important Information

The display fields for the presentation of the most important and/or frequently used information should be assigned exclusively to them and should not be used to display any other information.

  5.6.1.11 Graphic Display Enhancement With Numeric Values

When precise reading of a graphic display is required, the display should be annotated with actual data values to supplement their graphic representation.

  5.6.1.12 Indication of Scale

The scale of maps and charts (data) shown on the display should always be indicated.

  5.6.1.13 Aiding Distance Judgements

When a user must judge distances accurately on a map or other graphic display, computer aids should be provided for that judgement.

  5.6.2 Arrangement of Visual Information

  5.6.2.1 Screen Organization

A standard display screen organization should be evident for the location of various system functions (such as a data display zone, control zone, message zone) from one display to another.

  5.6.2.2 Grouping of Information on a Display

Information on a display should be grouped according to obvious principles, e.g., by task, system, function, sequence, etc., based upon the user's requirements in performance of the ongoing task.

  5.6.2.3 Demarcation of Groups

Information groups should be visually distinct, e.g., separated by blanks, lines, colour coding, or other means.

  5.6.2.4 Consistent Presentation

The arrangement and presentation of identical visual information should be consistent from application to application.

  5.6.3 Visual Display Units (VDU)

  5.6.3.1 Night Display

All information should be presented emitting as little light as possible at night.

  5.6.3.2 Day and Night Legibility

Displays should be capable of being read day and night.

  5.6.3.3 Background Colour

A single neutral background colour should be used that has a hue which allows the information (foreground) to be easily visible and which does not distort or interfere with the coding aspects of the display.

  5.6.3.4 VDU Resolution

The display should have adequate resolution; i.e., users can discriminate all display elements and codes from the maximum intended viewing distance.

  5.6.3.5 VDU Contrast

The contrast ratio of the display should be greater than 3 : 1 and less than 15 : 1; a contrast ratio of 7 : 1 is preferred.

  5.6.3.6 Background Luminance

A background luminance level of 15 cd/m2 to 20 cd/m2 should be used at daylight.

  5.6.3.7 Display Luminance

The display luminance should be between 80 cd/m2 to 160 cd/m2 at daylight.

  5.6.3.8 Flicker

The display should be "flicker free"; the refresh rate should have a minimum of 65 Hz.

  5.6.3.9 Image Continuity

The display should maintain the illusion of a continuous image, i.e., users should not be able to resolve scan lines or matrix spots.

  5.6.3.10 CRT Image Linearity

The display should be free of geometric distortion.

  5.6.4 Coding and Highlighting

  5.6.4.1 Highlighting Selected Data

When a user is performing an operation on some selected display item, that item should be highlighted.

  5.6.4.2 Flash Coding

Red flash coding should be reserved for Alarms.

  5.6.4.3 Redundant Colour Coding

Colour coding should be redundant with some other display feature, i.e. add colour coding after displays have already been designed as effectively as possible in a monochrome format.

  5.6.4.4 Easily Discriminable Colours

When selecting colours for coding discrete categories of data, those colours should be easily discriminable.

  5.6.4.5 Minimum Colour Differences

When colour coding is used for discriminability or conspicuity of displayed information, all colours in the set should differ from one another by a minimum of 40 ΔE (CIE L*u*v*) distances.

  5.6.4.6 Establishing Standards for Shape Coding

When shape coding is used, codes should be based on established standards or conventional meanings.

  5.6.5 Display Elements

  5.6.5.1 Font Style

A clearly legible font should be utilized. Fonts should have true ascenders and descenders, uniform stroke width, and uniform aspect ratio. .

  5.6.5.2 Meaningful Abbreviations

When abbreviations or acronyms are used, they should be meaningful, in common usage and kept to a minimum.

  5.6.5.3 Units of Measurement

The units of measurement (volts, psi, inches, etc.) should be labelled.

  5.6.5.4 Appropriate Use of Icons

Icons should be designed to look like the objects, processes, or operations they represent, by use of literal, functional, or operational representations.

  5.6.5.5 Representation and Discrimination

Each icon or symbol should represent only one object or function, and should be easily discriminable from all other icons and symbols.

  5.6.5.6 Size

Icons and symbols should be large enough for the user to perceive the representation and discriminate it from other icons and symbols.

  5.6.5.7 Highlighting

An icon or symbol that the user has selected should be highlighted.

  5.6.5.8 Scaling in Standard Intervals

Scales should have tick marks at a standard interval of 1, 2, 5, or 10 (or multiples of 10) for labelled divisions; intervening tick marks to aid visual interpolation should be consistent with the labelled scale interval.

  5.6.5.9 Expansion of Graphic Displays

When a graphic display has been expanded from its normal coverage, some scale indicator of the expansion factor should be provided.

  5.6.5.10 Unobtrusive Grids

When grid lines are displayed, they should be unobtrusive and not obscure data elements (e.g., curves, plotted points).


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