Designing For Touch-Screen Kiosks 

As with other interactive media, touch-screen kiosks are designed for many different types of uses - from art piece installations to bus timetables and just about everything in between. But the practice of design for such kiosks demonstrates the importance of understanding hardware considerations and restraints before embarking on interface development. There are aspects to touch-screen technology that make their design fundamentally different to that of desktop applications. Most of these differences revolve around the nature of the input or controlling device. Touch screen kiosks are controlled directly by the user's finger whereas desktop applications are controlled remotely by devices like a mouse or keyboard. Users' fingers and hands vary in size and shape unlike a mouse cursor that stays more or less the same size from machine to machine. This is the primary consideration for design. For the purposes of this article we will concentrate on the touch-screen and the users' interaction with the content of the kiosk. Issues as to the design and usability of the kiosk's hardware or casing (such as height and location) will not be addressed. Before the designer can begin to think what the user might want in terms of content there are more basic concerns.

Coveney, Rory. Frontend Infocentre (2001). Design>User Interface