#21516
The purpose of this study is to find out how English speaking computers causes the inconvenience of non-English speaking users, especially Chinese, Japanese and Korean. Because these oriental scripts are based on ancient Chinese ideographic characters. I want to explore the language and culture differences of the these countries which may be critical factors in determining how software tools can best accommodate different user groups at the U. of Minnesota. I hope, by conducting this research, I can gain insights into appropriateness of certain interaction technologies indifferent cultural environments.
McDowell, Earl E. and Pi-hai Sun. STC Proceedings (1994). Design>User Interface>Accessibility>International
#25739
Cultural User Interfaces, A Silver Lining in Cultural Diversity
Many software applications marketed outside the country of origin are internationalised and/or localised. In this article, I propose a strategy to localise the software by creating a Cultural User Interface (CUI) for each of the target cultures. A CUI is a user interface that is intuitive to a particular culture.
Yeo, Alvin. SIGCHI Bulletin (1996). Articles>User Interface>Localization
#28499
Are there any downsides of prototyping? Not really. But as with everything else in life, you might stumble and hurt yourself if you don’t watch your step. This article points out some of the banana skins to steer clear of.
Olsen, Henrik. GUUUI (2007). Articles>User Interface>Methods
#20838
The file system has been a trusted part of most computers for many years, and will likely continue as such in operating systems for many more. However, several emerging trends in user interfaces indicate that the basic file-system model is inadequate to fully satisfy the needs of new users, despite the flexibility of the underlying code and data structures.
Nielsen, Jakob. Alertbox (1996). Articles>Human Computer Interaction>User Interface
#10611
Debunking the Myths of User Interface Design
The software development industry is relatively young, rapidly evolving, and surprisingly little is automated. It is therefore an intensely human and social endeavor, having all the phenomena characteristic of any cultural activity -- communication issues, organizational issues, customs, values, fashions, and myths. It brings out the best and the worst in people. Personalities determine much of what happens. It is more like making movies than engineering cars. Software development would benefit greatly from extensive study by sociologists, anthropologists, and clinical psychologists. As we await such analyses, let's document some beliefs embedded in the culture of software development, specifically about user interface design. This article identifies a series of cultural myths and presents realistic conclusions from my extensive experience in user interface design.
Smith, Paul. IBM (2001). Design>User Interface>Programming>Organizational Communication
#20949
The screen may be flat, but the illusion of depth grows stronger. With Apple’s new operating system, OS X, the evolutionary trend of the user interface becomes clear. Starting as flat, monochromatic symbols, the Mac’s icons have become progressively more naturalistic, and the suggestion of depth created by layers of overlapping windows has been enhanced, first by the Classic bas-relief shading on the window frames, and now, with Aqua, the OS X interface, by the addition of feathered drop shadows cast by the windows.
Shinn, Nick. ShinnType (2002). Design>User Interface>Operating Systems>Macintosh
#23856
Defining an Effective Electronic Performance Support System
Most businesses have seen a dramatic increase in the amount of information employees require to perform tasks. Traditional approaches to training such as paper documentation, instructor-led training, or computer-based training (CBT) may have been effective in the past, but are not suitable to respond to the rapid changes in time, cost, and delivery of information today’s marketplace requires. At Unisys Corporation we have piloted an electronic performance support system that provides self-instruction for our clients at their point of need.
Racine, Sam J., Kristen E. Kralick and Sathya Yesuraja. Usability Interface (2004). Articles>User Interface>Usability>EPSS
#22008
La Minería de Datos (Data Mining) es un término del que se hablado bastante en los últimos años. Sin embargo es sólo una parte de algo mucho más interesante: el Descubrimiento de Conocimientos o Knowledge Discovery.
Dursteler, Juan Carlos. InfoVis (2002). (Spanish) Articles>Information Design>User Interface
#30027
Design for Emotion: Ready for the Next Decade?
The experience profile of a product can be described in terms of these experiential components. Once such an experience profile has been properly defined, it must be translated in all product properties the designer can affect. It has an effect on the sensorial aspects of the product, but also on the way it functions, it affects the way people operate the product and even the way the product is marketed. In sum, the profile has an impact on all aspects that together shape the human-product interaction.
Hekkert, Paul and Pieter Desmet. uiGarden (2007). Design>User Interface>User Centered Design>User Experience
#21870
If you're familiar with the term user-interface (UI) design, you may think of it as the domain of software engineers. But software isn't the only product that has an interface - all products do, in fact. If you're one of the many designers who creates Web sites, PDF files, or other types of nonlinear or interactive publications, you can probably benefit from some of the principles of UI design.
Mullarky, Rick. Adobe Magazine (1998). Design>User Interface>Interactive
#23211
The Design of Browsing and Berrypicking Techniques for the Online Search Interface
The author argues for a new model of information retrieval called 'berrypicking.' This model attempts to be much more representative of the real behavior of information searchers than the traditional model of information retrieval.
Bates, Marcia. UCLA (1989). Design>User Interface>Search
#14237
Design of Haptic and Tactile Interfaces for Blind Users
Since computer use became more widespread in the 1980's and 1990's, considerable effort has been put into ensuring that the blind have equal access to state of the art techology. However, the dominance of graphical user interfaces and direct manipulation has reduced the effectiveness of old speech-based systems. This article discusses aspects of tactile and haptic interfaces, reviews current research on the topic, and provides design principles for practitioners culled from recent research.
Christian, Kevin. Universal Usability (2000). Design>User Interface>Accessibility>Visual
#30022
Design Study 2: Structured Selection with a Multi-Modal Extended Selection List 
The design of a special-purpose selection list is reviewed. As part of a performance-support application for classroom teachers, a means was needed for rapid selection from a large number of alternative words. By taking into account the inherent structure of the terms in the list, instead of treating it as a simple list of unspecified objects, a more efficient and more easily used design was achieved. By incorporating the structure of the alternatives, the design was also able to reflect and support best practices in classroom lesson planning.
Constantine, Larry L. and Lucy A.D. Lockwood. Constantine and Lockwood (2001). Design>User Interface>Usability
#21648
Designing a Telephone-Based User Interface
Explains how technical communicators, drawing on their experience designing Web sites and software interfaces, can help design effective interfaces for telephone-answering and call-routing systems.
Hart, Geoffrey J.S. Intercom (2004). Design>User Interface>EPSS>User Centered Design
#23263
Designing Better HTML Authoring Tools
A collection of proposed new tools and features for adding structure to the Web.
Hoffman, Michael. Hypertext Navigation. Articles>Web Design>User Interface>Software
#28680
Designing Breakthrough Products: Going Where No User Has Gone Before
For UX designers, some of the most exciting projects to work on are new-to-the-world or breakthrough products that solve real problems people didn't even realize they had. Get them right and they may be hugely successful in the marketplace, but they're also the riskiest projects. While user-centered design (UCD) techniques can sometimes be valuable on new-product projects, more often, they don't seem to work particularly well when designing breakthrough products. Here are some lessons I've learned from my own work on new-product projects.
Olsen, George. UXmatters (2006). Design>User Interface
#30801
It's not that people resist change whole-scale. They just hate losing control and feeling stupid. When we make critical changes, we risk putting our users in that position. We must take care to ensure that we've considered the process of change as much as we've considered the technology changes themselves. Only then will we end up with changes that our users embrace.
Spool, Jared M. User Interface Engineering (2005). Design>User Interface>Redesign>Usability
#13830
Whenever we design something, we confront the problem of how to account for differences in our audience's needs, skills, and background. We accept that audiences are diverse and include people with widely varying skill levels, physical abilities, background knowledge, and cultural differences. They range from power users--who could teach us something about the product--to the greenest of neophytes. Some have significant visual or other limitations. Some can understand the most abstract concepts, whereas others wouldn't recognize a metaphor if it bit them. And some come from very different cultures, such as the gap that divides Macintosh and Windows users. Unfortunately, our knowledge of the more obvious differences sometimes leads us to make ridiculous assumptions, such as considering women and men to be different audiences, or believing that it's impossible to produce something that works equally well for experienced and new users.
Hart, Geoffrey J.S. TECHWR-L (2000). Design>User Interface>User Centered Design
#19304
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
#28678
Over the past few years, I have come to appreciate the power patterns have as a shorthand that lets software engineers communicate their design intentions. Being able to discuss an Observer or Factory pattern with other engineers quickly moves the design discussion to more substantive concerns.
Frishberg, Leo. UXmatters (2006). Articles>Reviews>User Interface
#26447
When forms give users the option to continue in two or more alternative directions, such as registering as a new customer or signing in as a returning one, unfortunate users will take the wrong turn if it isn't unmistakably obvious which way they should go. In this article, we'll take a look at a few intersection flows that have caused users problems.
Olsen, Henrik. GUUUI (2005). Articles>User Interface>User Centered Design>Workflow
#25061
Designing Minimalist Principles Into User Interfaces
Designing a user interface using minimalist principles for guided exploration can reduce the amount of paper and text necessary to document the system. Graphics in the interface can help the user grasp the concepts of the system, while dialog boxes, status information, and error messages can aid in recognition of success and recovery from errors. Online help can then be used as a backup for users if they get stuck. Reducing text and paper can reduce translation and printing costs, making this process very attractive.
Elser, Arthur G. STC Proceedings (1994). Articles>User Interface>Usability>Minimalism
#24248
Designing Products for the International Environment – a Practical Guide
Most companies are moving quickly beyond their local market to succeed on a large global market. Companies are developing mass market products instead of products for a single customer. All this poises new challenges to everyone in the company. This panel will address the following.
Vatovec, Bogo, Carol Peterson, James V. Romano and Allen Strand. STC Proceedings (1999). Design>User Interface>International
#19288
Scalable interface design ensures that interface development takes account of the need to change over time, providing solutions that are flexible and thus 'future-proof' to some extent. Too often complex interface designs require a complete overhaul when even the smallest change is required in the functionality of the application or site in question. Building 'scalable' interfaces in the first place will save time and cost in the long term - and make coping with upgrades easier for your customers.
Quinn, Anthony. Frontend Infocentre (2001). Design>Web Design>User Interface
#29766
Many web sites and applications include a search feature. Often they provide an extremely simple search interface consisting of a single text box and a "Go" button. Sometimes, however, the users' tasks call for more sophistication, and guidelines for complex search interfaces are difficult to find. This paper details four levels of search interface, and it provides heuristics (guidelines) to use when designing complex search interfaces. Different solutions are appropriate, depending on the users' motivation and knowledge of their subject, experience using search interfaces, and search goals. Finally, PubMed serves as a useful example to illustrate how these guidelines can be used to analyze existing search interfaces.
McDaniel, Scott M. STC Proceedings (2004). Design>Web Design>User Interface>Search
