Cooper Part II Making Well-Behaved Products Different Needs Jeff Offutt http://www.cs.gmu.edu/~offutt/ SWE 632 User Interface Design and Development Cooper Ed4, Ch 16 (abbreviated version)

Information in the World Information in the Head Norman, Design of Everyday Things Examples of information in the head : Labels : Names of people, Mom’s phone number Location of classes Which car is yours Examples of information in the world : Signs : Street, room numbers, house numbers, restaurants Contact info on pocket computers Maps and navigation systems Digital devices created a massive migration of information from our heads to the world 26-Apr-19 © Jeff Offutt

Usable UIs have lots of information in the world (in the UI) World and Head Information in your head Faster and easier to use Private You must learn, remember, and keep it up to date Information in the world Slower to use Public Not limited by your memory Invisible commands must be in your head Pedagogic commands can be in the world Usable UIs have lots of information in the world (in the UI) 26-Apr-19 © Jeff Offutt

Language Issues Diacriticals: A sign that modifies the sound of a letter Ö, Ò, Ó, Ô, Õ, … English has none ASCII: 7 bits is okay for English, but most European languages need 8 bits Japanese has 8000 characters, Chinese has > 100,000! Unicode has 16 bits Sorting: the rules vary by language Capitalization: Rules differ by dialect Canadian: é  É French: é  E 26-Apr-19 © Jeff Offutt

Be sure to get local users to test the UI Language Issues (2) Hyphenation: varies by language Name orderings differ: Jeff Offutt, Li Nan Numeric formats Currency symbols ($, £, ¥, …) Location varies Separators Time: 4:30 .. 4.30 Large numbers: 5,000,000 .. 5.000.000 .. 500,0000 Dates: May 13, 2014 – 05/13/14 .. 13/05/014 .. 2014/13/05 Time: 4:30 .. 16:30 Clocks Telephone numbers Be sure to get local users to test the UI 26-Apr-19 © Jeff Offutt

Accessibility Can your GUI, website, web app, or mobile app be used by people with disabilities or impairments? Section 508 compliance : Standards for accessing technology Government site : http://www.gsa.gov/portal/content/105254 Free website checker : http://www.508checker.com/ Accessibility goals Users can understand instructions, information, and feedback Users can manipulate controls and inputs Users can navigate easily and know where they are It is acceptable to have a different UI (accessible) 26-Apr-19 © Jeff Offutt

Accessibility Guidelines Use tools in the OS Don’t override user-selected settings Enable keyboard access methods Use display options for visually impaired users Provide visual-only and audible-only output Don’t flash, flicker, or blink Use simple, and clear language Allow users to slow down the UI Keep layouts and flow consistent Provide text for visual elements 26-Apr-19 © Jeff Offutt

Summary Some users have very different needs Effective UIs must support all users 26-Apr-19 © Jeff Offutt