Ask Eric: Questions & Answers

August 29, 2003 – submitted by Miguel Gonzalez of London, UK

I think the keyboard/mouse will be better since people are used to thinking that an application running on a screen without input devices, like keyboard and mouse, is only for showing information.

A touch screen is a input device but people don't know that until they touch the screen. If you see an application running on a screen and you see a keyboard and mouse attached to it, you know you can interact with that application.

What do you think? Should I avoid the touch screen solution and go to the better known keyboard/mouse solution? Where can I found documentation demonstrating this issue?

Thank you.

The design of the attract/welcome screen needs to make clear that the screen is touchable. This is easy to do with strong button affordances and no distractions on the hardware. You can further reinforce the screen touching with an animation illustrating touching the screen (if you need it). In terms of expectation of interactivity the touch screen is commonly used for check-in at airports now. That is clearly interactive and high value. If you are doing word processing (etc.) then you will surprise users with a touch screen. But in these cases you will be driven to the keyboard and mouse by functional requirements.

There are certainly issues that could drive you away from touch screen. The target may have to be too small. You will need a keyboard to enter substantial amounts of text efficiently. There may be problems with cleanliness. But IF you can make a touch screen work for a kiosk... do it.

August 13, 2003 – submitted by Sue Evans of Dublin, OH

If users do want a specific paper document, the PDF format may allow more robust formatting (where HTML may appear differently then you expect depending on browser). It may also be more reliable to print.

But the key to your question is the idea of MULTIPLE PDFs. This suggests that the task involves working through a large set of content that is presented in PDF format. Don't do that again. I suspect that the content needs to be consolidated and made interactively accessible.

July 13, 2003 – submitted by Steve Jones of Plano, TX

Beyond simple taboos, there is much to localization of software. First, there is the question of the business strategy and practicality of the taskflow. Various cultures make decisions differently and have very different business practices. If the overall purpose and structure of the interface works, then there is still the issue of communication. There are certainly different connotations and preferences for colors and interface styles. A common picture of a woman in a swimsuit will be seen as pornographic in some cultures. And, there are huge differences in the presentation of numbers, addresses, and other data items. For example in India this in correct: 1,00,000.

You really must know the specific culture you are targeting. Here is a bit of the color data from HFI's Usability Central Gold...

• Generally, German sites look very boring to Americans and American sites look very childish to Germans. Americans tend to like brighter hues than Germans do.
• In Eastern cultures, white is used at funerals, but in USA it's black, and in Africa, red.
• In Japan, the pairing of red and white is a sign of happiness and celebration. Black signifies death in the West and is worn for mourning, but in Egypt it represents rebirth. Brides in Western countries wear white, but white is the traditional color of mourning in China and India.
• Some African cultures associate tactile qualities such as dryness or moistness to certain colors.

February 20, 2003 – submitted by Phil Mak of China