User Interface Design: Adapting to User Characteristics

Mod 2 Obj #9 describe ways in which a user’s characteristics require adaptation of a user interface to increase effectiveness; BETWEEN THE AGES OF 6-15 Most user interfaces Designed for individuals within this age group falls in the category of educational software. To allow persons of the y...

Mod 2 Obj #9 describe ways in which a user’s characteristics require adaptation of a user interface to increase effectiveness; BETWEEN THE AGES OF 6-15 Most user interfaces Designed for individuals within this age group falls in the category of educational software. To allow persons of the younger category to efficiently and safely use a computer there should be thing in place such as, appropriate font sizes. When designing children’s UI, the designer should avoid the use of abstract concepts as children may not yet understand the abstract concepts. They found that the children were unable to form queries but were able to understand the icons representing what animals eat, the place they live and their appearances. BETWEEN THE AGE 15-30 This age group of people are more familiar and can easily learn how to use an interface. To engage the user not much is to be done to make the UI more simplified than it already is as this age group tends to adapt and learn technologies relatively easy when compared to the other age groups. OVER 50 To facilitate easy maneuvering of users in this age category the UI must have features such as: Large font size: Elderly people generally have poor eyesight. Focus on one process at a time. This is done to prevent the user for being overwhelmed by having multiple processes taking place at once.  Educational Background Moving to a digital platform has it’s challenges, mainly on how different user’s of varying Educational backgrounds would be able to interact and effectively use the technology Users can be categorized using three different educational backgrounds Novice User – these primarily refer to users with a low level educational background such as young kids who have not been introduced to the application of technology and adults who were unfortunately not able to complete a secondary school level of education. Mid-level (Intermediate Users) – are those with the basic understanding of a computer, who retain some amount of computer literacy through usage of the technology and are able to perform basic functions. High-level (Expert Users) – are those who have expert control in using and navigating the computer system and can operate the interface more efficiently and effectively.  A Novice Users interface should be adapted in such a way that it does not overwhelm the user with the amount of options that there is to interact with the interface. Case in point, if a user who never owned a smartphone decided to upgrade to the latest Novice User model smartphone. The UI may overwhelm him with it’s various functionalities, that’s why certain companies like Samsung have created a feature called Easy Mode where the interface is simplified, icons are enlarged and simplistic navigation gestures are implemented.  Mid-level Users interface should be adapted in such a way that a simple and memorable interface format is followed, minimizing the use of complex terms and instructions. For example if a user had just bought a laptop and Intermidiate was interacting with it for the past week, he would User be able to recognize the various functionalities of certain applications from its real world counter parts and be able to navigate/ maneuver the interface with relative ease. An example of this would be the trash can icon, PC icon and control panel icon. Expert User A High-level user’s interface does not need to be simplified in any form but needs to retain the previous interface layout. Given that these users hold an expert understanding in navigating various complex user interfaces, they should not encounter difficulties in maneuvering the UI. For example the Expert user would have no issues switching between different types of interfaces, i.e. command line, graphical UI, menu driven and form based. TYPES OF DIFFERENTLY ABLED VISUALLY IMPAIRED DEAFNESS DYSLEXIA COLOR VISION DEFICINECY MOTOR DISABILITIES VISION IMPAIRMENT What is Vision Impairment? Visual impairment is a term experts use to describe any kind of vision loss, whether it's someone who cannot see at all or someone who has partial vision loss. Some people are completely blind, but many others have what's called legal blindness. They haven't lost their sight completely but have lost enough vision that they'd have to stand 20 feet from an object to see it as well as someone with perfect vision could from 200 feet away. How can Human Computer Interface adapt to the needs of users with vision impairment? Individuals with vision impairment cannot access visual material presented on a traditional computer screen, however Input Output fortunately specialized hardware Spoken word eg. and software can make computer Text-to-speech to systems usable by individuals with Natural language vision impairment. read text displayed interface An effective HCI to facilitate such individuals should consists of the Narrator/screen Braille keyboard as following. reader to read text well as narrator displayed DEAFNESS What is deafness? Deafness is a form of disability where an individual experiences a partial or complete loss in hearing in one or two of their ears. Deafness can be inherited or caused by external factors like loud noises, drugs, and toxins.  As technology shifts to becoming more and more dependent on voice user interfaces as a mode of How communication then screen, display deafness or tactile interface, deaf and hard affects user hearing individuals are being left behind as it is becoming increasingly interface difficult for them to access and use. To solve this problem requires multimedia interfaces. How user interface could adapt to accommodate deafness? In relation to Human Computer Interface (HCI), the accessibility features of Graphical User Interface (GUI) is the best option. The option of using subtitles or transcripts on videos (multimedium), using plain English and using a linear, logical layout that is easy to understand are all ways to accommodate deaf individuals. DYSLEXIA WHAT IS DYSLEXIA? Dyslexia is a language based disability that involves a lack of coordination in a person between sight and sound. PROBLEMS ASSOCIATED WITH DYSLEXIA Reading Writing DYSLEXIA ADAPTION TO USER INTERFACE Avoid using high contrast levels- It is often hard for people with dyslexia to read texts with high contrast levels. According to recent studies, pastel backgrounds are a better choice compared to high- contrast colors. Typography- make texts easy for reading for the most part of users, but it can be not enough if we want to involve dyslexic users. There are specific fonts for users with reading disorders example OpenDyslexic & Times It. Avoid italics or underlines, use bold instead. Keep lines of text short. Studies show that it is best to stick up to 45 characters in a line.  Allow design customization. Let app users set such visual preferences as colors, text magnification, and fonts. DYSLEXIA ADAPTION Support text with icons whenever possible. TO USER INTERFACE CONTINUED Add images, pictograms, and videos instead of text to make the design more accessible. Enable auto-fill where possible. Don’t make users remember everything. Instead, enable a Google-like search field that remembers what the user has previously searched for. COLOR VISION DEFICIENCY What is Color Vision Deficiency? Color vision deficiency (sometimes called color blindness) is the decreased ability to see the differences in certain colors and different shades of those colors. Most individuals who are affected by this have trouble distinguishing between shades of red, yellow and green.  Color blind users may not be able to tell application icons apart due to its color (e.g. Effects of red, green, yellow). Color The user may get confused when using an Vision application with these colors, which can lead to them entering inaccurate data. Deficiency Problems may arise when trying to do certain projects such as creating a presentation with pictures and highlighting text.  If the user is on a computer, the colorblind mode can be turned on in the settings menu. Here they are able to personalize the settings How user by choosing what type of colorblindness they interface could have and what colors they can and cannot see. adapt to Color Inserting text in the background of images. Vision Deficiency For the benefit of colorblind users, certain color accommodate? combinations should be avoided when creating websites or applications. (e.g. green/red, green/brown.) MOTOR DISABILITIES WHAT IS MOTOR DISABILITIES? Motor disability is essentially a condition that impedes sensation, movement or coordination. It can result from several possible causes and pre-existing health conditions such as congenital conditions, spinal cord injuries and physical trauma. Having developed motor disability, one can easily be refrained from executing their daily tasks and routines. Therefore, Computer engineers have designed an eye tracking device specifically known as eye gaze.  How user The eye gaze device allows motor disabled users to navigate and control their computer with their interface eyes. The system provides basic functions such as could adapt to activate, select, zoom and scroll. The device then records the user’s eye movements where a accommodate computer program would analyse and interpret the information that is being requested from the Motor user. Disabilities? CULTURAL USER INTERFACE CHARACTERISTIC FOR MAXIMUM EFFECTIVENESS DIFFERENCES WHAT IS CULTURAL DIFFERENCES Cultural differences is the quality of diverse or different cultures. The phrase cultural diversity can also refer to having different cultures respect each other's differences. Cultural difference involves the integrated and maintained system of socially acquired values, beliefs, and rules of conduct which impact the range of accepted behaviors distinguishable from one social group to another. POINTS ON CULTURAL Graphical Design DIFFERENCES IN Language TECHNOLOGY Racially Diverse Festive Diversity GRAPHICAL DESIGN The graphical part of the interface is the part that deals with the design of the art of the interface for example icons and pictures. Graphics are used to transmit messages to the user but it must also be respectful to different social groups. Graphics are designed respectfully to capture and captivate all end users around the world to take part in the software program without being offended culturally. For example in the video game ‘Fortnite’ for there end users in China they have removed all skull based graphics because in China skulls are considered a taboo which is an implicit prohibition on something, skulls are considered a taboo because there is a fear in China that skulls could cause delinquency in children. LANGUAGE Language in an interface is there for the end user to understand the interface verbally and comprehensively. The reasons there are different languages in an interface is for people of every nation to understand the interface. For example Google's A.I assistant can speak 30 different languages for most of the worlds technological end users to be able to talk to her to retrieve information, and in the Google application a user can select their language of origin.  RACIAL DIVERSITY To properly explain this concept we will be relating it the a Direct Manipulation Interface which is the game ‘Fortnite’. Racial Diversity means having a range of people with various racial, ethnic, socioeconomic and cultural backgrounds. Since many games are globally accessible they must not be bias of different races. For example in ‘Fortnite’ there are four main types of character races, there are African American, White, Chinese and Mexican characters. By having a diverse amount of characters, it adds personalization to the game and attracts users of all cultures to want to play because in the gaming community the more your character looks like yourself the more you tend to enjoy using the interface. FESTIVE DIVERSITY To properly explain this concept we will be relating it with a Direct Manipulation Interface which is the game ‘Fortnite’. Festive diversity in an interface is where the coders add unique items in the program to commemorate a users culture. Since many games are globally accessible they must not be bias to different cultures. For example in the game ‘Fortnite’ which is one of the most popular game in the world, they have many different cultural users and those users have different festivals, that’s why in this game almost every two weeks there is always some special events celebrating a popular or unpopular festival and this also attracts users because they feel appreciated by the developers of the interface.  A non-visual interface is a computer program that will allow visual impaired people to use the computer. NON-VISUAL Non-visual includes touch and hearing. INTERFACES The relationship between a non-visual interface and a HCI is that both needs/involves hand-eye coordination. NON-VISUAL Types of Non-Visual Interfaces: INTERFACES Pro Binding Source SENSORS  Sensors are devices that measure physical or systematic input which is converted into a signal SENSORS that is sent to a main control system where it can be interpreted by a human or computer interface.  Types of sensors: Smoke sensors Temperature sensors Pressure sensor SENSORS Motion sensor IR sensor Proximity sensor Light sensor ACCESSIBILITY FEATURES ACCESSIBILITY FEATURES Accessibility features are designed to help people with disabilities use technology more easily. For example, a text-to-speech feature may read text out loud for people with limited vision, while a speech-recognition feature allows users with limited mobility to control the computer with their voice. ACCESIBILITY FEATURES Some common types of accessibility features are: Features for blind or low-vision computer users: Features such as text-to-speech allow users to hear what’s on the screen instead of reading it. Other features, like high-contrast themes and enlarged cursors, make it easier for users with limited vision to see the screen. Features for deaf or low-hearing computer users: Closed-captioning helps to convey audio information to deaf users in visual form. Mono audio systems transmit right and left audio signals through both earbuds and headphones so users with limited hearing in one ear will not miss part of what they are listening to. Features for limited-mobility computer users: Keyboard shortcuts are convenient for many people, but they are especially helpful to those with difficulty physically manipulating a mouse. For users who have difficulty pressing several keys at once, sticky keys allow them to press keys one at a time to activate a shortcut. ACCESIBILITY FEATURES The relationship between HCI and Accessibility features is that Human– computer interaction(HCI) studies the design and use of computer technology, focused on the interfaces between people (users) and computers. HCI is design for humans interact with computers in novel ways and the accessibility features help the disable users to interact are use technology more comfortably. This relation allows a better interaction with technology for the user.