Nielsen Norman Group
Evidence-Based User Experience Research, Training, and Consulting
Nielsen Norman GroupEvidence-Based User Experience Research, Training, and Consulting
Increasing technological sophistication in many countries and the resulting larger world trade has indicated a need to pay greater attention to the international aspects of user interfaces. Many American companies are approaching a situation where half of their sales are outside the United States, and companies in smaller countries often have a much larger proportion of their sales outside their own country. This means that software sales will increasingly depend on their international usability and not just their domestic usability. Seen from a user's perspective more than half of the world's software users will be using interfaces which were originally designed in a foreign country. Usability for this large market of users will depend upon increased awareness of the issues involved in designing user interfaces for international use. As the European community aims to establish the so-called Single Market by the end of 1992, international software will become even more important in that part of the world. And as if it wasn't hard enough to design user interfaces for use in Europe, there are a further set of problems connected with user interfaces for Asia. Both of these issues are examined in depth. This is the first publication of its kind to appear on the topic of international user interfaces, and presents both general guidelines and a number of detailed case studies on the many aspects entailed. The book will be of considerable interest to project managers, lecturers, students, developers of basic software and user interface designers. Edited by Jakob Nielsen, published by Elsevier Science Publishers, ISBN 0-444-88428-9.
Preface, Jakob Nielsen, Technical University of Denmark
Contributors
1. Internationalization and Translation: Some Guidelines for the Design of Human-Computer Interfaces, Elisa del Galdo, Digital Equipment Corporation
2. Transnational Symbols: The Rule of Pictograms and Models in the Learning Process, Jakob Ossner, Pedagogical Institute of Heidelberg
3. Usability Testing of International Interfaces, Jakob Nielsen, Technical University of Denmark
4. A European Evaluation of Three Document Formats for Hardware Installation Guides, Elisa del Galdo, Digital Equipment Corporation
5. Two Faces of America: Polyglot and Tongue-Tied, Robert C. Sprung, Harvard Translations
6. ARRIS: Redesigning a User Interface for International Use, Matthew C. Peterson, Sigma Design, Inc.
7. Hypertext — Towards the Single Intellectual Market, Patricia Baird, University of Strathclyde
8. Creating International Applications: A Hands-On Approach using the Hewlett-Packard NLS Package, Dave Taylor, Intuitive Systems
9. International User Interface for INFOFLEX, Jakob Peter Nielsen, Data Reforming
10. User Interfaces for Asia, Piyawadee Sukaviriya and Lucy Moran, The George Washington University
11. International User Interfaces, Rosalie A. Zobel-Pocock, Commission of the European Communities
Author affiliations given as of the date the chapters were written.