The Cultural Component of Designing and Evaluating International User Interfaces

By and large, cultural diversity is not being addressed in the design and development of user interfaces for international markets. Localization efforts that merely translate language or units of measure are increasingly being viewed as superficial. For example, authors such as de Galdo and Nielsen suggest two additional levels of focus: increasing the effectiveness of usability methods by modifying them for cultural appropriateness, and designing interfaces in accordance to a cultural model of product usage. It is suggested here that such efforts directed at international user interfaces will prove to be increasingly vital to successful globalization efforts. In Montreal, a novelist becomes so frustrated attempting to enter French diacritics in her wordprocessor, that she gives up writing for the day. In Tokyo, a usability specialist flown in from New York can

• Type: Conference
• Year: 1999
• Where: HICSS
• Authors: Nestor G. Trillo
• Keywords: Biometrics, HICSS 1999, International User Interfaces, Usability Methods, User Interfaces