Universal Design for Interactive Systems
Designing For Diversity
Normally interfaces are is design for average users excluding not so average users. But human capabilities are different. Users have different needs and limitations. So it is important to consider many factors when we want to apply the universal design. So we need to consider about Disability, Age, culture
- Disability
- Age
- Culture
Disability
Visual Impairment
Nowadays the standard interface is graphical. The use of this reduces the possibilities for visually impaired users.
How to help?
- Peripherals - screen readers, braille output. Screen readers and braille output are far more restricted in interpreting the graphical interface, meaning that access to computers, and therefore work involving computers, has been reduced rather than expanded for visually impaired people.
- Sound - A number of systems use sound to provide access to graphical interfaces for people with visual impairment. eg speech, earcons and auditory icons. All of these have been used in interfaces for blind users.
- Touch - Tactile interaction, force feedback devices. Tactile interaction is already widely used in electronic braille displays, which represent what is on the screen through a dynamic braille output. It could also be used to provide more information about graphics and shape. Force feedback devices also have the potential to improve accessibility to users with visual impairment, since elements in the interface can be touched, and edges, textures and behaviour used to indicate objects and actions.
Hearing impairment
It is less impact on the graphical interface compared to visual impairment. Computers enhance communication opportunities for people with hearing loss.
How to help?
- Email, instant messaging. And they are great levellers and can be used equally by hearing and deaf users alike.
- Gesture recognition. It has also been proposed to enable the translation of signing to speech or text, again to improve communication, particularly with non-signers.
- Textual captions for multimedia presentations which contain auditory narrative.
Physical impairment
Users with physical disabilities vary in the amount of control and movement that they have over their hands, but many find the precision required in mouse control difficult.
How to help?
- Speech input and output for those without speech difficulties.
- Eyegaze system- tracks eye movements to control cursors
- Predictive systems such as reactive keyboard(anticipate the commands to be typed and executed)
Speech impairment
For users with speech and hearing impairments.
How to help?
- Synthetic speech, text-based communication and conferencing systems.
Dyslexia
It means users, they have difficulty with learning to read fluently.
How to help?
- Severe - speech input and output
- Non-severe- spelling correction facilities
- Consistent navigation structure, clear signposting cues
- Colour cording information, graphical information
Autism
Autism affects a person’s ability to communicate and interact with people around them and to make sense of their environment. This manifests itself in a range of ways but is characterized by the triad of impairments.
- Social interaction - problems in relating to others in a meaningful way or responding appropriately to social situations.
- 2. Communication - problems in understanding verbal and textual language including the use of gestures and expressions.
- Imagination - problems with the rigidity of thought processes, which may lead to repetitive behaviour and inflexibility.
How to help?
- Communication - Computer-mediated communication and virtual environments for communicating more easily with others, by giving the user control over the situation. Graphical information and graphical input can use for people with autism have difficulties with language t to produce text and speech.
- Education- Virtual environments, games for social situations and appropriate responses.
Age
Older people and children have specific needs when it comes to interactive technology. The requirements of the older population may differ significantly from other population groups and will vary considerably within the population group. Mobile technologies can be used to provide memory aids where there is age-related memory loss. Like older people, children have distinct needs when it comes to technology, and again, as a population, they are diverse. It is therefore important to involve them in the design of interactive systems that are for their use, though this in itself can be challenging as they may not share the designer’s vocabulary or be able to verbalize what they think.
Culture
Cultural difference is often used synonymously with national differences but this is too simplistic. Factors such as age, gender, race, sexuality, class, religion and political persuasion, may all influence an individual’s response to a system. This is particularly the case when considering websites where often the explicit intention is to design for a particular culture or subculture.
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Design rules for interactive systems
