How People Actually Use Touch Panels
And Graphic Use Interfaces
Have you ever really considered how your users are using your
touch panels? Try standing back and be a fly on
the wall and observe as new users try to use
a touch panel that they have never seen before. This
exercise can be a real eye opener! What seems so obvious to
you may simply baffle the average system user. This user testing
is very important before you deliver your final touch panel
design. It is very important that the broadest spectrum
of users possible feel at ease with your touch panel layout.
A panels first impression on a user must be inviting and instill
confidence in the control system.
Nothing should be placed on the touch panel screen with out
careful consideration of its alignment with other objects.
Because you are working with such a small area, the users
will be able to take in a greater amount of information if
you present it in an organized way.
Some Background - How Do People Actually See
And Read?
Many the basic graphic design principles that have evolved
for print media have direct relevance to touch panel
design. These conventions are based largely upon how the human
eye and brain deal with information gathering. One of the
most fascinating is the phenomena of how humans use quick
scanning to speed up information gathering. This quick scanning
is really quick. It happens in literally the blink of an eye.
Within a 1/100th of a second, your eye can take in a whole
page and organize it for easier reading.
When a person is presented a sheet of paper with writing on
it, their brain very quickly scans the whole page and organizes
how it will take in the information. In western countries,
the eye usually starts in the upper left corner and scans
the page from left to right. In the case of text, once the
overall page is scanned, the eye will start to break down
individual sentences. Something very strange happens here.
Instead of reading left to right, the eye will start reading
the first few characters in the first word and then it will
go to the last word in the sentence and do the same. This
action is repeated back and forth until the brain understands
the sentence. So we actually read whole sentences from the
outside inward! This is why newspaper columns are so narrow
- the relatively narrow sentences are much easier to scan
and read quickly. To prove this point, I have repeated this
paragraphs text in two side by side "newspaper"
columns below:
Repeated Example:
| When a person is presented
a sheet of paper with writing on it, their brain very
quickly scans the whole page and organizes how it will
take in the information. In western countries, the eye
usually starts in the upper right corner and scans from
left to right. In the case of text, once the overall page
is scanned, the eye will start to break down individual
sentences. Something very strange happens here. Instead
of reading left to right, the eye will start reading
|
|
the first few characters
in the first word and then it will go to the last word
in the sentence and do the same. This action is repeated
back and forth until the brain understands the sentence.
So we actually read whole sentences from the outside inward!
This is why newspaper columns are so narrow - the relatively
narrow sentences are much easier to scan and read quickly.
To prove this point, I have repeated this text in two
side by side columns below: |
So which text looks easier to read to you?
This concept of "quick scanning" is something that
you must consider when designing your touch panel layout.
If your panel is too busy or has too much going on, it can
make it difficult for the eye to scan quickly and the user
will instantly feel confused and ill at ease with the panel.
The classic example of impediments
to quick scanning are background images. This could be a corporate
logo, a picture of the companies building or just a tiled
background image. Unless it is an integral element in your
design - don't include it! As the eye scans the screen, it
will try to identify as much detail as it can. If you have
included anything unnecessary like a background texture, image
or a colored area to group buttons together, this will slow
the eye down and introduce confusion and negative feelings
towards your panel. This is not to say never use these types
of elements - just weigh their contribution against the downside
as the users scan the panel.
How Do People Actually See A Touch Panel?
The perfect touch panel would have one button in the center
of it labelled "What would you like?" When pressed
it would perform what ever function the user was thinking
about when they pressed the button! If only we could do that...
The typical touch panel user is probably not too concerned
with many of the fine details of your touch panel design.
They just want to perform a task. In most cases they will
be unfamiliar with the touch panel layout and they
will want to understand how the panel works as quickly as
possible.
They will quickly scan the touch panel and try to group
the controls into understandable and usable groups. Often
they are unsure of what the touch panel can do and
are very intimidated.
Where did your eye go first? Button One or button two?
The best touch panel layout will be simple, uncluttered,
well labeled and free of unnecessary detail.
What Do Users Want In A Touch Panel?
Users want to get to where they are going within 3 button presses.
The fewer the better. Simply put, your users will want to see
what they need to do right now. Try not to hide features on
hidden pages but carefully balance this against cluttering a
page with every control in your program. Structure and layout
is very important but we will get to that when we look at C.R.A.P.
graphic design.
 Design Issues
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