In a post on VentureBeat entitled ‘The future of user interface design: understanding context and behaviour’, Martijn Van Tilburg points out that, whether you design software or physical products, the role of the designer is the same: to build a bridge between the user’s intent and the actual outcome of that intent.
And he cites the hammer as a great example of such a bridge, explaining: “When you want to hang a picture on the wall, there is no doubt in your mind which tool to use, which side to hold, and how to apply it. The hammer is so easy to use, not only because it is well designed, but because of our cumulative experience with hammers, which creates such a familiarity that the tool is almost universal.”
Further evidence of the amazing growth in use of touch screens comes in a recent report into the rapidly expanding market for touch controller ICs.
According to market research firm IHS iSuppli, 2.4 billion touch controller ICs will be shipped in 2015, a staggering 277% increase on the 865 million shipped in 2010. And the same report suggests that 1.7 billion units will be shipped in 2012, a 28% jump over 2011.
Star Trek fans may remember a scene in the franchise’s fourth big screen outing where suspiciously accented chief engineer Scotty tries to use a PC by talking to it.
Well we may have laughed back in 1986 when the film came out, but now voice recognition – as demonstrated most recently by Apple’s Siri for the iPhone but familiar to anyone who’s ever used telephone banking or cinema booking hotlines – is commonplace.
Applications such as data acquisition often require computing power to be deployed in remote (and sometimes harsh) locations yet operate reliably for long periods without intervention. Unfortunately, many low-cost PCs are simply not up to this task, while specialist designs can prove expensive.
But now there is a ‘third way’ – the fit-PC family of miniature, energy-efficient fanless PCs. Great value for money and designed to last, fit-PCs are ideal for users and integrators looking for an inexpensive solution to reliable, remote, unattended operation.
It seems our February 28th Blog post ‘Top 5 Mistakes of User Interface Design’ got a lot of interest, which got us thinking about ‘naming and shaming’ examples of bad GUI design. And for this we need your help.
Specifically we want to hear your stories about consumer devices, office technology, home appliances, test equipment, industrial control systems and any other piece of tech where the user interface has been below par and led to a poor (or even catastrophic) user experience.
Viewing angle is generally defined as the maximum angle at which a display can be viewed with ‘acceptable visual performance’ – for example without losing significant brightness or experiencing significant colour shifts. In some cases small viewing angles are acceptable and, indeed, desirable – think about a laptop PC where the user doesn’t want others to be able to easily see the screen.
From train stations to hotels, cinemas to supermarkets and museums to a variety of outdoor public spaces, digital signage systems are moving past the point where they simply provide us with information.
The iPad generation has led many of our customers to demand a similar look and feel in their medical and industrial devices. Attentive as ever to market demands, andersDX is pleased to announce a solution.
Our newest line of high-quality PCAP-integrated TFT display modules enables the seamless addition of P-CAP touchscreen functionality to industrial and medical devices. These display modules are ideal for non-consumer device makers who are looking to achieve iPad-like look and feel for their devices – but who want to avoid the technical and commercial headaches of integrating touch with TFT displays.