Hans-Jürgen Hoffmann Darmstadt University of Technology Dept. of Computer Science June 2003

Web and Aging — How the Web may evolve to a usable technical artifact as others which we are

familiar with —

Hans-Jürgen Hoffmann

Darmstadt University of Technology

Dept. of Computer Science

June 2003HCI Intl., Crete

Web, a usable technical artifact - H.-J. Hoffmann

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• Digression to history- Automobile- Telephone- ATM banking

• Web in history- 1995 minus- 2003- 2011 plus

• Some examples of stupid designs

• Less is more• Be positive

• And an epilogue (if you like)


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Remarksfrom a retired professor

in Computer Science

Take it easy !


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Digression to history — the automobile —

• Take Volkswagen as an example• Ferdinand Porsche, designing engineer, 1934• High time in the fifties/sixties,

millions in use• Do you remember:

- poor heating- fixed seats- manual choke- frequent checking of oil level - fuel reserve switch at the floor board- manual switching for direction change, no automatic reset

• Production just stopped in 2003


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Digression to history — the telephone —

• Philipp Reis, inventor, 1861Alexander Graham Bell, inventor and designing engineer, 1876Thomas Alva Edison, inventor, 1876

• Long-distance calling, in the fifties• Replacement of analogue signalling

by digital signalling, ~1990• Internet telephonie, ~2000• Do you remember:

- ringing by pulse wheel - operator switching- ground key

• Largest “computerized” network• Easy to use, just lift handset and dial


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Digression to history — ATM banking —

• Who invented it? Luther George Simjian, 1939

• Usable design by Don Wetzel, about 1970• Touch screen, multi-lingual• Full service approaching• Security features• Now nearly everywhere,

networked, worldwide• Home banking,

internet banking• Standardisation missing

Sorry, I didn’t find a better photography

. .


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Web in history — 1995 minus —

• Hypertext, first approaches beginning 1945• U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency

(DARPA), 1973 - basics of Internet technology• Tim Berners-Lee (now Director of the World Wide Web Consortium,

W3C), inventor and designing engineer of WWW;prototyping begins about 1990, demonstrations 1991 running

• Browser development; propagation in science institutes and universities

• Study Georgia University 1994http://www.gvu.gatech.edu/user_surveys/survey-01-1994/graphs/results-general.html

=> 2 % of users elder than 50 years• First usability studies and design guidelines in literature

(seldom followed)


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Web in history — 2003 —

• Web is “omnipresent”,like automobile, telephone, ATM

• Electronic business (B2B), electronic commerce (B2C)• Not much advance in usability (although much

articles in literature)• Elder people on the Web

- passive (like TV)- semi-active (surfing for what they are interested in)- active (e.g., contributing in discussing communities)

• However, (still) low consideration during design for what elder people wish or need, resp.


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Web in history — 2011 plus —

• Technical restrictions decreasing (e.g., broadband access) and access cheaper

• Commercialisation• Some advance in usability (e.g., “Less is more”-

movement)• Web even more omnipresent, “mobile” Web:

E-Government, E-Learning, E-anything, Virtual travelling, M-Commerce

• W3C starts to work on usability guidelines for Web usage by elder (and impaired) users

• Elder people should actively influence Web design and usage — thanks for organising this workshop —


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Some examples of stupid designs

• Not all (especially elder people) use most recently introduced technologies; incompatibilities

• Not much emphasis on content• Complex, bad arrangements• Small font, line thickness, button size, jargon• Flashing etc.

• Who will continue this list ?

• Similar complaints by other serious Web users !


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Less is more (i)

Friedrich Schiller, 1795 - 1805:Einfachheit ist das Resultat der Reife(Simplicity is the result of maturity)

Bill Raduchel, ~1999 ( Chief Strategy Officer, Sun Microsystems )

The challenge over the next 20 years will not be speed or cost or performance; it will be a question of

complexity

Jan Baan, ~1999 Our enemy is complexity, and it’s our goal to kill it

Dave Moss, 2001Keep it simple

( in recognition of Visual Studio.Net,Microsoft Developer Network Journal, issue 27 )


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Less is more (ii)

Stickers distributed by an American company, 2000, 2003, ...


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Less is more (iii)

There are posters distributed by IBM at CHI 2003also following the Less is more-movement

(sorry, the posters are so big that I can’t scan them in)


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Be positive !

However, don’t stop to identify stupid designs !

Say it !

Stupid designs are stupid for all users, not only for the elder

people !

Avoid to visit/use them !


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Epilogue


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That is what we missed !

.


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And that is what will come !


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Contact

Prof. em. Dr. Hans-Jürgen HoffmannDarmstadt University of Technology

Darmstadt, Germany

[email protected]

Hans-Jürgen Hoffmann Darmstadt University of Technology Dept. of Computer Science June 2003

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