Re: [kidsUI] Browser example

[Sanjay Chandrasekharan <schandr2@chat.carleton.ca>]

Hi all,

> That makes sense for new software, even if it makes it harder to design.

I consider the Linux UI for kids as new software, because as far as I know, no
one has ever tried to come up with an OS for kids. This gives us a chance to
break new ground, and  come up with something better than those darn windows!

> However, we'll inevitably have to adapt some existing software for kids'
> use.

Yes, the key word here is "adapt". How do we want to adapt? One way would be to
create bigger, outrageously colourful windows. The other way would be to use
animated characters.

Here's a concrete example of my view of adapting. Think of the file transfer
animation in Windows, the one where files sprout wings and fly (slowly,
slowly!) into another folder. Now think of an animated character (a penguin?)
carrying the files to the other folder. If the file is bigger, the penguin will
perspire, give dirty looks at the user, grumble, mutter under its breath...If
the file is small, it will kinda lean on the first folder, and just throw it to
the other one. You can develop whole themes this way. I think this way of doing
it is anyday better than having a bigger, colourful file with wings!

As a start to develop the UI, I suggest we lay out the functions we need OS to
perform, and come up with visualisations of the character doing it.

>  As you say, tossing singing, dancing characters onto a window manager
> or a word processor won't work.  So what things could be done to these
> existing programs to make them work more as kids would expect them to?

I have problems with the idea of the kids "expecting" something. As a rule, for
new products, the users have no idea what they want. You could've asked users
till kingdom come, but they would never have said that they want a car like the
Beetle! The point is that we are trying to think "out-of-the-regular-box" here.
And the user's expectation is not a good place to start when we are doing that.
Of course, we have to think of the user, but only from the point of view of
whether they will like, or not like, what they are getting. So I think we
should look at what would be usable, and what would be entertaining, for the
kids. Not at their expectations. The fact that our audience is kids actually
gives us more creative freedom, because they don't have preconceived
expectations, like having Windows!


>  Are
> there existing programs for kids that are considered to have especially
> good interfaces?

As I said, I am lost on this one. But here's a suggestion: why don't we assume
that there aren't any? I would think that for ones with animated characters,
there actually aren't any, except maybe Microsoft Bob. We need to look at that.



> Is there someone in particular we ought to ask these
> questions to?

Allison Druin would be a good person to ask. The proceedings of CHI 99 has lots
of stuff on Kid UIs. I am looking at it, as soon as I get time! :-)


>  There's no trick to being a humorist
>  when you have the whole government
> working for you.
>                        Will Rogers

Exactly! There is no trick to being a UI designer either!  :-)

Sanjay


-------------------------------------
Sanjay Chandrasekharan,
Ph.D Student (Cognitive Science),
Carleton University,
Ottawa, Ontario,
Canada K1S 5B6
Phone: 520-2600 ext 1568

http://wabakimi.carleton.ca/~schandr2