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Boys
and buttons
Contributor:
Mike de Sousa, Director, AbleStable®
Reflections on the fascination of gadgets, the power
of the visual, and the politics of creativity.
One
thing leads to another
When I began writing this article I thought the
words would flow with ease but I soon realised the
strengths and reasons for the development of the
'visual-Internet' and 'text-Internet' (more of the
use of these terms in a moment) required a lot more
investigation and thought than I'd anticipated.
It seemed the deceptively simple premise I began
with was about to fork out into a thousand pathways.
The 'visual internet' I referred to above refers
to visual design, style, and technologies. The 'text
Internet' refers to web page text, message boards,
e-mail etc. This article reflects my own observations
and opinions about a point of interest close to
my heart: the almost compulsive behaviour the male
species in particular exhibits when placed in close
proximity to a device with any of the following:
buttons; blinking lights; slider controls; keyboards;
screen interfaces; moving machine parts; etc...
Forgive me if at times I veer from one issue to
another. I hope at the least this article serves
as food for thought...
I
just can't help it
For so many the undeniable magnetic attraction buttons
and the like have is a powerful force in driving
people towards certain career avenues and areas
of interest.
Perhaps the seemingly involuntary affect the sight
of a brushed aluminium button has on so much of
the male population in particular tells us something
about the way we are hard wired to respond to visual
stimuli. What's interesting here is that the representation
of a button seems to trigger as powerful a response
as a real-life button. I've no doubt those that
enjoy the prospect of sitting in an aeroplane cockpit
with an overdose of sliders and rocker switches
can't prevent their internal chemistry taking off.
The
benefits of seeing
As well as the pure aesthetic pleasure of a well
rendered button, visual elements can help considerably
in supporting text on a web page by conveying meaning
quickly. There are many instances when visual elements
have a profound psychological effect because of
associations of colour, form and composition. Add
to this the pleasure humans take from visual stimuli
and it's not difficult to see why the Internet has
grown immeasurably since the introduction of a visual
interface.
This page for instance, has certain visual elements
that attempt to aid the users reading experience:
the width of the text area is fixed and allows 13
to 15 words on each line (the optimum length of
line to maintain reading focus), it has a left margin
with a tiled contrasting background image that is
chosen to be attractive yet undistracting, and a
thin right vertical orange column designed to constrain
and focus the movement of the eye towards the text
area. Although the colours of the two vertical columns
have been chosen to reflect the brand colours of
AbleStable®, the colour saturation levels
have been decreased, again with the purpose of
aiding
reading.
The technology that delivers the interactive visual
elements (the JavaScript 'buttons' on the upper
and lower rows and left hand column of this page)
provide simple consistent navigational aids which
can be distinguished by position, text, colour and
design. Using text-only links would make it more
difficult for users to quickly locate the link they
wanted to visit, as links would only be distinguishable
by text content.
The
advantage of text
There are many instances however when text-only
interfaces carry distinct advantages over their
visual equivalents. Broadband is still out of reach
of the vast majority of Internet users, and visual
elements are expensive in terms of download time.
Add to this the community of people who are visually
impaired, and the visual confusion that characterises
many web pages, and it's not difficult to see why
so many choose text-only options on their browsers.
Chat and message boards are also suited to text-only
communication in preference to visual or aural communication.
Text communication allows users to read and respond
to messages without the complexity and/or distraction
visual and aural messages often carry with them.
This allows the text-only author a more controlling
and independent standpoint.
Boys
will be boys
Woman use the Internet as much as men. OK, there
may be a couple of percentage points difference
depending on the study you want to quote, but generally
speaking there's a parity of how many use the Internet
in terms of gender (men spend more time on-line
but that's a different issue). The point here is
that regardless of gender, the Internet (if you
have Internet access and it's wise to keep in mind
the majority of mankind doesn't) is a significant
communications medium.
Woman generally encourage, develop, and participate
far more in non-commerce based Internet communities
than men. This seems the most significant difference
between the genders in relation to the Internet
as most computer software is developed in the context
of selling products and/or services (capitalism)
although some software is generously offered as
feeware to the Internet community. Generally speaking
the non-commerce based Internet is more text based
than visual.
The
prevailing influence of visual stimuli
Computer interfaces have in the main been developed
by males for males. This was not a planned or conscious
act. Woman were not in general purposefully excluded
from the process because of political manoeuvring
(although this seems to be often argued in some
quarters). The dominance of developing computer
interfaces from a male perspective came about because
those involved in the early development of personal
computer software were mostly men (including the
first generation of Apple Macintosh developers who
had a profound effect on the direction personal
computer screen interfaces took).
Programming and coding computer software is generally
a male dominated occupation. Perhaps it is that
these activities are often solitary rather than
social, and that women are generally less inclined
to develop skills in areas where there social and
co-operational skills are not employed.
An intrinsic process in the development of software
is the design and integration of a visual interface.
Decisions about the effectiveness of the visual
interface will in most cases be under the authority
of higher management (usually male). Therefore the
resulting visual software interface reflects the
company's internal demographic make-up as much as
the purpose the software will be put to. The software
interface develops as a result of political circumstances.
The
disadvantage of women
The purpose of software is not necessarily best
served by a single user interface. Women generally
behave differently to men. The most immediate differences
being that they are more willing to ask questions
of their peers and seek collaboration. Software
that exploits these qualities will be more effectively
used by woman rather than the task oriented approach
of most software applications.
My hunch is that it is probable that small to medium
sized software companies place little emphases on
external user interface research, usability issues,
or independent usability testing. There's little
doubt however that software's visual style and interface
affects the performance of it, and that software
which has interface options for different demographic
groups would increase its' effectiveness.
Hearing
is believing
Voice interaction, translation, and collaborative
interactivity in the software of the future will
encourage a more even skill base between genders
and cultures. Different cultural traditions have
distinct visual references, for instance the colour
white in the West is associated with purity, while
in China it is associated with death. These differing
references need to be formalised into a central
database for software developers to take on board.
Software support forums could be viewed as an attempt
to address the issue of co-operation and communal
problem solving in the context of using software.
It seems from where I'm standing however these facilities
are more often provided by companies to reduce the
number of support requests rather than to broaden
the user interface. Perhaps as the Internet matures
and software Internet applications become the norm
we'll hear more of 'collaborative interfaces'. It
would be like turning to a friend sitting on the
desk next to you for advice. There's no doubt we'll
hear more of this in years to come.
Visual
politics
Someone once said to me 'everything is political'.
I resisted this notion for a long time. There are
plenty of occasions I thought where politics doesn't
enter into the scenario. As I grow I realise there's
more truth in that statement than I first recognised.
Boys and buttons touches on many political
agreements. The propensity men have for competition
and the pleasure of visual stimuli results in software
that conforms to a certain world view and restricts
the development of new and productive interactive
interfaces.
The male model of the world as a place where competition
is the predominant driving force in the exchange
of goods and services is restrictive and stunts
our potentials. When we realise a more fluid and
flexible approach to interaction benefits all of
us, our progress as a species will take a giant
leap forward.
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| Authors
background |
Mike
de Sousa is the Director of AbleStable®.
Mike has been commissioned as an artist, music
composer, photographer, print and web site designer,
and author.
If you observe inaccuracies in our in-house
contributions or wish to contribute an article
or review to be included at AbleStable®
visit Feedback.
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AbleStable © 2002-2008 |
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