IFM Electronic CR0451 - Check Suitability for Use; Language as an Obstacle

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ifm System Manual ecomatmobile BasicDisplay (CR0451) V01
Visualisations in the device Recommendations for user interfaces
7.1.3 Check suitability for use
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In many cases a test set-up with potential users can provide important results where and how the
product is/has to be improved to be successful in the market.
For this "usability test" the following steps must be carried out:
 Determine the user group (target group):
- Who is to handle the product?
 Prepare an interview guideline:
- What method do I use to interview what user (operator, fitter, maintenance personnel)?
- What do I want to achieve with the interviews? (Improvement potentials)
 Conduct and evaluate interviews.
 Create context scenarios:
- Create an evaluable test environment.
- Identify critical user scenarios.
 Carry out usability test:
- How do the test persons cope with the product in the test set-up?
- Where is what corrective action needed for the product?
 After the product has been optimised repeat the tests, if necessary.
7.1.4 Language as an obstacle
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In order to produce equipment which satisfies end users worldwide, language must be taken into
account. The operator is not able to effectively carry out his tasks if he cannot understand the
instructions on the screen. Manufacturers are still trying to solve this problem considering the many
different languages in the world. A few languages are listed below:
Chinese characters
A Chinese character, also known as a Han character, is a logogram, i.e. it can be represented as a
word. The number of characters in the Kangxi dictionary is over 47000 but in China knowledge of
three to four thousand characters is sufficient. In modern times the Chinese characters have been
greatly simplified and are used in mainland China while traditional Chinese characters are still used in
Honk Kong and Taiwan. The Chinese characters have been romanised. They are called Pinyin and
are also widely used in China.
Japanese characters
The modern Japanese writing system uses three main scripts:
 Kanji are ideographs from Chinese characters
 Hiragana is used for native Japanese words and
 Katakana is used for loanwords
 Romanised Japanese characters, called Romanji, are also used in Japanese texts.
Korean characters
The modern Korean writing system is called Hangul and officially used in North and South Korea. In
addition, Hanja is used which refers to the characters borrowed from Chinese.
Arabic alphabet
This script is used for writing several languages in Asia (e.g. Middle East, Pakistan,) and Africa (e.g.
Arabic and Urdu). It is written from right to left in a cursive style and includes 28 letters.