ASSESSING USER INTERFACES FOR DIVERSE USER GROUPS - EVALUATION STRATEGIES AND DEFINING CHARACTERISTICS

User interface designers are challenged to design for diverse users, i ncluding those of different genders, cultures and abilities; however, little research has been directed at this problem. One factor which ma y inhibit such research is its cost. This paper presents an approach w hich offers a way to seek out important characteristics of designs in a cost-effective way and reports on the results. In a study reported h ere, subjects from different nationalities and of both genders evaluat ed three dialog boxes specifically designed for 'white American women' . 'European adult male intellectuals', and 'English-speaking-internati onals'. The dialog boxes were evaluated with conjoint techniques of pr eference rankings, and factor-analysed adjective ratings. These result s showed that female subjects had stronger and more consistent pattern s of preferences than the male subjects. All subjects preferred interf aces rated high on an accessibility factor and disliked complex layout s; this effect was even stronger for women. Nationality did not effect ratings. Gender had a stronger effect on the outcome than nationality .