To set keybord layout loadkeys azerty Or loadkeys /usr/share/keymaps/i386/azerty/azerty.kmap.gz

Once you’ve come up with the beginnings of a design, you have to translate it into a physical structure of windows, pages, and controls. That’s one of the first aspects of an application that people perceive, especially on the desktop, which can host all the types of window arrangements described here. I’ve heard this debate [...]

In the Preface, I talked a bit about interface idioms. These, you might recall, are interface types or styles that have become familiar to some user populations. They include text editors, forms, games, command lines, and spreadsheets. They’re useful because they let you start a design with a set of familiar conventions; you don’t have [...]

“I’m putting this here to remind myself to deal with it later.” Prospective memory is a well-known phenomenon in psychology that doesn’t seem to have gained much traction yet in interface design. But I think it should. We engage in prospective memory when we plan to do something in the future, and we arrange some [...]

“I swear that button was here a minute ago. Where did it go?” When people manipulate objects and documents, they often find them again later by remembering where they are, not what they’re named. Take the Windows, Mac, or Linux desktop. Many people use the desktop background as a place to put documents, frequently used [...]

“That gesture works everywhere else; why doesn’t it work here, too?” When one uses an interface repeatedly, some frequently used physical actions become reflexive: typing Control-S to save a document, clicking the Back button to leave a web page, pressing Return to close a modal dialog box, using gestures to show and hide windows, or [...]

“I don’t want to answer that now; just let me finish!” This follows from people’s desire for instant gratification. If you ask a user several seemingly unnecessary questions while he’s trying to get something done, he’d often rather skip the questions and come back to them later. For example, some web-based bulletin boards have long [...]

“I changed my mind about what I was doing.” Occasionally, people change what they’re doing in the middle of doing it. Someone may walk into a room with the intent of finding a key she had left there, but while she’s there, she finds a newspaper and starts reading it. Or she may visit Amazon [...]

“This is good enough. I don’t want to spend more time learning to do it better.” When people look at a new interface, they don’t read every piece of it methodically and then decide, “Hmmm, I think this button has the best chance of getting me what I want.” Instead, a user will rapidly scan [...]

“I want to accomplish something now, not later.” People like to see immediate results from the actions they takeit’s human nature. If someone starts using an application and gets a “success experience” within the first few seconds, that’s gratifying! He’ll be more likely to keep using it, even if it gets harder later. He will [...]