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 many […]

In the Preface, I talked a bit about interface idioms.[1]. 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 way of […]

“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 applications, and […]

“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 even […]

“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 and complicated […]

“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 to […]

“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 the […]

“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 feel […]

“Let me explore without getting lost or getting into trouble.”
When someone feels like she can explore an interface and not suffer dire consequences, she’s likely to learn moreand feel more positive about itthan someone who doesn’t explore. Good software allows people to try something unfamiliar, back out, and try something else, all without stress.
Those “dire […]

It starts with an understanding of people: what they’re like, why they use a given piece of software, and how they might interact with it. The more you know about them, and the more you empathize with them, the more effectively you can design for them. Software, after all, is merely a means to an […]

You need to have certain elements in a design process:
Field research, to find out what the intended users are like and what they already do
Goal and task analysis, to describe and clarify what users will do with what you’re building
[…]

As an interface designer trying to make sense of all the technology changes in the last few years, I see two big effects on the craft of interface design. One is the proliferation of interface idioms: recognizable types or styles of interfaces, each with its own vocabulary of objects, actions, and visuals. You probably recognize […]