Toward Universal Usability: An interview with Ben Shneiderman
Posted on April 11, 2014
by Sarah Horton
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An edited version of this interview appears in Chapter 10 of A Web for Everyone.
For over 30 years, Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) pioneer Ben Shneiderman has worked to keep the “human” in HCI broadly defined. Through research and teaching, writing and speaking, convening and facilitating, he has advocated for and assisted in the creation of technology tools in support of the common good. His award-winning book, Leonardo’s Laptop: Human Needs and the New Computing Technologies, is a call to action, urging users to expect success from their technology tools, and challenging designers and developers to satisfy those expectations.
Since Ben invented the concept of universal usability, we wanted to get his take on how designers are measuring up, and what is keeping them from moving forward more effectively.
We are making progress toward universal usability
In his May 2000 Communications of the ACM article, Ben raises the bar from accessibility to “universal usability,” going beyond technical accessibility for [...]