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The language of the
user interface.
Ajay Ganapathy

Tuesday, January 22, 13

Examples of languages
? Spoken language
? sign language
? written language
? body language
? design language
? programming language
? mathematical language

Languages aren’t just
spoken!


language |?laNGgwij|
noun
1 the method of human communication, either spoken or written, consisting of the use of words in a
structured and conventional way: a study of the way children learn language | [ as modi?er ] : language
development.
? any nonverbal method of expression or communication: a language of gesture and facial expression.
2 the system of communication used by a particular community or country: the book was translated into
twenty-?ve languages.
? Computing a system of symbols and rules for writing programs or algorithms: a new programming
language.
3 the manner or style of a piece of writing or speech: he explained the procedure in simple, everyday language.
? the phraseology and vocabulary of a certain profession, domain, or group of people: legal language.
? (usu. as bad/strong language) coarse, crude, or offensive language: strong language.
PHRASES
speak the same language understand one another as a result of shared opinions or values.
ORIGIN Middle English: from Old French langage, based on Latin lingua ‘tongue.’


De?nition of Language

? A language is a set of standard sensory cues
that represent ideas.
? these cues can be visual, auditory, tactile,
or, less commonly, olfactory or
gastronomic


Properties of Language
? Vocabulary - a standard set of cues
? Grammar - rules for how those cues go
together to create meaning. (Also known as
syntax rules)
? Logic - the resulting meaning that is derived
from the combination of vocabulary
according to grammar rules.


Logic = grammar +
vocabulary


Examples of vocabulary:
? In a design language
? icons are used to represent pieces of
data
? glyphs are used to represent operations
on those pieces of data
? In a mathematical language?
? ______________
? ______________

Grammar in languages

? In a mathematical language:
? “A+B” means add A and B together
? In a design language?
? ______________________


Logic in Languages

? All languages convey ideas.
? All ideas are built upon logic.


Basic logic

? All ideas are made up of statements that
are either true or false.
? ie: I am wearing a red jacket.
? is this true or false?


Statements
? All statements are made up of subjects and
predicates
? ie: I am wearing a red jacket.
? “I” is the subject
? “am wearing a red jacket” is the
predicate
? The predicate is a property of the
subject


Statement = subject +
predicate
? Or, the relationship between subject and
predicate is a statement that is either true
or false.


Subjects and Predicates
? Can be viewed as:
? message and recipient
? action and target
? nouns and verbs
? values and operands
? objects and methods
? Data and functions

In interface design:

? The purpose of an interface is to facilitate
the manipulation of data.
? In this case, the data is the subject
? the manipulation is the predicate


Interface as a language
? In an interface, we represent both data and
operations visually.
? Data can be represented as an icon, a 2D
image on a canvas, a 3D model in a
viewport, or even text in a document
? Operations can be represented buttons,
list items, cursors, callouts, tooltips, etc.


? By understanding the logical implications of
an interface we can do the following:
? choose appropriate imagery to describe
both the data and the operations we are
representing
? visually group interface elements in an
intuitive scheme that makes it easy to
access
? combine and reduce multiple interface
elements into a single, all-encompassing
element. (This is the same as shortening a
sentence in a written language.)

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The language of the user interface

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The language of the user interface