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HR2009-01
2009.01.30 Hagimoto
Since there are too many Katakana words (words originated from western languages) in PC terms, except those who like them, it seems difficult to memorize those words correctly. I, myself also cannot remember the names such as "---bar" that are used often in the PC screen, and due to that, I don't even known what bar I am touching right now.
By contraries, although when the correct terms are used in such as instruction manual, there are cases when it is difficult to understand what the term is representing of.
I am pretty sure that there are people like me who does not understand the PC terms or who cannot memorize them.
For this reason, we have decided to take up PC terms as this report's theme.
Since there are a wide variety of PC terms, we have narrowed them down to 15 terms of parts within the PC screen. What we have used is a desktop of Windows XP Home Edition SP2.
We have prepared 2 types of questionnaires, and asked to registrants of participant, who always are willing to help us, as well as our staff to answer to either one.
The difference between 2 types of questionnaire is, one which shows the names and asks which part they each indicates, and other which asks to write down the name of each part. If one does not know the name, we also ask how one will explain about that part to other people.
Please click the following link to see the actual questionnaires and the answers.
We have asked total of 25 people of 19 to 63 years old to answer to our questionnaire.
14 people has answered to questionnaire 1 (choices), while 11 people has answered to questionnaire 2. Although there are some differences in average age or male and female ratio, this time, we would like you to check the result without getting hung up on details.
When tabulate the number of respondents who have given right answers and the correct answer rate of questionnaire 1(choices) and questionnaire 2(free writing), the result has come as below:
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The average of correct answer rate for choices form is 68.57%, where written form is 21.82%, which shows that choices form gets an overwhelmingly good result.
We believe that many people realize, "I don't remember the name, but if you tell me, I understand what it is". It seems that this result surely shows such case.
"If you tell me, I understand" means, for example, one will know which part it is pointing at by instruction manual or explanation by PC expert. For the items with low answer rate, it is more likely that those parts are difficult to be understood only by the words.
The problem case if one does not remember the name can be, for example, the case when one calls to the support center and needs to explain the current condition of one's PC. By looking at the result of this research, there are quite a lot of cases where one cannot explain with its original name.
Even for the answer that needs to be free writing, the answer rate for "Icon" is over 80 %, which tells that the word is especially widely known among many PC terms. On the other hand, we have found that the answer rate for "menu bar" and "task bar" is low. Although even all of those are like a symbol of GUI (Graphical user interface), there is a big difference.
Now, about the "bar", which we focus on this time, we have found 6 words that are including "bar", such as, "title bar", "menu bar", "toolbar", "scroll bar", "task bar" and "language bar". Within this, "menu bar", "toolbar" and "task bar" are the worst 3 even in the choices form, which indicates clearly that they are very difficult for users to understand.
Well then, let's look at which name they choose by mistake, and their breakdown.
"Menu bar" Answer and the breakdown
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"Toolbar" Answer and the breakdown
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"Task bar" Answer and the breakdown
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It seems people get confused "Menu bar" with other words that have "menu" or "task". It is likely that they have connected the word with the image to select what they want to do (=task) from the item (=menu).
Most people have misunderstood and saw "tool bar" as a "menu bar". Since "menu bar" is located close to "toolbar", and the difference between them is just whether it has buttons or words in line, they may not being distinguished much.
The breakdown of "task bar" is various, and it is peculiar to have 3 "no answer". As long as they use Windows, there should be no one who has never operated a task bar, but because it is difficult to grip its function and role properly, it seems that it has became an unknown being.
"Bar" indicates the feature of the form, which is long and thin, but the functional feature should be indicated by the words, "menu", "tool", and "task". It seems that the image users get about the function does not correspond to those words, and therefore it causes confusion.
When we ask the respondents to answer by write freely, we also ask by, "if you do not know the name, tell us how you would explain about the part to someone over the phone". Let us show you some interesting responses.
Mouse pointer |
4 people have responded this as "arrow". It sure is an everyday word and easier to understand then the words such as, "pointer" or "cursor". |
Minimize button |
There are expressions such as, "Drop it to the bottom" or "Hide the window". Indeed, if we make the window smaller, but leave the shape as it is, it can call "minimize", but because the shape of the window will not remain,"drop" or "hide" can be more proper. |
Close button |
There are responses like "cross mark" or "black mark". Indeed, this mark is very familiar for Japanese people. There is a response such as "finish". To be exact, close the window is different from finish the application, but maybe there are people who do not distinguish those two. |
Scroll bar |
A respondent has expressed the word as "screw bar". Since the sounds of "scroll" is similar to "screw", the person must have gotten mixed up. |
For the word "bar", which I was concerning of, it seemed not many people understand it properly, while on the other hand, high percentage of correct answer showed for the words such as, "icon" and "close button", which was as expected.
Originally, the GUI systems such as Windows are considered to be something users can use without memorizing the technical terms. Therefore, as result, there are many users who use Windows, but not know many terms. This tells that one can use it in some way without proper training, and it is not a bad thing.
However, to talk about the condition of PC or how to use, one needs to express them by using those words, and also be able to understand the words others use. That said, even for GUI, it seems necessary to consider well about the naming.
Created in 2009.02.27