Anthropometrics: Important Aspects of Users’ Bodies - Foundations for Designing User-Centered Systems - page 73

what tasks they can perform, the loads that they can support and carry, and how
quickly and accurately they can provide input to a system. Using this information
can help us make effective choices about which input modality to use, and how to
design menus and dialog boxes.
Human capabilities and constraints vary between users, and within users they
vary across time and across context. The best interfaces are those that take all of
these differences into consideration so that they can support as wide a range of
use—people, technology, and context—as possible.

3.6 Other Resources

There are many texts that are available for deepening understanding of design
relevant aspects of the body. Although not explicitly focused on the human body
nor on technology, we strongly recommend Don Norman's excellent text, The
Psychology of Everyday Things, to get you into a way of thinking about people
interacting with designed objects of all kinds. An extremely readable text, we think
you will find many examples that relate to your everyday world (many related to
anthropometrics) and that will get you thinking about design from a different
perspective.

Norman, D. A. (1988). The psychology of everyday things. NY: Basic Books. (2013 ed.
The design of everyday things)
Further information on the range of users' bodies and how they move can be
found in engineering handbooks. We recommend looking at:

Boff, K. R., Kaufman, L., and Thomas, J. P. (1986). Handbook of perception and human
performance (Vol. I, II, and III). New York: John Wiley & Sons.
Industrial engineering explores this area in much more depth, and knows about
how best to support users that stand, squat, and assume a variety of other postures.
Wickens et al. ( 1998 , Chaps. 10 and 11) provide a useful introduction to these
topics.
The International Standards Organization (ISO, you may see this acronym on a
variety of technical measures and standards) has been developing standards for
usability for several years. The most relevant series here is ISO 9241, Ergonomics
of Human System Interaction ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_9241 ) .
It is also worth thinking about new forms of interaction beyond the current
keyboard layout. There are a number of research projects addressing new forms of
input beyond the keyboard. This edited special issue gives some pointers to future
thinking research work:

Schmidt, A., and Churchill, E. F. (2012). Interaction beyond the keyboard, IEEE

Computer, 45(4). 21-24.