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Editorials 2008

Editorials 2007

Editorials 2006

Editorials 2005

Editorials 2004

Editorials 2003

 

Editorials

Updated: 05/08/2008

The Editorials section collects the SAP Design Guild's editors' thoughts and experience.

Recent Additions

The Three Pillars of Human Performance at the Computer – Which One Fits Best?

Android system05/08/2008: When talking about the performance of computer systems or applications, we soon realize that we have to consider an "android" system. That is, the performance of the whole system, not only the performance of its components, namely, the computer system and the human user. So, we might ask, "Is there an approach that takes the whole system, the computer and the user into account?" In this article, our author will look at this issue more closely.

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SAP at CHI 2008 – Florence, Italy

CHI 2008 logo02/21/2008: Looking back over the last eight years at least, it looks like there is a tradition to hold the CHI conference outside of North America every four years. Our author does not know whether this is a firm rule. In any case, in 2008, the CHI conference will be held in Florence, Italy, a wonderful city boasting plenty of beautiful Renaissance buildings and art treasures.

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Finding Common Ground...

01/22/2008: From time to time, our author gets somewhat frustrated about the progress that the software industry has made with respect to delivering usable applications. In his opinion, one of the many reasons for this situation is the barriers that still exist between software developers and UI professionals. Developers and UI people seem to live in different worlds and speak different languages. In this editorial, our author wants to delve a bit deeper into this dilemma and look at the proposed solutions.

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Performance – Merely A Technical Problem?

12/19/2007: Two years ago in the last editorial for 2005, our author asked "What Matters Most?" and took a look at the most severe obstacles to usability. In this editorial, the final one for 2007, he would like to gloss over a related topic, namely "What influences performance at the computer?" When he looks back to the 2005 editorial, he finds that waiting times and system crashes were the primary factors. On closer inspection, however, it shows that the performance issue encompasses a great deal more than just technical factors.

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