At the Communities reception at the Summit somebody spoke about the difficulties of left-handed people using household appliances, technologies, and software. If you are left-handed then you probably have problems using everyday things because they are designed for right-handed use.
Take a look at the placement of buttons on many of every day devices:
- Power buttons are on the right side of most mobile phones.
- Numeric keypads are always on the right side of the keyboard.
- The buttons of pointing devices (e.g., the mouse) favor right-handed users.
- The buttons on the car dashboard are on the right side of the steering wheel.
- The main controls of a digital camera are on the right side.
Knives, can openers, scissors, cars, smartphones, computers, pointing devices, cameras, and power tools, to name a few, are ideally suited for right-handed use. To prove it, a friend (who is left-handed) gave me a demonstration of how cumbersome these items are to use with her left hand. Yes, I was convinced—the design of these items was better suited for right-handed people.
The reason that so few things are designed for left-handed people is because 85% to 90% of all people are born right-handed. There’s your answer—there’s no profit to be made selling left-handed products. I am reminded, however, of Donald Norman’s “The Design of Everyday Things” which suggests that even if less than 10% of the population is left-handed, they still represent millions of people. Most memorable of his explanation is that a product designed to improve accessibility for a few often results in greater use for everyone. Consider also the number of right-handed people who lose the use of their right hand and have to learn to do everything with their left hand; now the situation becomes an accessibility issue.
Dr. Stefan Gutwinski published a study about left-handedness in Understanding Left-Handedness. He writes that left-handers often have a tendency for ambidexterity because they are already used to doing things with their right hands from childhood. Nevertheless, the older the user, the more difficulty left-handers have to become accustomed to new devices ideally suited for the right hand. Despite the ambidexterity, left-handed people struggle using items designed for right-handed use.
However, there’s something we can do to accommodate left-handed people. We can design products with the left-handed user in mind. For example, we can design software systems that are customizable making it possible to place control buttons and keyboard functions on the left-handed operations. We can also include left-handed users in usability studies to evaluate suitability of design.
In the case of smartphones, you would think that it should not matter which hand is used on a touchscreen. But because many devices have the on-off or volume buttons on the right side, operating the device with just your left hand is not easy. Maybe a solution is to design the smartphone that is compatible for right and left handed use.
We can create awareness such as Left Handers Day; a day devoted to being left-handed. Another solution is for left-handers to try things in their hand before buying them and really give them a good test. Last, but not least, we can include left-handed users in usability testing to evaluate true ‘ease of use’.
If you are still unconvinced that left-handed people have problems using things designed for right-handed people, read Confessions of a Left-Handed Technology User by Harry McCracken.
The next time you attend the Communities get together at the Summit, you might find a few left-handed members discussing the importance of accessibility and usability for left-handed people.
I’m David Dick and I’m Talking Usability
An excellent take on usability for left-handed.
You shared these insights at the UUX SIG Mailing List, couple of weeks back.
I recall reading a relevant post by Vincent V Scherpenseel, at: http://vincent.io/optimizing-the-mobile-experience-for-lefties/
Your comment ‘Last, but not least, we can include left-handed users in usability testing to evaluate true ‘ease of use’, gives real food for thought for information architects! However, it is bit of a challenge too particularly when we are working on bootstrapped funded startups.
Ingrid Towey has posted some interesting comments on that discussion in the email; too long to post it here though.
Thank you for posting the reference to the article by Vincent V Scherpenseel.
I’m right-handed, but I wholeheartedly agree with what you say here. My granddaughter recently sustained an arm injury, reminding me how easily any of us can lose the use of our dominant hand, even if only temporarily.
If we’re going to start a movement, perhaps we can name it — in tribute to the recently concluded baseball playoffs — after Madison Bumgarner, a pretty talented lefty.
As Technical Writers we must always think about how our users would use the product we are writing about. As I learned from writing this article, what ideally works for a right-handed person is cumbersome to a left-handed person so why not design everything to work universally.