Tag: User interface

See any problem with entering IPv6 addresses using this user interface? Probably not going to work to well, is it? 🙂

This is just the network config interface of an IP phone I had on my desk. While some of you from the VoIP world might recognize the vendor, the truth is that most IP phone vendors’ apps have similar interfaces. These are the type of user interfaces I discuss in Chapter 1 of the book and that will be one of the biggest challenges for app developers. In the case of IP phones, the challenge is even greater because it is running on an embedded device using typically a special-purpose operating system.

Where do you have user interfaces like this lurking in your applications?

Rather ironically, I have found that the WordPress theme I’ve been initially using for this site demonstrates perfectly the kind of user interface display issues that will bite so many developers with IPv6. Here’s a screenshot of me visiting the site from an IPv6 site (part of the address covered for security purposes):

As you can see, it goes well outside the column containing the box with the address in it.

In contrast, over on Code.DanYork.com I’m using a different theme and the same exact widget displays the IPv6 address fine there:

The big difference is the style sheets use a smaller font size and the column is also bigger.

I’m not too worried about the display here in the current theme because I’m going to be changing the theme for a couple of reasons (it may even have changed already by the time you read this post). But it serves as precisely the kind of user interface issue that application developers will need to examine.