Interface vs Websites

Bicester Children's Centre

A kiosk interface or portal system is a bespoke designed system which guides the users of the kiosk to specific, locally held content or parts of external websites. Its purpose is to guide users. A kiosk interface is a very different medium to the standard website; the differences include:

• A standard website must allow for a variety of types of browser to be used (ie. internet explorer, Firefox etc). Kiosk interfaces however, can be designed for a specific item of browser software this allows the Interface Designer to use bespoke coding.
  
  
• The kiosk interface can also be built for a specific age group or user group such as the elderly, children or parents
  
  
• The interface can also be used for users with special requirements including partially sighted or those requiring specific contextual help
  
  

• Elm's Road Children's Centre

  The interface can also be used for specific languages such as offering options in English or Welsh languages. The kiosk interface can also pull content from the hardrive or a memory stick for additional flexibility. This gives the interface a huge advantage over a standard website as it removes restrictions on the size of the files so bigger graphics, sound and video can be used
  
  
• As the kiosk interface is generally used for touch systems it does mean that unlike a website (which uses a mouse) the menu system and clickable areas must be sufficiently large to touch. This rules out small menus, particularly those based on text
  
  
• A further disadvantage with the interface is that the mouse-over function which allows buttons to interact with your mouse, do not work. This is particularly important for animated graphics or other user led actions.