Article

Moving from the Web to the kiosk

For those who are getting ready to deploy their first kiosk, the temptation to simply move existing Web content to the new vehicle can be great. If you go this route, however, there are some unique pitfalls and predicaments you'll have to make sure to avoid.

June 19, 2005 by James Bickers — Editor, Networld Alliance

To someone approaching kiosk design for the first time, it almost seems like a no-brainer. You're designing an interactive, self-service computer system, one in which the user guides the experience. You already have tons of content on the company Web site. So why not just port it over to the kiosk, and be done with it?

Indeed, many companies have done just that, and those kiosks - by and large - languish for want of use and value. Web content and kiosk content, although they may overlap in places, are two entirely different beasts - and it is important to keep those differences in mind when designing the customer experience.

"A kiosk is a different medium," said Dave Gonsiorowski, founder and chairman of software firm WebRaiser Technologies, whose S3E-Commerce package takes Web sites and transforms them into kiosk-friendly content. "You wouldn't print your Web site to use as a company brochure, and moving to a kiosk involves a similar change in thinking."

Francie Mendelsohn agrees. As president of Summit Research Associates, she studies the kiosk and self-service industries.

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"When you're surfing the Web, chances are you're sitting down - which you're not doing at a kiosk," she said. "Most of the time at a kiosk you're standing, so the ergonomics are different. A kiosk is not intended for someone to spend hours at - while with a Web site, the user could be there all day."

According to Dave Heyliger, president of Rocky Mountain Multimedia, a number of characteristics that are desirable on a Web site are negatives when it comes to a kiosk, such as large amounts of content on one page, pop-up windows, audio/video plug-ins and a large number of hyperlinks.

"Kiosks are a one-to-one medium, unlike a Web site, which is one-to-many," he said. Heyliger advocates the "Grandma rule" - imagine a stereotypical grandmother figure, approaching your kiosk and trying to make sense of the interface. If she can successfully use it on first attempt, the interface can stay. Most Web interfaces, he said, will fail this test.

"My guess is that your Web site is not designed for good old Grandma, who has really never used a computer," he said, "let alone surfed the `net!"

Mendelsohn offers an acid test of her own to decide whether a particular bit of Web content can make the move.

"Just go to a Web site and ask yourself, `Could I access this if it were on a touchscreen?'" she said. "The answer is usually `no.'"

Making the move

So, given all of these caveats, should a new kiosk always be a made-from-scratch affair? Not necessarily, say the pros, but certain elements will definitely need to be finessed.

"I really don't recommend starting from scratch - it's too expensive," Mendelsohn said. "You've already invested an awful lot of money to develop the Web site, and you should leverage all of that - the branding, the colors, the fonts. But you have to make it finger-friendly. You have to understand how your audience is going to be accessing this information."

What's Important

	Web sites and kiosks are accessed in very different ways, even though they are superficially similar. As a result, content must be modified accordingly.
	The use of cascading style scripts is a best practice for all Web design, and will significantly ease the transition of content to any other medium, kiosk or otherwise.
	Simplicity is key - remember that customers will be using the kiosk for a relatively short period of time, compared with the leisurely pace with which they can browse the Web.

According to Gonsiorowski, this transition is much easier when the Web site was properly designed in the first place - specifically, if it was designed using cascading style sheets, with content fully separated from design.

"Separating content from presentation is a best practice in any medium," he said. "When it's time to move to a kiosk, using CSS for presentation makes it easy to make the layout more friendly on a touchscreen - larger buttons, menu items in a consistent place, and more prominent links. CSS makes these adjustments simple, and it means we can use the same content for the Web, a kiosk, and even printed materials."

He added that CSS is a wise move for anyone with a Web presence, whether they plan a move to a kiosk or not. For instance, content that is properly separated from design via CSS can easily be repurposed to other media formats, such as print or e-books. And he recommends what he calls a "self-service readiness assessment," in which a user can use a copy of WebRaiser's S3E-Commerce software along with a "virtual kiosk" to test the content and presentation.

Mendelsohn also recommends a content/interface relationship that is "wide and flat" as opposed to "narrow and deep."

"The number of click-throughs that you can allow on a kiosk shouldn't exceed four," she said. "With a Web site, you can go deeper and deeper. You can't do that on a kiosk, largely because you are standing there, and your pointing device is most likely your finger."

She also stressed the importance of ergonomic considerations - remember that people will be standing up, and most likely trying to finish their transaction quickly - and "cutting to the chase," putting the pivotal elements of the transaction on the first few screens.

Heyliger reiterated the need for simplicity, above virtually all else.

"No information overload!" he said. "Get them in, get them out, and do it fast."