[Sigia-l] Design guidelines for Japanese Web users

[Richard Law]

Hi All,

I'm looking for guidelines to help adapt a Web interface for Japanese users.
Does anyone have any information about how Japanese users interact with Web
sites accessed by desktop/laptop (PC/MAC) computers?

I know many people use smaller laptops in Japan, so this may reinforce a
tendency for larger type on Web sites and/or making certain users can adjust
the size of fonts on demand. Since the display environments may be different
from the US or other Western countries, this might lead to different
browsing behavior. Additionally, the Japanese are use to reading from right
to left. Does that behavior map over to Web-based reading?

How does all of this affect the design of Web interfaces and interaction
models? Any formal studies or informal observations will be greatly
appreciated.

Arigato gozaimasu!

Richard

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Richard Law / name
Information Architect / role
Cisco.com User Experience / group
rlaw at cisco.com / email