User interfaces

A user interface is the part of a software product that your customer actually sees.

A user interface may include the layout of display screens or printed output, displayed or printed text, commands, online help, and messages. A user interface is also the part of a software product that you must either translate or make cultural changes to for users in other countries or cultures.

The operating system provides specific software functions to help you organize text from your user interface and store that text in a library for easy translation. The operating system also provides you with a user interface manager that provides a consistent user interface. The user interface manager provides comprehensive support for defining and running panels such as displays and online help.

This section provides guidelines that you can follow when designing a user interface for an international application. You should apply these guidelines early in the design process.