User Experience Group

During my visit to SolidWorks headquarters, I was able to met with members of the User Experience Group, such as Tom Spine, who is working hard to further improve the SolidWorks/human interface.  You may wish to check out his recent article and questionnaire.

Another area where the User Experience Group is focused is on Help files.  I’m not fan of the current SolidWorks Help file.  Contrary to some popular ideas, SolidWorks Corp has been working hard to create and improve the Help file.   The statement from them is essentially that there is no intentional effort to keep the Help file simplified with few photos of the SolidWorks application to avoid costs of translation.  In fact, they have a staff of translators working hard to keep the Help file updated in 13 languages.  This work is tasked to something called the Localization Group, which is within the User Experience Group.  Admittedly, there is too much work for their current staff to do on their own, so a certain percentage of translation is farmed out.  However, the User Experience Group is aware of criticisms regarding the Help file and have made it clear that they are working hard to fill in any gaps, including the inclusion of more photos from the SolidWorks application for each of the supported languages.

Author: fcsuper

As a drafter, mechanical designer and CAD engineer, I've been in the mechanical design field since 1991. For the first 8 years of my career, I was an AutoCAD professional. I utilized AutoLISP and many other AutoCAD customization features to streamline drafting activities for 6+ drafters and designers. I authored several custom functions, one of which was published in the March 1997 issue of Cadalyst Magazine. Since 1998, I've been used SolidWorks non-stop. I've worked to utilize the SolidWorks' user environment to simplify drafting and design activities for 20+ engineers. I've created this website to provide current information about SolidWorks from a variety of contributors. More recently, I am now employed by Dassault Systemes as SOLIDWORKS Sr. Product Definition Manager to improve drawing, annotation and MBD related areas.

2 thoughts on “User Experience Group”

  1. “there is no intentional effort to keep the Help file simplified with few photos of the SolidWorks application to avoid costs of translation”

    Honestly? When was the last time you saw a screen shot of the interface that has something translatable in the help file? If this lack is not intentional, then what? The results speak for themselves.

  2. Just some poor overworked staff that is doing their best to catch up on the task list? They do have a staff of translators. Do you have information about these individuals and their working instructions?

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