News / Education
Semantix receives the Nielsen usability award for its Dixio technology
The world renowned Nielsen awards value the usability of applications for computers and mobile devices
Barcelona, 9th May 2012.- Dixio, the smart dictionary, has received the award for the best designed multiplatform application of 2012, granted by Nielsen Norman Group, one of the world’s most prestigious agencies specializing in usability. This award has acknowledged the work done by Semantix, the company that created Dixio, to make its smart dictionary meet basic usability requirements, providing it with a simple design enabling the tool’s easy and intuitive use.
Dixio, best multiplatform application
The team of Jakob Nielsen, the usability guru, considered the design of Dixio and the fact that it is a multiplatform application, with versions for different supports (computers, tablets, e-readers and smartphones).
Nielsen valued the work done by Semantix to adapt Dixio to each of the supports on which it can be used. This adaptation process not only took the limitations of each device into account, but also what their users need or expect to find. In the words of Laura Vilar, who was responsible for the project’s usability, “when it comes to design and usability, a good user experience can only be ensured if you know your users”.
With regards to design, Dixio has given the dictionary a new look and feel, making it more like a gadget than an application, an assistant who is always there, but out of sight, and who only appears when he is needed. According to Vilar, “users want to read, so our tool has to supplement that process in a very subtle manner, without making a nuisance of itself”.
About Dixio
When users find a word that they don’t understand, they either click on it or press it, depending on the support. Dixio instantly analyses the context, detects the language and shows the best possible definition in a pop-up window. The reader is not distracted and does not have to leave the document being read.
For this analysis, Dixio uses the Semantix language engine, which includes statistical processes and some elements from natural language processing and artificial intelligence to provide definitions from more than 100 dictionaries.
Dixio is known as the smart dictionary and is available in three versions: Dixio Desktop (for computers), Dixio eReader Solution (for smartphones, e-readers and tablets) and Dixio ForWeb (for websites).
Semantix. To understand and write better
Established by Mikel Urizarbarrena, Semantix develops computer tools aimed at increasing the comprehension of communications. Semantix solutions bring the speakers of different languages closer together, facilitating communication, in their own languages or others. The Semantix team comprises engineers, linguists, lexicographers, translators and computer programmers.
The company, which is headquartered in Spain and also has an office in the United States, is the only one in the world to develop this type of technology.
For further information:
Maria Monterde
902 36 60 60
