An improved user interface is provided for displaying selectable functionality controls that identifies the context of the object to which the user interface is relevant, which contains rich functionality controls for applying contextually relevant functionality to a selected object, and which may be efficiently switched to a different context for applying a different set of functionalities to a different or neighboring editable object. A context menu of functionalities is displayed adjacent to a selected object where the menu of functionalities includes functionalities associated with editing the selected object. The context menu includes an identification of the object context and a control for selectively changing the context and associated functionalities of the menu to a different object context for displaying a different set of functionalities associated with the different context.

User interface for displaying selectable software functionality controls that are contextually relevant to a selected object

A floating command object is provided for offering a set of commonly or frequently used commands in close proximity to a selected text, data or other object in a document. When a given object is selected for editing, the floating object automatically displays near the object to allow easy selection of relevant commands such as formatting property commands. The object remains displayed to allow multiple command selections until it is closed by user action. If a mouse or touchpad pointer is moved away from the displayed object, the displayed object becomes increasingly translucent to visually deemphasize the relevance of the object to the new position of the pointer.

Floating command object

Automatic sorting and grouping of electronic mail items in an electronic mail system is provided. An automatic mail grouping property may be selected for electronic mail received, sent or stored in a variety of storage folders. For a given mail location (e.g., received mail, sent mail, or a given mail storage folder), a selected automatic grouping property causes mail to be displayed to a user in one or more categories that make location of specific mail items easier and more efficient. Visible dividers with optional headings may be provided between mail categories to quickly draw a user's attention to a given mail category and to separate large numbers of mail into logical groupings that make location of specific mail items more manageable.

Automatic Grouping of Electronic Mail

An electronic “To-Do” bar is provided in which displayed upcoming tasks, meetings, appointments and the like. The electronic To-Do bar is displayed in a lightweight menu of tasks, meetings and appointments and is displayed persistently in addition to other software functionality or user interfaces displayed on a user's computer display screen according to other software applications or other software functionality in use. A user is presented with an always-visible list of upcoming tasks, meetings and appointments without the need to launch a separate tasks application or calendar application to view upcoming tasks, meetings or appointments.

User Interface for Providing Task Management and Calendar Information

We introduce Side Views, a user interface mechanism that provides on-demand, persistent, and dynamic previews of commands. Side Views are designed to explicitly support the practices and needs of expert users engaged in openended tasks. In this paper, we summarize results from field studies of expert users that motivated this work, then discuss the design of Side Views in detail. We show how Side Views' design affords their use as tools for clarifying, comparing, and contrasting commands; generating alternative visualizations; experimenting without modifying the original data (i.e., "what-if" tools); and as tools that support the serendipitous discovery of viable alternatives. We then convey lessons learned from implementing Side Views in two sample applications, a rich text editor and an image manipulation application. These contributions include a discussion of how to implement Side Views for commands with parameters, for commands that require direct user input (such as mouse strokes for a paint program), and for computationally-intensive commands.

Side views: persistent, on-demand previews for open-ended tasks

This paper introduces the IBM VisualAge® for JavaTM product, a robust, visual suite of tools designed for rapid prototyping and enterprise application development. The paper outlines the development-time benefits of using VisualAge for Java.

L. A. Chamberland

Papers

IBM visualage for Java