Showing papers on "User interface published in 1982"

The future of interactive systems and the emergence of direct manipulation

Abstract: This paper suggests three motivations for the strong interest in human factors' aspects of user interfaces and reviews five design issues: command language versus menu selection, response time and display rates, wording of system messages, on-line tutorials, explanations and help messages and hardware devices. Five methods and tools for system development are considered: participatory design, specification methods, software implementation tools, pilot studies and acceptance tests and evolutionary refinement based on user feedback. The final portion of the paper presents direct manipulation, an approach which promises to become widely used in interactive systems. Direct manipulation involves representation of the object of interest, rapid incremental reversible actions and physical action instead of complex syntax.

Heuristics for designing enjoyable user interfaces: Lessons from computer games

Abstract: In this paper, I will discuss two questions: (1) Why are computer games so captivating? and (2) How can the features that make computer games captivating be used to make other user interfaces interesting and enjoyable to use?After briefly summarizing several studies of what makes computer games fun, I will discuss some guidelines for designing enjoyable user interfaces. Even though I will focus primarily on what makes systems enjoyable, I will suggest how some of the same features that make systems enjoyable can also make them easier to learn and to use.

The star user interface: an overview

Abstract: In April 1981 Xerox announced the 8010 Star Information System, a new personal computer designed for office professionals who create, analyze, and distribute information. The Star user interface differs from that of other office computer systems by its emphasis on graphics, its adherence to a metaphor of a physical office, and its rigorous application of a small set of design principles. The graphic imagery reduces the amount of typing and remembering required to operate the system. The office metaphor makes the system seem familiar and friendly; it reduces the alien feel that many computer systems have. The design principles unify the nearly two dozen functional areas of Star, increasing the coherence of the system and allowing user experience in one area to apply in others.

The EPISTLE text-critiquing system

Abstract: The experimental EPISTLE system is intended to provide "intelligent" functions for processing business correspondence and other texts in an office environment. This paper focuses on the initial objectives of the system: critiquing written material on points of grammar and style. The overall system is described, with some details of the implementation, user interface, and the three levels of processing, especially the syntactic parsing of sentences with a computerized English grammar.

GUIDE: Graphical User Interface for Database Exploration

Abstract: This paper describes a system which uses graphics devices as tools to interface to complex databases. The difficulties associated with using query languages for large, complex databases such as some of the statistical databases (e.g., Census data, energy data) are examined, We will describe a system containing features such as subject directories, help messages, zooming facilities to the relevant part of the database schema, and partial query formulation with intermediate results. The system offers a graphics interface to the user. The database schema is displayed as a network of entity and relationship types. Queries can be expressed as traversal paths on this network. Partial queries (called “local queries”) can be formulated and represented graphically and database retrieval results of any local query are available at any time. Local queries can be linked together to form larger queries and provide the basis for building queries in a piecemeal fashion. Parts of the schema can be selectively made visible or invisible and provide the basis of representing multiple levels of details of the schema.

A user interface management system

Abstract: The design and construction of the user interface to interactive systems is receiving increased attention. This paper describes a user interface management system that allows a designer/developer to focus on the logical functionality of an application without the usual bookkeeping associated with a conventional programming language. The user interface management system contains two components: a special purpose, application independent dialogue specification language and a run-time interpreter that provides a number of interaction extensions not possible with procedure libraries.

User perceptual mechanisms in the search of computer command menus

Abstract: Menu-based command systems, in which a user selects a command from a set of choices displayed to him, have acquired widespread use as a human-computer interface technique. The technique is especially attractive for use with new or untrained users since the user need not recall the command he wishes, but merely recognize it. But menu systems also find application in more sophisticated systems meant for expert users (for example, Teitelman, 1977) where they can be used to reduce the complexity of the options with which the user is presented.

Graphical user interfaces for business information systems

Abstract: Proponents of computer graphics foresee them having a dramatic impact on decision maker productivity. The availability of inexpensive graphic computer technology permits organizations to rely extensively on graphics for standard information presentations. Despite the claims of the proponents, however, there is little substantial evidence linking the use of graphics with increased management productivity and/or higher quality decisions. Moreover, the use of powerful graphics capabilities by end users, unskilled in graphics design, presents the likelihood that information presentations will suffer rather than improve as computer generated graphics grow in popularity. This article discusses typical and atypical applications of computer graphics for presenting business information. Existing evidence relating the use of graphics with improvements in user productivity is discussed. Much of the article is focused on computer graphics design within the organization including: who should do design, the conceptual foundations of good graphics design, and a set of guidelines and cautions applicable to the design of quality graphics. The article concludes with a list of suggested research topics.

The man—computer interface: a note on concepts and design

Abstract: The notion of identifying a part of a computer system, the man-computer interface, that can be seen as representing the user's model of the system is explored. A particular classification of the components of an interface is presented. It is suggested that the design of the man-computer interface is central to the design of an interactive system. Certain design problems are discussed and problems requiring further research identified.

Towards self-adaptive interface systems

Abstract: This paper follows a trend towards more user oriented design approaches to interactive computer systems. The implicit goal in this trend is the development of more “natural” systems. Design approaches should aim at a system capable of continuous change by means of suitable agents. The term “soft facade” is used to describe a modifiable interface to a system. Facades vary in softness and agents for change can be the systems designer, the user or an expert system in the facade. In the latter case, the system is called a self-adaptive interface system. The conditions where a self-adaptive interface system is desirable are briefly considered and discussed in relation to a simple example. Recent research in artificial intelligence is mentioned as a possible source of proposed components for a self-adaptive interface system.

Towards specifying and evaluating the human factors of user-computer interfaces

Abstract: Despite the current interest in user-computer interfaces, the design of a good interface remains to a great extent an art, with much argument over guidelines and principles for interface design. Pertinent information, scattered throughout the literature of psychology, graphic design. linguistics, hardware design, and under the general umbrella of computer science, is only gradually being gathered into survey publications for application by computer scientists [1,4,12,15]. Our purpose is to design a specification language which will serve as a vehicle for the design of and experimentation with user-computer interfaces. The specification language not only defines the external characteristics of the interface, but can also be analyzed to determine whether the interface meets a set of generally-accepted human factors guidelines. We believe the language is general enough to be used with principles of interface design other than those we have proposed.

FLAIR - user interface dialog design tool

Abstract: To aid the system designers in achieving early involvement of the users, FLAIR (a user interface dialog design tool) was conceptualized and developed. FLAIR allows the designer to rapidly prototype a system's Man-Machine Interface.A system designer can select a desired mix of input/output devices ranging from voice to high resolution graphics equipment. FLAIR prompts its users with a dynamic menu according to a pre-defined English-like syntax. Commands are entered by the designer's own voice. Entered commands are validated by voice pattern recognition and command language-gating. Pointing devices are used to locate, place, and/or pick objects from the RAMTEK 9400 25” high-resolution color monitor.The graphics display portion of FLAIR is handled by a Core Standard graphics package. This particular package also fits the specific needs of FLAIR in that it makes available most of the RAMTEK 9400's hardware features.A relational DBMS has been integrated into FLAIR in order to manage system and user-defined data relationships. The user-defined data can be associated with a particular on-screen graphics symbol, and can then be queried at a later time.In addition to single graphics snapshots (or “static frames”), FLAIR allows the system designer to create command menu hierarchies for “dynamic scenarios.” This allows the designer to simulate, through client menu item selection, the system control flow. He can, in effect, create a tree of menus, traverse the tree at will, and select more menus or system actions as desired. All menus appear as sensitized areas on the graphics screen, and can be selected via any of the available input devices.It is estimated that a system designer can greatly improve his dialog design productivity by using FLAIR. The designers need not code any formal programs. The designer need not master the usage of the host computer, the graphic input/output systems, the menu controls, or the database programming before his designs are realized. FLAIR is there to assimilate, assemble, save and exercise his instructed operator dialog.

A form application development system

Abstract: This paper describes FADS --- a Form Application Development System which is an interactive system for the development of form-based database applications. FADS reduces the amount of work required to implement a forms application by suppressing much of the detail which would be required by conventional tools (e.g., a screen definition system, a database system, and a programming language). FADS provides direct access to a relational database, a standard model of the user interface, built-in form constructs, and an integrated development and debugging environment. Using FADS, form applications can be developed quickly and the resulting systems are easy to modify.A prototype implementation of the FADS kernel has been completed.

Controlling the complexity of menu networks

Abstract: A common approach to the design of user interfaces for computer systems is the menu selection technique. Each menu frame can be considered a node in an information/action network. The set of nodes and the permissible transitions between them (menu selections) form a directed graph which, in a system of substantial size, can be large and enormously complex. The solution to this problem of unmanageable complexity is the same for menu networks as for programs: the disciplined use of a set of well-defined one-in-one-out structures. This paper defines a set of such structures and offers some guidelines for their use.

Dialogue Cells: A Method for Defining Interactions

Abstract: How Should One Approach the Design of an Interactive Interface? This Method Provides Both a Basic Approach and Some Powerful New Tools to Aid in Dialogue Programming.

User differences in interface design

Abstract: The information systems profession has come to appreciate the importance of interactive interfaces that are tailored to distinct user characteristics. One measure of that progress is reflected in the content of recruitment ads for systems professionals. Only in recent years have employers requested \"user interface designers\" with expertise in the \"personalization of features in order to support a wide variety of user classes (casual to sophisticated) and the use ofanalogies to users' existing environment. \"I The implied single dimension of users-\"casual to sophisticated\"-is no doubt an ad writer's simplification of a more complex model. Software designers now recognize several dimensions in specifying user types for any information system, although they are still exploring the nature and interaction of those dimensions. Figure 1, a deliberately simplified model of human-computer interaction, shows the progression from user task to cognitive model of information system objects and facilities to selection of functions and commands. Physical communications to the information system are then carried out, and feedback from the system (state change message, error message, new prompt, etc.) is perceived and translated into a new action. For many purposes, of course, the function/command block must be further divided, and the task block can also be refined to consider the user's mental model of the task, as distinct from the task itself. The best systems expand the user task model to resemble the task more closely or even expand its boundaries; unfortunately, system-user interaction can also restrict real task boundaries or divert the task model from the actual problem. In evaluating user characteristics, we will consider three areas: (1) differences in the nature of the task to be performed and the associated mental task model, (2) differences in the nature and extent of the user's cognitive model of the information system, and (3) differences in the nature and extent of the user's exposure to the system. Obviously, the user's exposure to the system interacts with the first two, but only additional effects that are not clearly related to the other areas are considered part of user exposure. Task analysis The crucial role of requirements analysis in software engineering has become axiomatic. The same importance should be attached to task analysis for interface engineering , where the emphasis is on the nature of the activities that the information system will support, rather than on the specific processing functions to be developed. R. B. Miller addresses this perspective …

UIMP: User Interface for Mathematical Programming

Abstract: UIMP is a matrix-generator report-writer system designed to aid the reahzation (generation) of mathematical programming models and also the analysis-reporting of the solutions of such models The data-structure facility of the system allows the underlying structure of a user model to be captured and helps to define such models This data-structure feature is not only a powerful modeling aid, it also finds use in the analysis of solutions and report generation The experience of using the system, its shortcomings, and possible extensions are also discussed.

The message is the medium: Multiprocess structuring of an interactive paint program

Abstract: An innovative design for an interactive paint program has been developed based on multiple processes and message passing. Traditional paint programs combine interrupt-driven support of a graphical input device, such as a mouse or tablet, with the coloring of pixels in a raster display. We advocate a different design methodology which is illustrated in our implementation. The multiple processes and message passing primitives provided by some real-time operating systems encourage the design of parallel-program architectures and anthropomorphic programming structures, analogous to artist procedures and the metaphors of Smalltalk.The Thoth operating system was used to experiment with such an anthropomorphic design. Thoth provides a hospitable environment in which to investigate the distribution of algorithms between software and microprogrammed hardware processes, the performance and responsiveness of a multiple-process interactive program, and experimental user interfaces using an Ikonas 3000 frame buffer.The paint program consists of processes which handle the graphics tablet, track an iconic cursor, paint a selection of brushes, fill regions of the image, draw lines, and implement the user interface. Some processes have been implemented both in software and microcode.

A human/computer interface to accommodate user learning stages

Abstract: Often, users with widely divergent computer experience are required to interface with software. Many interfaces are designed to provide the greatest flexibility for the largest subset of users, but users with other needs and abilities find such a system either confusing or cumbersome. Although desktop and similar small computers are now available, not always are potential users familiar with their operation. In fact, the number of new inexperienced users appears to be growing. All of this suggests that a reassessment of the human/machine interface is in order. The design of an interactive application should take into account its intended users' familiarity with computers, as well as their understanding of and experience with the application package itself. However, famil-

Cognitive factors in human interaction with computers

Abstract: Designing computer interfaces to match human cognitive processes is increasingly important as computer systems become more sophisticated. This paper examines experimental results, models and research strategies relevant to cognitive processes in user interfaces for topics including query languages, command languages, programming, problem solving, editing and displays.

Using formal specifications in the design of a human-computer interface

Abstract: This paper surveys specification techniques that can be applied to human-computer interfaces, provides examples of specifications, and presents some conclusions drawn from the author's experience using the techniques for specifying the user interface of the message system.

Human Factors and User Assistance in Interactive Computing Systems: An Introduction

Abstract: The need to improve and simplify interactive computing svstems has led to the study of the human factors of these systems. Out of these studies and a general interest in ease of use has come a variety of guidelines and techniques for improving human-machine interfaces. Some of the most important. techniques allow a user to obtain assistance automatically while using a computer svstem. An introduction to the problems, methods, and results in human factors and user assistance for interactive computer systems are provided in this paper and this issue.

Barriers to the Use of Computer Assisted Learning

Abstract: This paper summarizes the results of a recent evaluation study on the use of computer assisted learning at the Open University. Our main finding is that students have a realistic view of the educational benefits of computer assisted learning and also of the practical problems associated with its use. These include: physical access, a variety of user interface standards and frustrating computer experiences leading to a fear of its use. We conclude by making some recommendations which would allow computer assisted learning to achieve its potential in the Open University and in distance learning generally

RABBIT: An interface for database access

Abstract: A new kind of user interface for information retrieval has been designed and implemented to aid users in formulating a query. The system, called RABBIT, relies upon a new paradigm for retrieval by reformulation, based on a psychological theory of human remembering. The paradigm actually evolved from an explicit attempt to design a 'natural' interface which imitated human retrieval processes.To make a query in RABBIT, the user interactively refines partial descriptions of his target item(s) by criticizing successive example (and counterexample) instances that satisfy the current partial description. Instances from the database are presented to the user from a perspective inferred from the user's query description and the structure of the knowledge base. Among other things, this constructed perspective reminds users of likely terms to use in their descriptions, enhances their understanding of the meaning of given terms, and prevents them from creating certain classes of semantically improper query descriptions. RABBIT particularily facilitates users who approach a database with only a vague idea of what it is that they want and who thus, need to be guided in the (re)formulation of their queries. RABBIT is also of substantial value to casual users who have limited knowledge of a given database or who must deal with a multitude of databases.

Character level ambiguity: consequences for user interface design

Abstract: Certain user interface functions require single- or few-character interactions and in some systems the number of functions which is made available exceeds the number of suitable key combinations. Hence modes are introduced; keys can be given different interpretations in different modes. But this is a source of user interface ambiguity; if there are too many frequently-used modes then the user can make errors all too easily. Definite user interface techniques, which are discussed, can be chosen to increase ease of use/user satisfaction: for instance, by reducing the number of necessary modes or the consequences of user typing errors. To make an interface consistent and predictable requires considerable effort, even if only at this level of single character semantics.

Toward the design and development of style-independent interactive systems

Abstract: The research project in which we are involved seeks to improve the technical climate for experimentation with the human factors of interactive systems by developing tool Kits to aid the experimenter [3,5].These capabilities are in two general areas: languages and metrics to support the specification of user interfaces [1] and the evaluation of them with respect to ergonomic factors; and tools to facilitate the development of user interfaces at moderate cost and with short lead time. The latter area, which we have called “style-independent interactive systems”, or “abstract interaction handlers”, is taken up in this report.

From research to application: the cite natural language information retrieval system

Abstract: Large operational information retrieval systems typically employ inverted file structures and Boolean logic operators for efficient text retrieval. These systems require considerable user training for effective use. As a consequence, searching is commonly performed by professional intermediaries on behalf of end users.By contrast, many small scale experimental retrieval systems incorporate desirable user interface features, such as natural (English) language querying, ranked output and relevance feedback.The author describes the design and implementation of a natural language search interface to MEDLINE, the National library of Medicines largest and most heavily used data base. The CITE (Current Information Transfer in English) prototype system is a large-scale, weighted logic information retrieval system with natural language query input, ranked search output, dynamic user feedback and automatic associative vocabulary mapping capahilities.

Uniform help facilities for a cooperative user interface

Abstract: This paper describes the design of the help and explanation component of a user-friendly operating system command interface called COUSIN. The facility can provide two kinds of information: (1) static descriptions of the various subsystems that can be invoked, their parameters, and the syntax that must be used; (2) dynamically generated descriptions of the state of the current interaction, why that state has arisen, and what the user's options for action are. Both types of information are presented in the same way through a network of small text frames connected by semantically motivated links in the style of the ZOG system. Frames containing static information are generated automatically for each subsystem from a declarative description of the subsystem which is also used by COUSIN for its other services, including spelling and grammar correction and interactive error resolution. Dynamically generated frames are incorporated temporarily into the static network with semantic links appropriate to the current command context.

System requirements for interactive testing

Abstract: The general requirements of inexpensive microcomputer systems for the administration of current psychometric procedures are reviewed. The hardware specification in terms of the type of machine, the mass storage required, the resolution of graphical displays and the provision of response media is discussed, and the availability and design of software reviewed. Attention is drawn to the need to consider the nature of the user interface, and for fundamental research on which to base the implementation of effective man-computer interaction in interactive testing situations.