Interaction Styles Course 6, CMC, 07/10/03 Direct Manipulation Menu selection, Form Fillin, Dialog boxes Command Languages, Natural Languages Course 6, CMC, 07/10/03

Toward an Interaction Style High concept definition functionality goals benefits Task analysis users and tasks Choice of interaction style easy to learn, to apply, to retain over time relevant to users task 07/10/03 HC6

OAI model 07/10/03 HC6

Direct Manipulation: 3 integrated principles Continuous representation of objects and actions of interest with meaningful visual metaphors Physical actions or presses of labeled buttons instead of complex syntax Rapid incremental reversible operations whose effect on objects of interest is visible immediately 07/10/03 HC6

Visual Thinking and Icons Commercial graphic designers, semiotically oriented academics, data-visualization gurus Preferences vary by user and by task Icons or Text? How to design icons? Sound and Animation added? 07/10/03 HC6

Problems with Direct Manipulation Visual representations too large for screen, too detailed Visual representations without obvious meaning Misleading metaphors Shift hardware devices 07/10/03 HC6

Menu Selection Effective: recognition Early systems (selection via keyboard) full screen menus: numbered, textual Modern systems (selection by mouse clicks) pull-down and pop-up menus radio buttons and check boxes embedded links menu items: textual, graphic, auditory 07/10/03 HC6

Organization Menu Items Meaningful: Superiority categorical menu organization over alphabetical organization Menu structures: single menus; linear sequence of menus; strict tree structures; acyclic networks; cyclic networks Key to menu structure: task-related objects and actions 07/10/03 HC6

Single Menus binary menus multiple-item menus multiple-selection menus (check boxes) pull-down and pop-up menus scrolling and two-dimensional menus alphasliders embedded links iconic menus, toolbars, palettes 07/10/03 HC6

Alphaslider 07/10/03 HC6

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Embedded Links (example) Glosser 07/10/03 HC6

Tree Structures 07/10/03 HC6

Pull-down menu (example) 07/10/03 HC6

Pie menu (example) 07/10/03 HC6

Tree-Structured Menus: Problems overlapping categories extraneous items conflicting classifications unfamiliar jargon generic terms too many levels users loss of orientation 07/10/03 HC6

Suggested Rules create task-related groups of logically similar items form groups that cover all possibilities make sure that items ar nonoverlapping use familiar terminology, but ensure that items are distinct from one another the fewer the levels, the greater the ease of decision making add menu map to help users stay oriented 07/10/03 HC6

Sequence of Item Presentation There is a task-related ordering chronological increasing/decreasing (number, length, volume, temperature, … ) There is no task-related ordering alphabetic grouping of related items most frequently used first most important first 07/10/03 HC6

Response Time & Display Rate Long response times Slow display rates Use command language Greater memory demands Short response times Rapid display rates Use menu selection Cues to elicit recognition 07/10/03 HC6

Form Fillin Many fields of data are necessary Some guidelines from practitioners: meaningful title comprehensible instructions logical grouping and sequencing of fields familiar field labels error prevention, correction, messages completion signal List- and Combo Boxes, Coded Fields 07/10/03 HC6

Dialog Boxes Combine Menu Selection and Form Fillin Additional concerns consistency across all system dialog boxes relationships with other items on screen Guidelines for internal layout and external relationships 07/10/03 HC6

Dialog Box (example) 07/10/03 HC6

Command Languages Strategies for command syntax simple command set command + argument(s): DELETE FILEA command + option(s) + argument(s): PRINT/3, HQ FILEA A0821DCALGA0300P hierarchical command structure CREATE FILEA LOCPR1 DISPLAY DIR1 SCR2 07/10/03 HC6

Command Languages meaningful structure consistent argument ordering keywords vs. Symbols change all KO to OK vs. RS: /KO/, /OK/; * congruent hierarchical forms of commands move robot forward vs. advance vs. go move robot backward vs. retreat vs. Back naming and abbreviations 07/10/03 HC6

Natural Language in Computing Natural-language interaction restricted to specific tasks \erase worksheet; \insert row; \total all columns annoying cursor movements from object to toolbar automatic speech for selecting painting tools Natural-language Queries Text-database Searching 07/10/03 HC6