Copyright © 2006 – Brad A. Myers Answering Why and Why Not Questions in User Interfaces Brad Myers, David A. Weitzman, Andrew J. Ko, and Duen Horng (“Polo”) Chau Human Computer Interaction Institute Carnegie Mellon University Brad Myers, David A. Weitzman, Andrew J. Ko, and Duen Horng (“Polo”) Chau Human Computer Interaction Institute Carnegie Mellon University

22Brad A. Myers, CMU Modern Applications are Complex WHY?

33Brad A. Myers, CMU Complexities, cont. WHY?

44Brad A. Myers, CMU Complexities, cont. WHY?

55Brad A. Myers, CMU Complexities, cont. X X WHY NOT? WHY?

66Brad A. Myers, CMU Why Do They Do That? Many of these features are useful most of the time Interfaces will inevitably get more “intelligent” and helpful No current help system can help users understand why behaviors happen at run- time Especially why they do not happen Many of these features are useful most of the time Interfaces will inevitably get more “intelligent” and helpful No current help system can help users understand why behaviors happen at run- time Especially why they do not happen

77Brad A. Myers, CMU CRYSTALCRYSTAL CRYSTALCRYSTAL larificationsegardingour oftware using a oolkit, rchitecture and anguagelarificationsegardingour oftware using a oolkit, rchitecture and anguage Crystal User interfaces for asking Why and Why Not questions Answers that are helpful Object-oriented framework to make it easy to implement applications Note: Not for existing applications User interfaces for asking Why and Why Not questions Answers that are helpful Object-oriented framework to make it easy to implement applications Note: Not for existing applications

88Brad A. Myers, CMU Crystal Demonstration Implemented in Java Created a text editor to experiment with Crystal features A few features copied from Microsoft Word v11 (2003) Basic text editing with character and paragraph properties Automatic spelling correction and capitalization Complete Styles mechanism with inheritance Ability to ask Why and Why Not questions Implemented in Java Created a text editor to experiment with Crystal features A few features copied from Microsoft Word v11 (2003) Basic text editing with character and paragraph properties Automatic spelling correction and capitalization Complete Styles mechanism with inheritance Ability to ask Why and Why Not questions

99Brad A. Myers, CMU Why Questions, 1 Why menu Easy to find Might be a submenu of help Contains list of most recent commands Including commands not executed due to mode settings Why menu Easy to find Might be a submenu of help Contains list of most recent commands Including commands not executed due to mode settings

10 Brad A. Myers, CMU Why Questions, 2 Can hit “F1” key anywhere to ask about a location Users often know where the problem is, but not what caused it Might not be recent Drops a pink ? to show where Pops up a menu of questions about objects under the mouse Can also point to invisible objects Whitespace Objects that were deleted Can hit “F1” key anywhere to ask about a location Users often know where the problem is, but not what caused it Might not be recent Drops a pink ? to show where Pops up a menu of questions about objects under the mouse Can also point to invisible objects Whitespace Objects that were deleted

11 Brad A. Myers, CMU Questions, 3 If don’t know to use “F1”, Why menu includes prompt for a location

12 Brad A. Myers, CMU Specific Questions Can ask about specific properties of objects Fonts, paragraph properties Or about more global changes teh  The Can ask about specific properties of objects Fonts, paragraph properties Or about more global changes teh  The

13 Brad A. Myers, CMU Questions about Controls Can ask about the user interface controls as well What they do Why grayed out Can ask about the user interface controls as well What they do Why grayed out

14 Brad A. Myers, CMU Answers People usually don’t really want to know “why” They want to know “How do I fix this” Crystal’s answers show the specific user interface controls that control the behavior People usually don’t really want to know “why” They want to know “How do I fix this” Crystal’s answers show the specific user interface controls that control the behavior

15 Brad A. Myers, CMU 18 items, 4 submenus with 16 more choices! 18 items, 4 submenus with 16 more choices! Answers, cont. teh  the ?? 5 panes!

16 Brad A. Myers, CMU Answers, cont. teh  the ?? 13 panes!

17 Brad A. Myers, CMU Answers, cont.

18 Brad A. Myers, CMU Answers, cont. If complex, multi-part answer, then provides multiple “How can I…” questions for each part E.g., for Styles If complex, multi-part answer, then provides multiple “How can I…” questions for each part E.g., for Styles

19 Brad A. Myers, CMU Implementation Overview (Full details in the paper) Only a little more work than supporting Undo “Command object” architecture for actions Command objects stored on a list for undo Programmer adds back pointers from objects to the commands that changed them Add dependency information for mode variables Add special commands for actions not executed Add extra invisible objects for whitespace and deletions (Full details in the paper) Only a little more work than supporting Undo “Command object” architecture for actions Command objects stored on a list for undo Programmer adds back pointers from objects to the commands that changed them Add dependency information for mode variables Add special commands for actions not executed Add extra invisible objects for whitespace and deletions

20 Brad A. Myers, CMU Implementation, cont. Crystal framework then builds Why menus and answers automatically Crystal finds: Objects under the mouse Commands that affected those objects User interface controls involved in those commands Programmer can annotate some commands to not include in menus E.g., regular typing Similar to heuristics for granularity of Undo Crystal framework then builds Why menus and answers automatically Crystal finds: Objects under the mouse Commands that affected those objects User interface controls involved in those commands Programmer can annotate some commands to not include in menus E.g., regular typing Similar to heuristics for granularity of Undo

21 Brad A. Myers, CMU User Study Between participants, 10 in each group One group had Why menus, other group didn’t 6 tasks, based on Microsoft support pages Example : All tasks shown on video Between participants, 10 in each group One group had Why menus, other group didn’t 6 tasks, based on Microsoft support pages Example : All tasks shown on video a)Type in the following sentence “The abbreviation fl. oz. stands for fluid ounce.” b)You notice that the word processor has capitalized some characters for you, but you don’t want this to happen. c)Your task is to make the automatic capitalization not happen again. d)When you think you’re done, type “fl. oz. stands” again to make sure it works. a)Type in the following sentence “The abbreviation fl. oz. stands for fluid ounce.” b)You notice that the word processor has capitalized some characters for you, but you don’t want this to happen. c)Your task is to make the automatic capitalization not happen again. d)When you think you’re done, type “fl. oz. stands” again to make sure it works.

22 Brad A. Myers, CMU Results “Why” menus group completed 5.60 (93%) of the tasks compared to 4.20 (70%) without 33% more completed F [1, 20] = 12.60, p <.005 on between-participants ANOVA “Why” menus group completed 5.60 (93%) of the tasks compared to 4.20 (70%) without 33% more completed F [1, 20] = 12.60, p <.005 on between-participants ANOVA

23 Brad A. Myers, CMU Observations Participants really liked the “Why” capability on the survey Wanted it in their applications Diversity of use of F1 key vs. menu Desired questions were found easily in the why menus Participants really liked the “Why” capability on the survey Wanted it in their applications Diversity of use of F1 key vs. menu Desired questions were found easily in the why menus

24 Brad A. Myers, CMU Video

25 Brad A. Myers, CMU Conclusions Answering “Why” and “Why Not” questions is helpful and feasible Should be added to all future applications Answering “Why” and “Why Not” questions is helpful and feasible Should be added to all future applications WHY NOT?

Copyright © 2006 – Brad A. Myers Answering Why and Why Not Questions in User Interfaces Funded by NSF Brad Myers, David A. Weitzman, Andrew J. Ko, and Duen Horng (“Polo”) Chau Funded by NSF Brad Myers, David A. Weitzman, Andrew J. Ko, and Duen Horng (“Polo”) Chau