1. Class Announcements 1 week left until project presentations!
Tuesday, Dec. 7th 1pm – 3:30 pm
Room is Gates B12 (in the basement)
Feel free to invite guests, there will be plenty of space
30 November 2004
I/O Toolkits

2. Presentation Format (A Guide)
8 min + 4 min (questions and changeover)
Tell A Story
Intro
Benefits
Contextual Inquiry
Paper/Lo-Fi/First Prototype
User Test / Redesign
Final Prototype
Show a Demo
May be Videotaped =)
30 November 2004
I/O Toolkits

3. Merrie Ringel 30 November 2004
I/O Toolkits
Merrie Ringel
30 November 2004

4. What are Interface Toolkits?
Goal: make it easier to develop user interfaces by providing application developers with reusable components that accomplish common input and output needs
Toolkits have a well-planned architecture and API & provide a library
30 November 2004
I/O Toolkits

5. Example: Java Swing GUI toolkit with a widget set and an API
30 November 2004
I/O Toolkits

6. Example: M$ Interface Builder
Can specify widget placement and basic properties with a visual editor
Programmer writes code for widget callbacks and complex behaviors
30 November 2004
I/O Toolkits

7. Why use toolkits? Code reuse saves programmer time
50% of code is for the GUI [Myers & Rosson, CHI ’92]
Consistent look & feel across apps
Easier to modify and iterate the UI
Make UI development accessible to more people
Non-artists
Non-programmers???
30 November 2004
I/O Toolkits

8. Drawbacks
Can be limiting – developers are likely to make the kinds of UIs that the toolkit makes easy
Traditional GUI toolkits are problematic for non-WIMP user interfaces such as:
Groupware
Physical UIs
30 November 2004
I/O Toolkits

9. DiamondSpin Toolkit Toolkit for tabletop user interfaces
[Shen, Vernier, Forlines, Ringel] CHI ’04
30 November 2004
I/O Toolkits

10. Tabletop UI Needs Multi-user support
Identity-aware widgets
Multiple menus
Public and personal spaces
Resolving conflicting actions
Arbitrary orientation of UI elements
Techniques to control orientation and layout
Rotation sensitive components
30 November 2004
I/O Toolkits

11. 30 November 2004
I/O Toolkits

12. DiamondSpin Video
30 November 2004
I/O Toolkits

13. iStuff Toolkit
Physical UI components for ubiquitous computing environments (multiple users, devices, and applications)
[Ballagas, Ringel, Stone, Borchers], CHI ‘03
30 November 2004
I/O Toolkits

14. iStuff Design iStuff components PatchPanel
Device + proxy (“smarts” are in the proxy)
PatchPanel
Translate between iStuff events and application-specific events
Run-time retargetable events
Address dimension mismatches
30 November 2004
I/O Toolkits

15. 30 November 2004
I/O Toolkits

16. iStuff Video
30 November 2004
I/O Toolkits

17. Evaluating Toolkits Ease of use Depth, Breadth, and Extensibility
A toolkit’s API is a user interface, too! [Klemmer et al., 2004] evaluated the API of Papier-Mache
Depth, Breadth, and Extensibility
Systems issues
Speed
Portability
30 November 2004
I/O Toolkits

18. Current Research Challenges
Complex design space
e.g., Do we have to update the toolkit every time someone creates a new sensor or actuator?
Ambiguous input
Speech, gestures, computer vision, etc. aren’t recognized as accurately as mouse clicks. Should the toolkit handle the recognition?
30 November 2004
I/O Toolkits

19. Summary
I/O Toolkits provide reusable interface components to simplify UI development
Toolkit trap: it’s tempting to only make UIs that the toolkit makes easy, instead of making what’s best for a specific app
Toolkit types:
WIMP (Garnet, Swing, Motif, etc)
Speciality (Phidgets, iStuff, Papier-Mache, DiamondSpin, GroupKit, Peripheral Displays Toolkit, etc)
30 November 2004
I/O Toolkits