ImitGraphs: towards faster usability tests of graphical model manipulation techniques

Abstract

Due to the increasing use of both general-purpose and domain-specific graphical models (e.g., UML diagrams or graphic DSLs) in different stages of software development, software engineers who work with these models spend more time interacting with modeling tools. Thus, the usability of the interaction techniques employed by modeling tools affects the overall productivity of software development. Tool developers and user interface designers rely on the feedback from usability tests to optimize the user interface of tools that provide a graphical editor. Developing a working prototype to test new techniques is costly due to the complexity and variety of graphical models. This results in either tests at the late stages of development when changes are more expensive, or tests with prototypes that only support a subset of the intended graphical models. In order to simplify conducting usability tests, instead of using the intended graphical models in the tests, we propose to use simpler models that require similar interactions when being manipulated. For this purpose, we introduce graphs with additional properties, which we call ImitGraphs. ImitGraphs can be parametrized such that their interaction behavior is similar to that of an intended graphical model. Further, we introduce a method to instruct test participants to create ImitGraphs and manipulate them. ImitGraphs enable tool builders to develop prototypes for usability tests faster and consequently cheaper, thus resulting in more usability tests at early stages of tool development and on a wider range of intended models.