VISTA (Vertical Integration of Science, Technology, and Applications) user interface software study

Abstract

The Vertical Integration of Science, Technology, and Applications (VISTA) project is an initiative to employ modern information and communications technology for rapid and effective application of basic research results by end users. Developed by the Pacific Northwest Laboratory, VISTA's purpose is to develop and deploy information systems (software or software/hardware products) to broad segments of various markets. Inherent in these products would be mechanisms for accessing PNL-resident information about the problem. A goal of VISTA is to incorporate existing, commercially available user interface technology into the VISTA UIMS. Commercial systems are generally more complete, reliable, and cost-effective than software developed in-house. The objective of this report is to examine the current state of commercial user interface software and discuss the implications of selections thereof. This report begins by describing the functionality of the user interface as it applies to users and application developers. Next, a reference model is presented defining the various operational software layers of a graphical user interface. The main body follows which examines current user interface technology by sampling a number of commercial systems. Both the window system and user interface toolkit markets are surveyed. A summary of the current technology concludes this report. 15 refs., 3 figs., 1 tab.