Iconic Menus Research Articles

Requirements Recovery Using Ontology Model for Capturing End-to-End Interaction of Proven Application Software

An existing application software perhaps has no requirements document or requirements document does not represent the application. The situation creates a problem in application software maintenance or reengineering. Thus, requirements document should be reconstructed from the existing application software. Effort on reconstructing a requirements document from the existing application software is similar to requirements document construction for a new application software, needs requirements elicitation. Requirements elicitation can be done using an ontology model that captures end-to-end interaction between users and system. Using the ontology model does not need software documentation and source code at all, the only one is the existing application software itself. In this case, the existing application software should be executed and then observed its behavior in term of end-to-end interaction on each starting point in which the interface identified. This set of interaction flows is known as a Use Case Realization (UCR) in Requirements Management with Use Case (RMUC) approach. The appropriate ontology model provides an ease to understand the software requirements semantic meaning. The model consists of two models includes, WIMP-UI (Window Icon Menu Pointer – User Interface) and USI (User - Interaction) ontology models.

Using tangible user interfaces in computer-based training systems for low-functioning autistic children

In this paper, the design of a computer-based training (CBT) system for low-functioning autistic children is addressed. The emphasis is on ease-of-use and learning efficiency of CBT systems with different interaction styles, namely the WIMP (Window Icon Menu Pointing Device) and TUI (Tangible User Interface) interaction styles. Two WIMP-based CBT systems with different pointing devices were involved in the study. The first system applied a standard computer mouse as a pointing device, while the second one employed a touch screen instead. For the TUI-based CBT system, a tabletop setting was adopted. Based on the known characteristics of TUI and children with autism, as well as related cognitive and learning theories, the benefits of TUI for low-functioning autistic children have been investigated. Elementary skill teaching was chosen as a case study for performance evaluation of these CBT systems. Empirical results show that the touch-based and TUI-based systems offered much better ease-of-use performance than that of the mouse-based system. Regarding learning efficacy, experimental results show that the TUI-based system achieved higher skill improvement, as compared with the WIMP-based system and a non-computer training method. Some guidelines and suggestions for the design of a TUI-based system for children with autism are summarized.

Research on Development Tools for Collaborative Pen-Based User Interfaces

Pen-Based user interface is a primary Post-WIMP (window icon menu pointer) interface, and it provides natural interactions for users. However, the current toolkits for constructing pen-based user interface are built for single-user tasks, which can not support collaborative work well. This paper analyzes the features of pen-based interaction and collaboration environment. Furthermore, the design and implementation of a toolkit, CoPen Toolkit, which can support the development of collaborative pen-based user interfaces are discussed. CoPen Toolkit offers flexible architecture and extended components, which can support ink-based data, event processing, networked collaboration, etc. Based on CoPen Toolkit, several typical prototypes have been built, and the results show that it can support construction and fast-prototyping of collaborative pen-based user interfaces.

Increasing or Decreasing? The Menu Direction Effect on User Performance

Although the breadth/depth issue in menu design has been identified to have significant effects on user performance, the effects of menu direction and dimension have not been well investigated, especially as iconic menus as concerned. This study investigated the effects of menu direction and dimension on user selection performance by using two different dimensions (sizes) of iconic menu systems (16-item and 32-item). The direction of the menus consisted of “increasing” and “decreasing”, with the depth of menu ranging from 2 to 3 levels. The findings indicated that “decreasing” direction menus were significantly quicker and more accurate than “increasing” menus. However, for the smaller size menus (16 item menus), user performance accuracy was better with the “increasing” direction menus. Overall, the results showed that “decreasing” direction menus are superior to “increasing” menus. It is suggested that for small size iconic menus (e.g., up to 32 items), items should be organized in “decreasing” direction, especially when speed is of particular importance to the selection task.

Towards Usable Icon Sets: A Case Study from Telecommunications Engineering

Converging experimental tasks were used to address the development of usable interactive icon sets for telecommunications network applications. Naming and matching addressed the individual informativeness value of an icon, with naming reflecting natural context response biases and familiarity contributions more than matching. Naming also allowed intrusions to be identified early. Preference ratings simulated user behavior with iconic menus, and provided discriminability data that could help to select icons where naming and matching revealed only failures. Issues resolved and revealed during this work are discussed.

Charcoal sketching: returning control to the artist

Background: Traditional paint programs can be criticized on the grounds that they provide fewer degrees of freedom than conventional artistic media. Mouse or tablet input devices usually provide only (x, y) spatial information. Thus most paint programs allow continuous control of the path of a stroke, but render it with a single “brush shape” of fixed size and orientation and use menus, either stationary or appearing, for such tasks as changing “brush” shapes. This produces two distinct discontinuities for the artist. First is a physical discontinuity: stopping the act of drawing and making a brush selection using a different physical device, or using the same device to point at a menu selection. A second discontinuity is the cognitive one involved with deciphering the menu contents and making a selection. Although the second may be minimized by using iconic menus, these interruptions of the drawing act make it difficult or impossible for the artist to maintain the kind of continuous control over his or her medium that is required. A particular example of this level of control is the continuous and immediate control that an artist maintains when sketching with a piece of charcoal or a pencil. By manipulating the implement, the artist can change the shape of its contact point with the drawing surface. By changes in pressure exerted with the implement against the surface, it is possible to control both the darkness (value) and width (weight) of the line. All of these factors are controlled by the artist in real time and with continuous feedback. Both Greene [2] and Strassman [4] have presented methods for capturing more of the artist's “gesture” in the rendered stroke. However, Greene's technique depends on a special-purpose input device and Strassman's does not work in real time. Hill [3] describes a two-handed paintbrush with the off hand controlling a valuator that varies the 'brush width. The technique described here represents another way to provide such control to the user of an interactive paint program. It uses off-the-shelf hardware, is easy to implement, and works in real time. As a single-handed technique, it takes advantage of the artist's skill with existing media.

On the Parameters of Human Visual Performance: An Investigation of the Benefits of Antialiasing

A two-part experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of aliasing artifacts and screen resolution on a simple visual recognition task. The results indicate that in many cases far less realism may be necessary in synthetic computer-generated imagery than is often assumed. The first part of the experiment was a subjective rating of image quality. The second part measured the relationship between image quality and task effectiveness: Subjects were asked to discriminate between images of two types of objects similar to objects used in experiments involving mental rotation. At higher resolutions, the elimination of aliasing artifacts did not significantly improve subjects' performances. At intermediate and low resolutions, comparable to what might be used for iconic menus, the reduction in aliasing artifacts improved performance. The subjective ratings indicate that for both high and low resolution the elimination of aliasing artifacts does not improve quality, whereas images rendered at intermediate resolutions are significantly degraded by aliasing artifacts to the extent that antialiasing improves the subjective rating. These results are interpreted in the context of an ongoing research program aimed at identifying the parameters of real-time human performance for graphics workstations.

On the parameters of human visual performance: an investigation of the benefits of antialiasing

A two-part experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of aliasing artifacts and screen resolution on a simple visual recognition task. The results indicate that in many cases far less realism may be necessary in synthetic computer-generated imagery than is often assumed in the literature. The first part of the experiment comprised a subjective rating of image quality, the second part measured task effectiveness of image quality. In the second part subjects were asked to discriminate between images of two types of objects built from cubes, similar to objects used in experiments involving mental rotation. At higher resolutions the elimination of aliasing artifacts did not significantly improve subjects' performance. At intermediate and low resolutions, comparable to what might be used for iconic menus, the reduction in aliasing artifacts resulted in improved performance. The subjective ratings indicate that for both high and low resolution the elimination of aliasing artifacts does not improve “quality,” whereas images rendered at intermediate resolutions are significantly degraded by aliasing artifacts to the extent that antialiasing improves the subjective rating. An interpretation of these results is given in the context of an ongoing research program aimed at identifying the parameters of real-time human performance for graphics workstations.

On the parameters of human visual performance: an investigation of the benefits of antialiasing

A two-part experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of aliasing artifacts and screen resolution on a simple visual recognition task. The results indicate that in many cases far less realism may be necessary in synthetic computer-generated imagery than is often assumed in the literature. The first part of the experiment comprised a subjective rating of image quality, the second part measured task effectiveness of image quality. In the second part subjects were asked to discriminate between images of two types of objects built from cubes, similar to objects used in experiments involving mental rotation. At higher resolutions the elimination of aliasing artifacts did not significantly improve subjects' performance. At intermediate and low resolutions, comparable to what might be used for iconic menus, the reduction in aliasing artifacts resulted in improved performance. The subjective ratings indicate that for both high and low resolution the elimination of aliasing artifacts does not improve “quality,” whereas images rendered at intermediate resolutions are significantly degraded by aliasing artifacts to the extent that antialiasing improves the subjective rating. An interpretation of these results is given in the context of an ongoing research program aimed at identifying the parameters of real-time human performance for graphics workstations.

User-Friendly Workstation for Power Systems Analysis

This paper presents the experimental study of advanced interactive power systems analysis using a-personal scientific computer. The personal scientific computer has new powerful displaying and operating capabilities. Our workstation, called the Advanced Analyzer of Power System (ADAPOS), intends to utilize these capabilities for power systems analysis. In addition our workstation has three features to perform effective human interaction: a supervisory system, database and graphic human interface. The supervisory system controls start and stop of application programs selected from a menu and guides a user to run them successfully according to the rules of analytical procedures. The database facilitates handling of both input and output data of application programs. The graphic human interface is the most important part of our system. Iconic and text menus, instead of a conventional command language, improve operational performance. Graphical presentations of analytical outputs, for example the color animation of power swings, aid understanding of power systems. The experimental results show that the new workstation highly contributes to effective power system analysis, although the computing speed is a little slow for large power systems.