Set Of Icons Research Articles

Transfer between Icon Sets and Ratings of Icon Concreteness and Appropriateness

Two studies are reported on the usability of icons. Firstly, an experiment was carried out to investigate the transfer of performance between sets of icons for different computer functions. The aim was to determine whether users would benefit from common underlying elements within concrete icon sets, compared with unrelated abstract icons. A cross-over study was employed whereby subjects performed an icon identification task with one set of icons (a concrete or abstract learning set) and then transferred to another set of icons (a concrete or abstract transfer set). It was hypothesized that transferring from concrete to concrete icons would yield the best results due to the use of repeated elements in the concrete sets. Identification time data did not produce significant results to support the hypothesis. Significant results were yielded from the error data, this demonstrated the superiority of concrete icons, but no advantage came from previous experience with a concrete set. A second study examined the rating of the icons used in the first study in terms of concreteness and appropriateness. Appropriateness was found to be a reasonable predictor of icon identification time.

Effects of icon design on human-computer interaction

After subjects practised using a pointing device (two-button mouse) for selecting icons on a computer screen, the effect of “articulatory distance” (i.e. the difference between a picture and its meaning) on performance in menu-selection tasks was analysed. Three icon sets with different articulatory distances and one text set were constructed, validated and tested in a “search and select” experiment with icon positions randomized on the screen. This was contrasted with an experiment in which icons were to be selected from fixed screen positions. Results indicate that articulatory distance indeed had an effect on reaction time in the first design, but not in the latter. A recognition task was finally given to decide whether articulatory distance could influence memory for icons. The fact that subjects were able to recode icon meanings to screen positions after some training backs the everyday experience that icon design seems to be of little influence on the performance of advanced users. Icon-oriented interfaces are aimed, however, at the computer novice.

Design and simulation of opera lighting and projection effects

A major problem challenging opera designers is the inability to co-ordinate lighting, projection systems, and set designs in the preliminary planning phase. New computer graphics techniques, which provide the set and lighting designer the opportunity to evaluate, test, and control opera designs prior to the construction of full scale systems are presented. These techniques---light source input, simulation of directional lighting, modeling of scenic projection systems, and full three-dimensional simulation---show the potential for the use of computer graphics in theater design.The light source input component consists of a program for assigning light source attributes with a set of theater lighting icons. This module allows a designer to specify light source characteristics in a way familiar to the discipline and to make preliminary evaluations of the lighting conditions.An extended progressive radiosity method is introduced to simulate the directional lighting characteristics which are specified by the input program.A new projection approach is presented to simulate the optical effects of scenic projectors. In addition, a solution to the distortion problem produced by angular projections is described.The above components are integrated to produce full three-dimensional simulations of the global illumination effects in an opera scene.

Simulation of hepatological models: a study in visual interactive exploration of scientific problems

In many different fields of science and technology, visual expressions formed by diagrams, sketches, plots and even images are traditionally used to communicate not only data but also procedures. When these visual expressions are systematically used within a scientific community, bi-dimensional notations often develop which allow the construction of complex messages from sets of primitive icons. This paper discusses how these notations can be translated into visual languages and organized into an interactive environment designed to improve the user's ability to explore scientific problems. To facilitate this translation, the use of Conditional Attributed Rewriting Systems has been extended to visual language definition. The case of a visual language in the programming of a simulation of populations of hepatic cells is studied. A discussion is given of how such a visual language allows the construction of programs through the combination of graphical symbols which are familiar to the physician or which schematize shapes familiar to him in that they resemble structures the observes in real experiments. It is also shown how such a visual approach allows the user to focus on the solution of his problems, avoiding any request for unnecessary precision and most requests for house-keeping data during the interaction.

CAMBIO: software for modelling and simulation of bioprocesses

CAMBIO, a software package devoted to bioprocess modelling, which runs on Apollo computers, is described. This software enables bioengineers to easily and interactively design appropriate mathematical models directly from their perception of the process. CAMBIO provides the user with a set of design symbols and mnemonic icons in order to interactively design a functional diagram. This diagram has to exhibit the most relevant components with their related interactions through biological and physico-chemical reactions. Then, CAMBIO automatically generates the dynamical material balance equations of the process in the form of an algebraic-differential system by taking advantage of the knowledge involved in the functional diagram. The model may be used for control design purpose or completed by kinetics expressions with a view to simulation. CAMBIO offers facilities to generate a simulation model (for coding of kinetics, introducing auxiliary variables, etc.). This model is automatically interfaced with a specialized simulation software which allows an immediate visualization of the process dynamical behaviour under various operational conditions (possibly involving feedback control strategies). An example of an application dealing with yeast fermentation is given.

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.

New 3D graphical presentation of the ISO transport protocol

A new graphical presentation of the ISO transport protocol is proposed in this paper. The states, events and actions are represented by a set of icons which give rise to a three-dimensional effect in the protocol structure. The emphasis is on the ability to demonstrate the end-to-end logical flow of establishing, maintaining and releasing transport connections between two transport entities. Compared with the conventional flat static display of the state diagram, the new presentation makes it easier to visualize and comprehend the abstract concept of the transport mechanism. The idea is implemented on an IBM PC AT using the GKS graphics system. The software provides not only program-controlled demonstrations on connection sequences, but also displays of dynamic reconfiguration of protocols through user interaction.

Multidimensional icons

Background: Direct manipulation interfaces, such as the Macintosh desktop, often represent objects with icons [l, 41. For example, text files are represented by icons. Selection of the icon invokes an editor to view the file it represents, thus the icon not only represents the text file but also represents a text editor used to view the text file. Each type of object is viewed by using a specific program. Diagram objects, for example, require a graphical editor to view. In a typical iconic interface, icons represent a single view of an object. While the single-view single-icon model has proven very intuitive and easy to use, some objects have more than one logical view [2]. Program code can be viewed as text by using a text editor, or it can be viewed as program code by a compiler. The machine code that corresponds to the program code can be thought of as another view, thus the execution of a program can be thought of as another view of program code. This paper describes a mechanism for grouping a set of icons that depict several views of a single object into one multidimensional icon. Multidimensional icons group sets of icons, each describing a unique view of an object, into a single entity. The individual icons are projected onto the sides of a simulated cube. There are two distinct advantages to using a cube instead of displaying all the icons in a menu. The first advantage is that since cubes are very familiar objects, it is a natural mental model to think of the faces of a cube as views of the entire cube—views of the actual object. The second advantage is that by allowing rotation of the cube, several icons representing views of an object are accessible using only a fraction of the screen space required to display all the icons.

Automating visual language generation

A system to generate and interpret customized visual languages in given application areas is presented. The generation is highly automated. The user presents a set of sample visual sentences to the generator. The generator uses inference grammar techniques to produce a grammar that generalizes the initial set of sample sentences, and exploits general semantic information about the application area to determine the meaning of the visual sentences in the inferred language. The interpreter is modeled on an attribute grammar. A knowledge base, constructed during the generation of the system, is then consulted to construct the meaning of the visual sentence. The architecture of the system and its use in the application environment of visual text editing (inspired by the Heidelberg icon set) enhanced with file management features are reported.< <ETX xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">&gt;</ETX>

A visual language compiler

The SIL-ICON compiler is a software system for the specification, interpretation, prototyping, and generation of icon-oriented systems. The system design of the SIL-ICON compiler is presented. The icon system G, the icon dictionary ID, the operator dictionary OD, and the extended task action grammar ETAG are described. An application example to design a text editor using the Heidelberg icon set is also presented in detail. >

THE SIL-ICON COMPILER—AN ICON-ORIENTED SYSTEM GENERATOR

The SIL-ICON Compiler is a software system for the specification, interpretation, prototyping and generation of icon-oriented systems. In this paper, the design of the SIL-ICON Compiler is described. An application example to design a text editor using the Heidelberg Icon Set is presented in detail.

Evidence for global feature superiority in menu selection by icons

Abstract A search-and-select paradigm was adopted to investigate which visual characteristics of icons are relevant for menu selection. Two icon sets (abstract icons, representational icons) were compared to a word command set. For abstract icons, global features were used in order lo maximize their visual distinctiveness. For representational icons local features were used in order to ensure a high degree of representativeness and a small “articulatory distance”. Results revealed that abstract icons were searched and selected much faster than both word commands and representational icons. In addition, response time functions indicated that abstract icons can be searched in parallel (no effect of menu size) whereas word commands and representational icons have to be searched sequentially. Error rates were small in all conditions, and there was no indication of a speed-accuracy tradeoff. Thus, when icons are used in menu selection, visual distinctiveness (due to global features) seems to override respresentativeness (due to local features).

Using Charts to Present International Trade Data

A set of graphic icons based on international accounting principles can serve as a common language for comparison of commercial operations conducted in different currencies.