Tech Reports in Computer Science and Engineering
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Item The Alphaslider: A Compact and Rapid Selector(1998-10-15) Ahlberg, Christopher; Shneiderman, BenResearch has suggested that rapid, serial, visual presentation of text (RSVP) may be an effective way to scan and search through lists of text strings in search of words, names, etc. The Alphaslider widget employs RSVP as a method for rapidly scanning and searching lists or menus in a graphical user interface environment. The Alphaslider only uses an area less than 7 x 2.5 cm2. The tiny size of the Alphaslider allows it to be placed on a credit card, on a control panel for a VCR, or as a widget in a direct manipulation based database interface. An experiment was conducted with four Alphaslider designs which showed that novice Alphaslider users could locate one item in a list of 10,000 film titles in 24 seconds on average, an expert user in about 13 seconds. (Also cross-referenced as CAR-TR-684) (Also cross-referenced as ISR-TR-93-72)Item Dynamic Queries for Information Exploration: An Implementation and Evaluation(1998-10-15) Ahlberg, Christopher; Williamson, Christopher; Shneiderman, BenWe designed, implemented and evaluated a new concept for direct manipulation of databases, called dynamic queries, that allows users to formulate queries with graphical widgets, such as sliders. By providing a graphical visualization of the database and search results, users can find trends and exceptions easily. Eighteen undergraduate chemistry students performed statistically significantly faster using a dynamic queries interface compared to two interfaces both providing form fill-in as input method, one with graphical visualization output and one with all-textual output. The interfaces were used to expore the periodic table of elements and search on their properties. (Also cross-referenced as CAR-TR-584)Item Using Interaction Object Graphs to Specify and Develop Graphical Widgets(1998-10-15) Carr, David; Jog, Ninad; Kumar, Harsha; Teittinen, Marko; Ahlberg, ChristopherThis document describes five widgets that have been developed at the Human-Computer Interaction Laboratory of the University of Maryland. These widgets are a range selection slider, a two-level alpha-slider, a secure switch , a tree viewer and a treemap viewer. The last two use the same tree representation and can be used as alternate visualizations of the same hierarchy. In addition, a system for widget specification is introduced and each widget is specified using this system. (Also cross-referenced as CAR-TR-734) (Also cross-referenced as ISR-TR-94-69)Item Visual Information Seeking: Tight Coupling of Dynamic Query Filters with Starfield Displays(1998-10-15) Ahlberg, Christopher; Shneiderman, BenThis paper offers new principles for visual information seeking (VIS). A key concept is to support browsing, which is distinguished from familiar query composition and information retrieval because of its emphasis on rapid filtering to reduce result sets, progressive refinement of search parameters, continuous reformulation of goals, and visual scanning to identify results. VIS principles developed include: dynamic query filters (query parameters are rapidly adjusted with sliders, buttons, maps, etc.), starfield displays (two- dimensional scatterplots to structure result sets and zooming to reduce clutter), and tight coupling (interrelating query components to preserve display invariants and support progressive refinement combined with an emphasis on using search output to foster search input). A FilmFinder prototype using a movie database demonstrates these principles in a VIS environment. (Also cross-referenced as CAR-TR-638) (Also cross-referenced as ISR-TR-93-71)