Institute for Systems Research

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Author: search.filters.author.Shneiderman, B.Subject: search.filters.subject.Systems Integration Methodology

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Now showing 1 - 10 of 11
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    Elastic Windows: A Hierarchical Multi-Window World-Wide Web Browser
    (1997) Kandogan, Eser; Shneiderman, B.; ISR
    The World-Wide Web (WWW) is becoming an invaluable source for the information needs of many users. However, current browsers are still primitive, in that they do no support many of the navigation needs of users, as indicated by user studies. They do not provide an overview and a sense of location in the information structure being browsed. Also they do not facilitate the organization and filtering of information nor aid users in accessing already visited pages without much cognitive demands. In this paper, a new browsing interface is proposed with multiple hierarchical windows and efficient multiple windows operations. It provides a flexible organization where users can quickly organize, filter, and restructure the information on the screen as they reformulate their goals. Overviews can give the user a sense of location in the browsing history as well as provide fast access to a hierarchy of pages.
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    Elastic Windows: Evaluation of Multi-Window Operations
    (1997) Kandogan, Eser; Shneiderman, B.; ISR
    Most windowing systems follow the independent overlapping windows approach, which emerged as an answer to the needs of the 1980s' technology. Due to advances in computers and display technology, and increased information needs, modern users demand more functionality from window management systems. We proposed Elastic Windows with improved spatial layout and rapid multi- window operations as an alternative to current window management strategies for efficient personal role management [kandogan]. In this approach, multi-window operations are achieved by issuing operations on window groups hierarchically organized in a space- filing tiled layout. This paper describes the Elastic Windows interface briefly and then presents a study comparing user performance with Elastic Windows and traditional window management techniques for 2, 6, and 12 window situations. Elastic Windows users had statistically significantly faster performance for all 6 and 12 window situations, for task environment setup, task environment switching, and task execution. These results suggest promising possibilities for multiple window operations and hierarchical nesting, which can be applied to the next generation of tiled as well as overlapped window managers.
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    The Eyes Have It: A Task by Data Type Taxonomy for Information Visualizations
    (1996) Shneiderman, B.; ISR
    A useful starting point for designing advanced graphical user interfaces is the Visual Information-Seeking Mantra: Overview first, zoom and filter, then details-on-demand. But this is only a starting point in trying to understand the rich and varied set of information visualizations that have been proposed in recent years. This paper offers a task by data type taxonomy with seven data types (1-, 2-, 3- dimensional data, temporal and multi- dimensional data, and tree and network data) and seven tasks (overview, zoom, filter, details-on-demand, relate, history, and extract).
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    Visual & Textual Consistency Checking Tools for Graphical User Interfaces
    (1996) Mahajan, Rohit; Shneiderman, B.; ISR
    Designing a user interface with a consistent visual design and textual properties with current generation GUI development tools is cumbersome. SHERLOCK, a family of consistency checking tools, has been designed to evaluate visual design and textual properties of interface, make the GUI evaluation process less arduous, and aid usability testing. SHERLOCK includes a dialog box summary table to provide a compact overview of visual properties of hundreds of dialog boxes of the interface. Terminology specific tools, like Interface Concordance, Terminology Baskets and Interface Speller have been developed. Button specific tools including Button Concordance and Button Layout Table have been created to detect variant capitalization, distinct typefaces, distinct colors, variant button sizes and inconsistent button placements. This paper describes software architecture, data structures and the use of SHERLOCK. An experiment with 60 subjects to study the effects of inconsistent interface terminology on user's performance showed 10-25% speedup for consistent interfaces. SHERLOCK was tested with four commercial prototypes; the corresponding outputs, analysis and feedback from designers of these applications is presented.
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    Designing Information-Abundant Websites
    (1996) Shneiderman, B.; ISR
    The deluge of web pages has generated dystopian commentaries on the tragedy of the flood as well as utopian visions of harnessing the same flood for constructive purposes. Within this ocean of information there are also lifeboat web pages with design principles, but often the style parallels the early user interface writings in the 1970s. The well-intentioned Noahs who write from personal experience as website designers, often draw their wisdom from specific projects, making their advice incomplete or lacking in generalizability. Their experience is valuable but the paucity of empirical data to validate or sharpen insight means that some guidelines are misleading. As scientific evidence accumulates, foundational cognitive and perceptual theories will structure the discussion and guide designers in novel situations.
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    Query Previews in Networked Information Systems
    (1995) Doan, Khoa; Plaisant, C.; Shneiderman, B.; ISR; CSHCN
    In a networked information system, there are three major obstacles facing users in a querying process: network performance, data volume and data complexity. In order to overcome these obstacles, we propose a two-phase approach of dynamic query formulation by volume preview. The two phases are the Query Preview andQuery Refinement. In the Query Preview phase, users formulate an initial query by selecting desired attribute values. The volume of matching data sets is shown graphically on Query bars which aid users to rapidly eliminate undesired data sets, and focus on a manageable number of relevant data sets. Query previews also prevent wasted steps by eliminating zero-hit queries. When the estimated number of data sets is low enough, the initial query is submitted to the network, which returns the metadata of the data sets for further refinement in the Query Refinement phase. The two-phase approach to query formulation overcomes slow network performance, and reduces the data volume and data complexity problems. This approach is especially appropriate for users who prefer the exploratory method to discover data patterns and exceptions during the query formulation process. Using this approach, we have developed dynamic query user interfaces to allow users to formulate their queries across a networked environment.
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    Browsing Hierarchical Data with Multi-Level Dynamic Queries and Pruning
    (1995) Kumar, Harsha P.; Plaisant, C.; Shneiderman, B.; ISR; CSHCN
    User often must browse hierarchies with thousands of nodes in search of those that best match their information needs. The PDQ Tree-browser (Pruning with Dynamic Queries) visualization tool was specified, designed and developed for this purpose. This tool presents trees in two tightly-coupled views, one a detailed view and the other an overview. Users can use dynamic queries, a method for rapidly filtering data, to filter nodes at each level of the tree. The dynamic query panels are user-customizable. Subtrees of unselected nodes are pruned out, leading to compact views of relevant nodes. Usability testing of the PDQ Tree- browser, done with 8 subjects, helped asses strengths and identify possible improvement. The PDQ Tree-browser was used in Network Management (600 nodes) and University Finder (1100 nodes) applications. A controlled experiment, with 24 subjects, showed that pruning significantly improved performance speed and subjective user satisfaction. Future research directions are suggested.
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    User Controlled Overviews of an Image Library: A Case Study of the Visible Human
    (1995) North, C.; Shneiderman, B.; Plaisant, C.; ISR
    This paper proposes a user interface for remote access of the National Library of Medicine's Visible Human digital image library. Users can visualize the library, browse contents, locate data of interest, and retrieve desired images. The interface presents a pair of tightly coupled views into the library data. The overview image provides a global view of the overall search space, and the preview image provides details about high resolution images available for retrieval. To explore, the user sweeps the views through the search space and receives smooth, rapid, visual feedback of contents. Desired images are automatically downloaded over the Internet from the library. Library contents are indexed by meta-data consisting of automatically generated miniature visuals. The interface software is completely functional and freely available for public use at: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/.
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    Elastic Windows: Improved Spatial Layout and Rapid Multiple Window Operations
    (1995) Kandogan, Eser; Shneiderman, B.; ISR
    Most windowing systems follow the independent overlapping windows approach, which emerged as an answer to the needs of the 0s applications and technology. Advances in computers, display technology, and the applications demand more functionality from window management systems. Based on these changes and the problems of current windowing approaches, we have updated the requirements for multi-window systems to guide new methods of window management. We propose elastic windows with improved spatial layout and rapid multi-window operations. Multi-window operations are achieved by issuing operations on a hierarchically organized group of windows in a space-filling tiled layout. Sophisticated multi-window operations like Hook, Pump, Minimize, Restore, Move and Relocate have been developed to handle fast task-switching and to structure the work environment of users to their rapidly changing needs. We claim that these multi-window operations and the tiled layout decrease the cognitive load on users. Users found our prototype system to be comprehensible and enjoyable as they playfully explored the way multiple windows are reshaped.
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    LifeLines: Visualizing Personal Histories
    (1995) Plaisant, C.; Milash, Brett; Rose, A.; Widoff, S.; Shneiderman, B.; ISR
    LifeLines provide a general visualization environment for personal histories that can be applied to medical and court records, professional histories and other types of biographical data. A one-screen overview shows multiple facets of the records. Aspects, for example medical conditions or legal cases, are displayed as individual time lines, while icons indicate discrete events, such as physician consultations or legal reviews. Line color and thickness illustrate relationships or significance, scaling tools and filters allow users to focus on part of the information. LifeLines reduce the chances of missing information, facilitate spotting anomalies and trends and streamline access to details, while remaining tailorable and easily sharable between applications. The paper describes the use of LifeLines for youth records of the Maryland Department of Juvenile Justice and also for medical records. User's feedback was collected using a Visual Basic Prototype for the youth record. Techniques to deal with complex records are reviewed and issues of a standard personal record format are discussed.