notion of interaction

interaction frameworks
ergonomics
interaction styles
context of interaction

Interaction Frameworks

Interaction:

communication between the user and the system


Why have a framework?

allows contextualisation

presents a global view


Interaction Frameworks - 2

Donald Normans Interaction framework
user establishes the goal
formulates intention
specifies actions at interface
executes action
perceives system state
interprets system state
evaluates system state with respect to goal

Normans model concentrates on users view of the interface
Some systems are harder to use than others

Gulf of Execution
users formulation of actions
actions allowed by the system

Gulf of Evaluation
users expectation of changed system state
actual presentation of this state
Interaction Frameworks - 3
extended by Abowd and Beale:
their interaction framework has 4 parts

user
input
system
output

each has its own unique language
interaction translation between languages
problems in interaction = problems in translation
S
O
U
I
system
output
user
input
Interaction Frameworks - 4
user intentions translated into actions at the interface
translated into alterations of system state
reflected in the output display
interpreted by the user

general framework for understanding interaction
not restricted to electronic computer systems
identifies all major components involved in interaction
allows comparative assessment of systems
an abstraction
Interaction Frameworks - 5

Ergonomics

Study of the physical characteristics of interaction

Also known as human factors.

Ergonomics good at defining standards and guidelines for
constraining the way we design certain aspects of systems.

Ergonomics - examples

arrangement of controls and displays
e.g. controls grouped according to function
or frequency of use, or sequentially

surrounding environment
e.g. seating arrangements adaptable to cope with all sizes of user

health issues
e.g. physical position ), lighting, noise,
environmental conditions (temperature, humidity

use of colour
e.g. use of red for warning, green for okay,
awareness of colour-blindness etc.
Interaction styles

Interaction: dialogue between computer and user

Some applications have very distinct styles of interaction.

We can identify some common styles

command line interface
menus
natural language
question/answer and query dialogue
form-fills and spreadsheets
WIMP
Command line interface

Way of expressing instructions to the computer directly.
function keys, single characters,
short abbreviations, whole words, or a combination

suitable for repetitive tasks
better for expert users than novices
offers direct access to system functionality
command names/abbreviations should be meaningful

Typical example: the Unix system

Menus

Set of options displayed on the screen

Options visible
less recall - easier to use
rely on recognition so names should be meaningful

Selected by using mouse, numeric or alphabetic keys

Often options hierarchically grouped: sensible grouping is needed

Menu systems can be
purely text based, with options presented as numbered choices
graphical selected by arrow keys
graphical selected by mouse
combination (e.g. mouse plus accelerators)

Restricted form of full WIMP system
Natural language

Familiar to user

Use speech recognition or typed natural language

Problems
vague
ambiguous
hard to do well!

Solutions
try to understand a subset
pick on key words
Query interfaces

Question/answer interfaces
user led through interaction via series of questions
suitable for novice users but restricted functionality
often used in information systems

Query languages (e.g. SQL)
used to retrieve information from database
requires understanding of database structure and
language syntax, hence requires some expertise

Form-fills

Primarily for data entry or data retrieval

Screen like paper form.

Data put in relevant place.

Requires
good design
obvious correction facilities


Go-faster Travel Agency
Bookings
Please enter details of journey:
Start from: York
Destination:
Via:
Single/Return
Seat Number:
Pittsburgh
Birmingham
First Class/Second Class/Bargain
Spreadsheets


first spreadsheet VISICALC first; followed by Lotus 1-2-3
MS Excel most common today
sophisticated variation of form-filling.
grid of cells contain a value or a formula
formula can involve values of other cells
e.g. sum of all cells in this column
user can enter and alter data
spreadsheet maintains consistency
WIMP Interface

Windows
Icons
Menus
Pointers

(or windows, icons, mice, and pull-down menus)

default style for majority of interactive computer systems,
especially PCs and desktop machines
Windows

Areas of the screen that behave as if they were independent
terminals

can contain text or graphics
can be moved or resized
can overlap and obscure each other,
or can be laid out next to one another (tiled)
scrollbars allow the user to move the contents
of the window up and down or from side to side
title bars describe the name of the window

Icons


small picture or image
represents some object in the interface
often a window or action
windows can be closed down (iconised)
small representation many accessible windows
icons can be many and various
highly stylized or realistic representations.


Pointers



important component
WIMP style relies on pointing and selecting things
usually achieved with mouse
also joystick, trackball, cursor keys or keyboard shortcuts
wide variety of graphical images





File Edit Options
Typewriter
Screen
Times
Font
Menus

Choice of operations or services offered on the screen.
Required option selected with pointer

problem - menus can take up a lot of screen space
solution - menu appears when needed
Menu Bar at top of screen (normally), menu drags down
pull-down menu - mouse hold and drag down menu
drop-down menu - mouse click reveals menu
fall-down menus - mouse just moves over bar!

Contextual menu appears where you are
pop-up menus - actions for selected object
pie menus - arranged in a circle
- easier to select item (larger target area)
- quicker (same distance to any option)
but not widely used!
Kinds of Menus
Cascading menus
hierarchical menu structure
menu selection opens new menu
and so in ad infinitum

Keyboard accelerators
key combinations - same effect as menu item
two kinds
- active when menu open - usually first letter
- active when menu closed - usually Ctrl + letter
- usually different !!!

Menus extras

which kind to use

what to include in menus at all

words to use (action or description)

how to group items

choice of keyboard accelerators
Menus design issues
Lots of things you can interact with:
main WIMP components (windows,menus,icons)
buttons
dialogue boxes
pallettes
Collectively known as widgets

appearance + behaviour = look and feel
WIMP look and feel
Buttons

individual and isolated regions within a display
that can be selected to invoke an action.


Special kinds

radio buttons - set of mutually exclusive choices

check boxes - set of non-exclusive choices
information windows that pop up to inform of
an important event or request information.

E.g: when saving a file, a dialogue box is displayed to allow
the user to specify the filename and location. Once the file
is saved, the box disappears.
dialogue boxes
Problem
menu not there when you want it


Solution
tear-off off and pin-up menus
stay around when

pallettes little windows of actions
shown/hidden via menu option
e.g. available shapes in drawing package
Pallettes and tear-off menus
Social and Organizational Context

Interaction affected by social and organizational context

other people
- desire to impress, competition, fear of failure

motivation
- fear, allegiance, ambition, self-satisfaction

inadequate systems
cause frustration and lack of motivation