An Investigation of Target Acquisition with Visually Expanding Targets in Constant Motor-space

Target acquisition is a core part of modern computer use. Fitts’ law has frequently been proven to predict performance of target acquisition tasks; even with targets that change size as the cursor approaches. Research into expanding targets has focussed on targets that expand in both visual- and motor-space. We investigate whether a visual expansion with no change in motor-space offers any performance benefit. We investigate constant motor-space visual expansion in both abstract pointing tasks (based on the ISO9241–9 standard) and in a realistic deployment of the technique within fisheye menus. Our fisheye menu system eliminates the ‘hunting effect’ of target acquisition observed in Bederson’s initial proposal of fisheye menus, and in an evaluation we show that it allows faster selection times and is subjectively preferred to Bederson’s menus. We also show that visually expanding targets can improve selection times in target acquisition tasks, particularly with small targets

Highlighting in information visualization: A survey

Highlighting was the basic viewing control mechanism in computer graphics and visualization to guide users' attention in reading diagrams, images, graphs and digital texts. As the rapid growth of theory and practice in information visualization, highlighting has extended its role that acts as not only a viewing control, but also an interaction control and a graphic recommendation mechanism in knowledge visualization and visual analytics. In this work, we attempt to give a formal summarization and classification of the existing highlighting methods and techniques that can be applied in Information Visualization, Visual Analytics and Knowledge Visualization. We propose a new three-layer model of highlighting. We discuss the responsibilities of each layer in the different stage of the visual information processing. © 2010 IEEE

Human-computer interaction in e-business

E-business has brought much change to our daily life and will become a necessary part of business, economy, and society. At least for the foreseeable future, e-business will keep growing. Each study of this dissertation was devoted to human-computer interaction (HCI) in e-business to improve website usability. First, data input tools were compared and optimal design characteristics were suggested for usable web based interaction. When proper input tools are employed, higher usability can be achieved. Second, a practical design process and the use of web elements were studied through the simulation of an e-bookstore. Web design influences e-business traffic and sales. Third, a grid menu was designed and examined for situations in which a menu contains a larger number of options. The grid menu was observed to be both robust and efficient. Fourth, an interaction model for the pull-down menu, including perceptive, cognitive, and motor behavior processes, was studied. The resulting model fit the experimental data well. Fifth, problems with iconic interfaces on e-business websites were reported and a methodology suggested to improve user interface design

Focus + Context Screens: A Study and Evaluation

Display and manipulation of large documents on a standard display has long been a difficult problem. In this report we extend the work of Baudisch in Focus+Context screens. These screens combine a large low resolution display with a standard high resolution display to give a cost effective, large display. This report describes the physical and software implementation of our own focus+context screen. An ecological study is presented that finds focus+context screens have many potential areas of application. Two formal evaluations comparing the screen to other focus+context solutions and investigating the types of task the screen is best suited to. We find that the focus+context screen provides increased performance for tasks at a large scale, especially on documents the user is familiar with, and that users tend to enjoy using the focus+context screen

Metodologías para el desarrollo de interfaces visuales de recuperación de información : análisis y comparación

Introduction. In recent years the volume of electronic information has grown exponentially. This phenomenon improves data exchange and communication but introduces new troubles in relation to information access and searching. Aim. This paper proposes an exhaustive review of the different models, methods and algorithms that can be used to develop Visual Interfaces for Information Retrieval. The methods are classified on the basis of the stage of the process in which they take part: data analysis and transformation, application of classification and visual distribution algorithms, and application of visual transformation techniques. Methodology. Based on the analysis, we compare the different methods that can be used in each stage of the production process. We also determine which combinations of methods and algorithms are most suitable at different stages. Results. In the first section, data analysis and transformation, we analyse content mining, structure mining and use mining. In the second section, visual classification algorithm, we shown the hierarchical, network, scattering and map representations. In the last section, visual transformation techniques, we present the distortion (Focus+Context) and non-distortion techniques. Conclusion. The results aim to become useful tools for other researchers when choosing a methodological combination for the development of specific proposals for visual interfaces for information retrieval, as well as suggest implications to be considered on the research of new visual transformation techniques