Measuring Aesthetics of Mandarin Learning Web Pages: Are User's Perceptions Congruent with Aesthetics-Measurement Application (AMA)

Aesthetics of web pages refers to how attractive a web page is in which it catches the attention of the user to read through the information. Visual appearance is important in getting attentions of the users. It was found that there is a positive correlation between the aesthetic aspects and the perceived usability of Virtual Learning Environments (VLE) interfaces [6]. It was also found that those screens which were perceived as aesthetically pleasing were having a better usability [7]. It is thus suggested that the more aesthetic a web page is, the more useful the web page can be. Therefore, the measurement of aesthetics can be viewed as an important task that should not be disregarded. For this research, the positions of objects, images element and texts element are defined as objects in a multi screen interface and are measured. Mandarin learning web pages used in this research comprised of main pages, learning pages and exercise pages, on the first author’s E-portfolio web site. The web pages were manipulated according to the desired aesthetic values. The six aesthetics related elements used are balance, equilibrium, symmetry, sequence, rhythm, as well as order and complexity. On top of it, questionnaires were distributed to the users to gather information on the students’ perceptions on the aesthetic aspects. Respondents for this study were students taking Mandarin course level I at UiTM Terengganu. It was found that the users’ perceptions were congruent with the aesthetics values measured by using our self-developed Aesthetics-Measurement Application (AMA). Hence, our AMA perhaps can be introduced as an effortless tool for web page aesthetics measurement

User's web page aesthetics opinion: a matter of low-level image descriptors based on MPEG-7

Analyzing a user's first impression of a Web site is essential for interface designers, as it is tightly related to their overall opinion of a site. In fact, this early evaluation affects user navigation behavior. Perceived usability and user interest (e.g., revisiting and recommending the site) are parameters influenced by first opinions. Thus, predicting the latter when creating a Web site is vital to ensure users’ acceptance. In this regard, Web aesthetics is one of the most influential factors in this early perception. We propose the use of low-level image parameters for modeling Web aesthetics in an objective manner, which is an innovative research field. Our model, obtained by applying a stepwise multiple regression algorithm, infers a user's first impression by analyzing three different visual characteristics of Web site screenshots—texture, luminance, and color—which are directly derived from MPEG-7 descriptors. The results obtained over three wide Web site datasets (composed by 415, 42, and 6 Web sites, respectively) reveal a high correlation between low-level parameters and the users’ evaluation, thus allowing a more precise and objective prediction of users’ opinion than previous models that are based on other image characteristics with fewer predictors. Therefore, our model is meant to support a rapid assessment of Web sites in early stages of the design process to maximize the likelihood of the users’ final approval

The evaluation of interface aesthetics

There are many factors that contribute towards good user experience (Roto, Law, Vermeeren and Hoonhout, 2011). These factors include the content and its organization, the functionality and features, the information and interaction design, as well as the visual design (Garett, 2002; Morville’s, 2004; and Hassenzahl, 2005).This paper builds on the contribution of visual design into user experience as grounds to tackle the assessment of visual aesthetics evaluation methods. The intention of the study is to test objective and subjective evaluation methods with the same objects for comparison. Finding out the correlations between the objective and subjective evaluation results enables the usage of computerized image analysis for the purposes of evaluating aesthetics. The work reported in this paper thus contributes towards identifying a suitable objective method for a mathematical description of beautyinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Predictive modeling of webpage aesthetics

Aesthetics plays a key role in web design. However, most websites have been developed based on designers\u27 inspirations or preferences. While perceptions of aesthetics are intuitive abilities of humankind, the underlying principles for assessing aesthetics are not well understood. In recent years, machine learning methods have shown promising results in image aesthetic assessment. In this research, we used machine learning methods to study and explore the underlying principles of webpage aesthetics --Abstract, page iii

Harmonious Screen Interface Design Principles from Chinese Calligraphy

Harmony is a major theme in Chinese culture. It is reflected in many forms, e.g. painting and garden design. However, calligraphy gives a straight forward insight into harmony in two dimensions. The main hypothesis was that the principles for building a harmonious calligraphic character could be converted from holistic to deductive and computable ones. These could then be applied to the design of harmonious screen interfaces, which would give visual pleasure. The first aim was to investigate and discover the quantifiable features of harmony in Chinese regular script calligraphy. Calligraphy has been associated in China with harmony and elegance for over 1500 years. There are features that are commonly accepted to establish harmony which can be quantified. However, the principles of Chinese calligraphy are embedded within Chinese culture. Direct translation does not convey the meaning. An extensive study was made of the literature on Chinese calligraphy and a practical exploration of characters was made. This resulted in a small number of principles which were needed to be satisfied for the character to appear harmonious. These were tested on several groups of participants. These principles were then converted into a mathematical form for Chinese regular script calligraphy, and for application to harmonious screen interface design. The mathematical forms were then tested on both Chinese regular script calligraphy and also on interface designs with groups of participants. Finally, an application for comparing harmony in Chinese calligraphic characters and interface designs was created. The “Harmony” application can be used to calculate how a Chinese calligraphic character or an interface design satisfies the principles of harmony and it can give an indication of how harmonious they are

Investigation of the relationship between aesthetics and perceived usability in web pages

The main hypothesis of the thesis is that between two systems identical in functionality and usability, di erences in aesthetics may positively in uence users perceived usability. To date, a narrow focus on the engineering aspects of aesthetics has adversely a ected the scope and success of experiments, therefore previous work in the eld needed to be revisited. The thesis reviews literature and theory in usability and aesthetics, the latter from the point of the view of philosophy, theory, and application. It also explores the relationship between aesthetics, usability and user engagement; discusses a distinct new trend research that identi es a link between beauty and perceived usability of website interaction; and develops a pilot for an experimental methodology. Based on conclusions from the review of the eld of usability, two experiments where designed and carried out, an independent measures and repeated measures. The ndings of these experiments con rmed the hypothesis that perceived usability was positively in uenced by higher aesthetics

Proceedings of the 25th Bilateral Student Workshop CTU Prague and HTW Dresden - User Interfaces & Visualization

This technical report publishes the proceedings of the 25th Bilateral Student Workshop CTU Prague and HTW Dresden - User Interfaces & Visualization -, which was held on the 25th and 26th November 2021. The workshop offers a possibility for young scientists to present their current research work in the fields of computer graphics, human-computer-interaction, robotics and usability. The works is meant as a platform to bring together researchers from both the Czech Technical University in Prague (CTU) and the University of Applied Sciences Dresden (HTW). The German Academic Exchange Service offers its financial support to allow student participants the bilateral exchange between Prague and Dresden.:1) Multiprojection of Langweil´s model, p.4 2) Design of an assistant for persons interested in study at CTU FEE, p.8 3) Sonification of a juggling performance, p.12 4) Investigating the Role of Usability User Experience and Aesthetics for Industrial Human–Machine Interfaces, p.16 5) Using optically illusive architecture to navigate users in Virtual Reality, p.23 6) Speed and Required Precision of Grabbing Physical Spheres in VR, p.27 7) ReFlex - A Framework for Research on Elastic Displays, p.32 8) Digital Reading Stand (DRS), p.38 9) IDOVIR – Infrastructure for Documentation of Virtual Reconstructions, p.45 10) Tracking multiple VR users in a shared physical space, p.50 11) Towards Aesthetics of Subjectivity in InfoVis, p.53 12) VentConnect: live to life and the octopus in the hospital server room, p.60 13) Nice noise: background noise enhancement with generated musical content, p.66 14) Parametric Curve Labeling, p.7

Determination of Salient Design Elements Through Eye Movements, Aesthetics, and Usability

The goal of study 1 was to use a remote eye tracker to understand how eye movements change with 7 geometrically varied remote controls to determine design element saliency. 20 participants were used to measure the following eye metrics: number of fixations prior to first fixation of any AOI, time to first fixation of an AOI, number of fixations on an AOI, dwell time of the first fixation on an AOI, total dwell time of an AOI, and the percentage of time spent on an AOI. The results of the study showed that all participants spent between 75-85% of their time fixated on the button layout which was not defined as an AOI. No statistical differences were found in the values measured for all eye tracking metrics across similarly defined AOIs. In study 2, the objective was to determine attitudes towards appearance and usability of the 7 remote control designs using the participants from study 1. Participants were asked to rate their attitudes and preferences, using a Likert-based questionnaire, about the qualities of appearance and usability for the attributes of proportion, shape, and configuration. They were asked open-ended questions about their likes and dislikes regarding the qualities of appearance and usability. Lastly, participants were given a pairwise comparison survey where they chose their preferred remote design, based on appearance, for 10 paired sets of contrasting remote designs. The hourglass subjacent and hourglass round designs were rated highest for appearance and usability from the Likert questionnaire. The hourglass round design was ranked highest for the pairwise comparison survey. For study 3, the goal was to determine attitudes towards appearance and usability of the 7 remote designs with online participants. 300 participants were asked to rate their attitudes and preferences using the same Likert-based questionnaire from study 2. They were asked the same open-ended questions and administered the same pairwise comparison survey as in study 2. The results of the Likert questionnaire showed that the hourglass subjacent and hourglass round designs were rated highest for appearance and usability. From the pairwise comparison survey, the hourglass round design was ranked the highest