greenberg@calgary.UUCP (Saul Greenberg) (04/12/85)
I recently posted an abstract following Gary Perlman's suggestion that
this is an appropriate news of net.cog-eng to limit time delays in reading
papers that are in press. As I received a good response for the
first abstract, I believe that he is right. Here is another
abstract for a paper that will appear shortly.
Witten, I.H. and Greenberg, S. (in press) "User interfaces for office
systems" Oxford Surveys in Information Technology,
P. Zorkoczy editor, Oxford University Press.
Also available as Research Report 84/161/19, Department of
Computer Science, University of Calgary
Abstract
This paper surveys recent developments in the "top-level" interface
for interacting with office information systems. This is the level at
which users initially make contact with the system, and from which they
invoke subsystems for specific tasks such as text manipulation, mail,
database access, and so on. Although the style of the top-level interface
need not necessarily dictate that of the subsystems, it is generally agreed
that they should share a similar nature in order to achieve the effect of
an "integrated" system. Hence the top-level interface design has
considerable influence in determining the character of subsystems.
A number of top-level interfaces are described, providing a survey of
different interaction styles. Numerous references are made to published
accounts of commercial and research systems, with capsule descriptions
of typical examples. Illustrations of their use are included. As these
man/machine systems must match good design and user compatibility,
an introduction of interface design principles is included, although
no attempt is made to survey completely the myriad of published guidelines
and related human factors research.
Outline:
Introduction
The quality of the interface
Interface design guidelines
The user's point of view
Examples of command interfaces
Conventional command-driven interactive computer interface
Menu systems
Window systems
Forms
Natural language interfaces
Integration -- the final package
The direct manipulation paradigm and metaphors
Desktop simulations
Soft machines
Summary
Copies may be obtained by replying via electronic mail or by writing:
Saul Greenberg
Man-Machine Systems Laboratory
Dept. of Computer Science
University of Calgary
2500 University Dr. N.W.
Calgary, Alberta
CANADA T2N 1N4
Net address: ...!{ubc-vision, ihnp4}!alberta!calgary!vaxb!greenberg