ric@ace.sri.com (Richard Steinberger) (09/27/90)
About a week ago I asked people for some suggestions and recommendations about tools and products that might be used to help design GUIs. (I've since been told that such tools are called UIMS: User Interface Management Systems). Some people asked for a summary of responses, and I will try to provide something. So far I've received information about three products that seem useful. They are: Builder Xcessory from ICS. More details are available by sending a request to info@ics.com. 617.547.0510 X-Designer from Imperial Software Technology in the UK. Email address is sales@ist.co.uk. (+44) 743 587055 TAE+ from COSMIC, 382 East Broad St., Athens, GA, 404.542.3265. This one was developed by NASA and is only $500 for the first copy and license. Runs on Suns, VAXen, SGI, HP and others. All these three seem to generate code for the Motif interface to X11. Some others that were mentioned in the current issue of Unix World's Connectivity supplement are: UIMX, OpenLook Express from Visual Edge (St. Laurence, Que.) X Build from Nixdorf Computer (Waltham, MA) TeleUse from Telesoft (San Diego, CA) ExoCode from EXOC (Chicago, IL) Guide from SUN. VUIT demonstrated by DEC at DECUS '90. May not yet be a 'product'. Unfortunately, Unix World didn't see fit to include addresses of phone numbers. I would be interested in finding out more about some of the above products/companies (like their phone numbers). In addition, if you have used any of these design tools, I would like to hear of your experiences - good and bad. Thanks to all who reply. If enough people express interest, and I get an updated list of phone numbers and addresses, I could possibly post it. regards, ric steinberger ric@ace.sri.com
mayer@hplabsz.HPL.HP.COM (Niels Mayer) (10/05/90)
<sorry about the late reply -- I've been out of town for a month... and I'm now catching up on the copious verbiage on this list> In article <16590@unix.SRI.COM> ric@ace.sri.com (Richard Steinberger) writes: > About a week ago I asked people for some suggestions and >recommendations about tools and products that might be used to help >design GUIs. (I've since been told that such tools are called >UIMS: User Interface Management Systems). Actually, almost none of the tools you mention are UIMS's. The ones you mention are mostly "builders" and other forms of interactive user interface development tools... some of the tools have what might be considered a UIMS component -- a thin language layer that ties UI dynamics to application state. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Niels Mayer -- hplabs!mayer -- mayer@hplabs.hp.com Human-Computer Interaction Department Hewlett-Packard Laboratories Palo Alto, CA. *
klute@heike.informatik.uni-dortmund.de (Rainer Klute) (10/05/90)
In article <6016@hplabsz.HPL.HP.COM>, mayer@hplabsz.HPL.HP.COM (Niels Mayer) writes: |> Actually, almost none of the tools you mention are UIMS's. The ones you |> mention are mostly "builders" and other forms of interactive user interface |> development tools... some of the tools have what might be considered a UIMS |> component -- a thin language layer that ties UI dynamics to application |> state. Could someone please give a good definition for both "UIMS" and "builder" so that I can see the difference? -- Dipl.-Inform. Rainer Klute klute@irb.informatik.uni-dortmund.de Univ. Dortmund, IRB klute@unido.uucp, klute@unido.bitnet Postfach 500500 |)|/ Tel.: +49 231 755-4663 D-4600 Dortmund 50 |\|\ Fax : +49 231 755-2386
rlh2@ukc.ac.uk (Richard Hesketh) (10/06/90)
In article <1990Oct5.163113@heike.informatik.uni-dortmund.de> klute@heike.informatik.uni-dortmund.de (Rainer Klute) writes: >Could someone please give a good definition for both "UIMS" and "builder" >so that I can see the difference? A UIMS or User Interface Management System is basically a set of tools and a methodology for specifying, designing, implementing and providing runtime-support for user interfaces. Therefore a true UIMS would support all these activities in a seemless manner using the underlying methodology. A user interface builder is merely part of a UIMS and is just one tool used by an interface developer to produce the user interface. Normally a UI builder is used to create the static parts or layout of the user interface. Some UI builders go further and provide a dialog language in which to describe the dynamic parts of the UI. The ideal UIMS would seem to be one in which you can: Specify the tasks you wish the interface to perform/invoke (basically the connection between the user interface and the application). This specification would be done in a multitude of ways; formal (mathematical) specification, visual specification language, traditional style programming language etc. The UIMS would use the specification to present a series of possible user interfaces; menus, command languages, gesture or voice recognition. Along with a critical analysis of each type of user interface. This analysis would be based on an ever expanding knowledge base of theorectical and empirical results from Human-Computer Interaction Experts; Psychologists and Behaviouralists. The designers would have at their fingertips, highly graphical and interactive tools that would allow them to refine these interfaces. These tools include user interface builders and rapid prototypers. The runtime support offered by a UIMS would include a separation of user interface to the application allowing simultaneous, multiple user interfaces; e.g. for character based terminals or bitmapped workstations, menus or command languages. Plus lots lots more 8-) Of course this is just a taster of what is an ever increasingly large field of research and development. IMHO probably the most readable paper that discusses the whole definition of UIMS's and the like is: "Toward empirically derived methodologies and tools for human-computer interface development" by H. Rex Hartson and Deborah Hix in the International Journal of Man-Machine Studies (1989) Volume 31, pages 477-494. (Hartson and Hix also did a 90 page (!) paper published in ACM Computing Surveys Vol.21, No.1, March 1989, that is worth a read). "Serpent" is a UIMS from Carnegie Mellon University which is freely available if you want to play with a UIMS. It also contains a user interface builder which they call the "Dialogue Editor". There was a recent article describing the latest Alpha release (0.9) of Serpent and where the source code can be found. Richard Hesketh : @nsfnet-relay.ac.uk:rlh2@ukc.ac.uk : rlh2@ukc.ac.uk ..!{mcsun|mcvax}!ukc!rlh2 Computing Officer, Computing Lab., University of Kent at Canterbury, Canterbury, Kent, CT2 7NF, United Kingdom. Tel: +44 227 764000 ext 7620/7590 Fax: +44 227 762811