Supporting Experimentation with Side Views - Semantic Scholar
Supporting Experimentation with Side Views Michael Terry, Elizabeth D. Mynatt Everyday Computing Lab, GVU Center College of Computing, Georgia Tech Atlanta, GA 30332 {mterry, mynatt}@cc.gatech.edu INTRODUCTION
In this article, we introduce Side Views, a user interface mechanism that offers users on-demand, persistent, dynamic previews of one or more commands and their parameters. Side Views support creative practitioners’ natural tendency to explore many options in parallel by offering users the ability to generate and manipulate previews for multiple commands simultaneously. Side Views allow users to clarify the effect of commands, make comparisons between commands, experiment, and serendipitously discover viable alternatives. BACKGROUND
Practitioners naturally experiment and explore multiple solutions to a problem in the course of constructing a creative result [4, 5, 6]. For example, industrial designers explicitly generate dozens of concept sketches for a new product, then extract the most desirable characteristics of each to combine into a new series of sketches. This process repeats itself until only a handful of candidates remain. The need for this iterative, experimental, and exploratory process is evident when one considers that the goal of a creative activity is to develop an original result never before attained [3, 6, 7]. By definition, then, there exists no “recipe” for reaching the novel result: practitioners must actively experiment and explore to develop a methodology that yields something completely new [6]. In our own studies of expert users of computer-based tools (specifically, artists and graphic designers using an image manipulation application), we have observed these same practices of experimentation and exploration carried over into the digital domain. For example, users often generate multiple versions of their data and operate on each version independently before arriving at a desirable solution. Despite the importance of experimentation and exploration, current user interfaces often fall short of seamlessly supporting these essential practices. In particular, we have found that current models of interaction impose a rigid, linear progression through tasks that is at odds with the “messy,” experimental, and open-ended nature of creative processes. For example, applications provide limited capabilities when a user needs to consider multiple, alternative commands simultaneously. Though previews can help a user see the effect of a single command, interfaces typically allow
Figure 1. Creative pursuits require experimentation and exploration of possibilities, but interfaces typically stifle the ability to easily explore alternatives in parallel. In the figure above, a user wishes to explore multiple versions of a logo, but existing user interfaces allow a user to move from the center version to only one other version at a time. only a single preview to be shown at a time. If multiple commands seem equally attractive, there is no way to compare previews of all commands side-by-side. Similarly, if different parameter settings for the same command are equally attractive, a single preview prevents users from directly comparing these multiple settings. In this respect, interfaces impose a form of interface “tunnel vision” that limits the number of views into potential states, severely hampering a user’s ability to more freely explore options (see Figure 1). To facilitate the processes of exploration and experimentation, we developed Side Views [8], a user interface mechanism that offers on-demand, persistent, dynamic previews of commands (Figure 2). In this article, we present the design of Side Views and show how they can be applied to the creative process. As we discuss the design, we refer to two implementations of Side Views, one in a Rich Text Editor, and one in an image manipulation application1. 1
Our image manipulation application uses the GIMP (http://www.gimp.org) as its image manipulation engine, and a custom plug-in, JGimp, that allows us to program the GIMP using the Java programming language. JGimp is available for download from our lab’s website at http://www.cc.gatech.edu/fce/ecl
Persistent, Dynamic Previews
A Side View can be made to persist (i.e., turned into a normal window that does not automatically dismiss itself after a time-out) by clicking on its title bar. Any number of persistent Side Views can be instantiated, for any number of commands, affording users the ability to directly compare several previews at the same time.
Figure 2. Side Views show dynamic previews of invoking a command on the user's current data. Here, the user views a preview for the bold command in our rich text editor. SIDE VIEWS
Side Views employ the tool-tip metaphor to provide ondemand previews, but extend this design in five main ways. Side Views: 1.
display dynamic previews of a command, as applied to the current context,
2.
can be made to persist,
3.
support interaction,
4.
scale to commands with multiple parameters through parameter spectrums, or ranges of previews for a command, and
5.
can be chained together to allow for function composition.
Lightweight, Authentic Previews
Side Views offer a lightweight mechanism to quickly scan the interface and its available options: users simply sweep the cursor across the interface, pausing over commands of interest. After a short delay, a pop-up window appears containing a preview of the command as applied to the current document. While many existing user interfaces offer previews of commands, users are typically required to invoke a modal dialog box to access these previews. Burying previews in modal dialog boxes increases the time and effort required to access these previews. Furthermore, modal dialog boxes prevent users from viewing previews for several commands simultaneously.
Persistent Side Views dynamically update their contents according to the active document. For example, if a new document is opened, all Side Views update their previews accordingly. Figure 3 shows an example of two Side Views in our image manipulation application updating their previews when a new document is chosen. Interactive
Users can interact with a Side View window, for example, resizing it, or invoking the command it represents. In the image manipulation application, resizing the Side View enlarges the preview to fit the available space. Parameter Spectrums
For commands that accept parameters, Side Views can be expanded to show parameter spectrums, or multiple previews across a range of values (Figure 4). Parameter spectrums show a series of previews across the range of values for each parameter. Initially, the range of values displayed is a sampling of all possible values for a parameter. However, users can vary the range previewed to focus on a specific range of values. Function Composition
Side Views can be chained together (i.e., stringing multiple commands together into one command) to allow for function composition. For example, in the image manipulation application, users can combine multiple filters into one filter. As with Side Views for single commands, users can interact with the parameters for individual commands in a composite Side View. As a user makes changes to commands early in the chain, the previews for commands later in the chain update accordingly. This property allows users to see how changes in earlier commands affect the output of later in the chain of commands.
Figure 4. Parameter spectrums display a spectrum of previews covering a range of values for each parameter. Figure 3. Side Views can persist, offering dynamic previews. In the figure above, the user changes the active document from the star to the square, and the Side Views update accordingly. APPLYING SIDE VIEWS TO CREATIVE WORK
At the most basic level, Side Views provide users with unambiguous previews of commands that help to clarify the effect of a command. Thus, users do not need to internalize a model of a command’s effect for the sake of predicting its effect. When made persistent, Side Views enable users to perform direct comparisons between multiple commands. This capability helps users when competing alternatives exist, and when users experiment with possibilities as they develop novel solutions to a problem. Side Views can also be used as “what-if” tools [7]. Whatif tools allow users to experiment with their data, without committing to any changes of their original data. For example, Side Views enables users to sample the effect of a range of commands through persistent Side Views (a breadth-first search of options), or combine several Side Views into a single preview (a depth-first search of a series of commands). This flexibility and power facilitates the exploration of possibilities, without requiring users to first make duplicate copies of their document.
Finally, persistent Side Views automatically update as changes are made to the document. This behavior allows users to serendipitously discover viable alternatives to a planned course of action. For example, a user may instantiate a number of Side Views, make changes to the document, then find that some of the Side Views previously instantiated would produce desirable effects on the new state of the document. FUTURE WORK
Side Views represent an initial exploration into fundamental user interface mechanisms intended to support creative pursuits. However, much work remains to make computer interfaces fluid partners in creative activities. In the case of Side Views, our next steps include performing rigorous user evaluations. While informal feedback to Side Views has been positive, more testing is required to understand how effective Side Views are in authentic tasks. For that reason, we plan on testing Side Views in our image manipulation application, focusing on the task of color-correcting images. Future work also includes investigating alternative visualization schemes for Side Views. While Side Views can “open up” the interface, making its functionality less opaque to users, informal testing has shown that Side Views does not cleanly scale when users wish to work with many commands, or commands with many parameters. One possible solution to this problem is zoomable interfaces [1, 2], which may offer tools to better
organize and manage the display of many previews at once. REFERENCES
1.
2.
3. 4.
5.
6. 7.
8.
Bederson, B. B., Hollan, J. D., Perlin, K., Meyer, J., Bacon, D., & Furnas, G. W. (1996). Pad++: A Zoomable Graphical Sketchpad for Exploring Alternate Interface Physics. Journal of Visual Languages and Computing, 7, pp. 3-31. Bederson, B. B., Meyer, J., & Good, L. (2000). Jazz: An Extensible Zoomable User Interface Graphics Toolkit in Java. In Proceedings of User Interface and Software Technology (UIST 2000), pp. 171-180. Csikszentmihalyi, M. Creativity: Flow and the Psychology of Discovery and Invention. HarperCollins Publishers, New York, NY. 1999. Klemmer, S.R., M. Thomsen, E. Phelps-Goodman, R. Lee, J.A. Landay, Where Do Web Sites Come From? Capturing and Interacting with Design History. CHI Letters, Human Factors in Computing Systems: CHI2002. 4(1). Newman, M., & Landay, J. Sitemaps, Storyboards, and Specifications: A Sketch of Website Design Practice. In Proceedings of Designing Interactive Systems (DIS 2000). NY, NY, pp. 263-274 Schön, D. A. The Reflective Practitioner: How Professionals Think in Action. Basic Books, NY. 1983. Shneiderman, B. Creating Creativity: User Interfaces for Supporting Innovation. In ACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction, Vol. 7., No. 1, March 2000, pp. 114-138. Terry, M., & Mynatt, E. Side Views: Persistent, OnDemand Previews for Open-Ended Tasks. To appear in Conference Proceedings of UIST, 2002.
In this article, we introduce Side Views, a user interface mechanism that offers users on-demand, persistent, dynamic previews of one or more commands and their parameters. Side Views support creative practitioners’ natural tendency to explore many options in parallel by offering users the ability to generate and manipulate previews for multiple commands simultaneously. Side Views allow users to clarify the effect of commands, make comparisons between commands, experiment, and serendipitously discover viable alternatives. BACKGROUND
Practitioners naturally experiment and explore multiple solutions to a problem in the course of constructing a creative result [4, 5, 6]. For example, industrial designers explicitly generate dozens of concept sketches for a new product, then extract the most desirable characteristics of each to combine into a new series of sketches. This process repeats itself until only a handful of candidates remain. The need for this iterative, experimental, and exploratory process is evident when one considers that the goal of a creative activity is to develop an original result never before attained [3, 6, 7]. By definition, then, there exists no “recipe” for reaching the novel result: practitioners must actively experiment and explore to develop a methodology that yields something completely new [6]. In our own studies of expert users of computer-based tools (specifically, artists and graphic designers using an image manipulation application), we have observed these same practices of experimentation and exploration carried over into the digital domain. For example, users often generate multiple versions of their data and operate on each version independently before arriving at a desirable solution. Despite the importance of experimentation and exploration, current user interfaces often fall short of seamlessly supporting these essential practices. In particular, we have found that current models of interaction impose a rigid, linear progression through tasks that is at odds with the “messy,” experimental, and open-ended nature of creative processes. For example, applications provide limited capabilities when a user needs to consider multiple, alternative commands simultaneously. Though previews can help a user see the effect of a single command, interfaces typically allow
Figure 1. Creative pursuits require experimentation and exploration of possibilities, but interfaces typically stifle the ability to easily explore alternatives in parallel. In the figure above, a user wishes to explore multiple versions of a logo, but existing user interfaces allow a user to move from the center version to only one other version at a time. only a single preview to be shown at a time. If multiple commands seem equally attractive, there is no way to compare previews of all commands side-by-side. Similarly, if different parameter settings for the same command are equally attractive, a single preview prevents users from directly comparing these multiple settings. In this respect, interfaces impose a form of interface “tunnel vision” that limits the number of views into potential states, severely hampering a user’s ability to more freely explore options (see Figure 1). To facilitate the processes of exploration and experimentation, we developed Side Views [8], a user interface mechanism that offers on-demand, persistent, dynamic previews of commands (Figure 2). In this article, we present the design of Side Views and show how they can be applied to the creative process. As we discuss the design, we refer to two implementations of Side Views, one in a Rich Text Editor, and one in an image manipulation application1. 1
Our image manipulation application uses the GIMP (http://www.gimp.org) as its image manipulation engine, and a custom plug-in, JGimp, that allows us to program the GIMP using the Java programming language. JGimp is available for download from our lab’s website at http://www.cc.gatech.edu/fce/ecl
Persistent, Dynamic Previews
A Side View can be made to persist (i.e., turned into a normal window that does not automatically dismiss itself after a time-out) by clicking on its title bar. Any number of persistent Side Views can be instantiated, for any number of commands, affording users the ability to directly compare several previews at the same time.
Figure 2. Side Views show dynamic previews of invoking a command on the user's current data. Here, the user views a preview for the bold command in our rich text editor. SIDE VIEWS
Side Views employ the tool-tip metaphor to provide ondemand previews, but extend this design in five main ways. Side Views: 1.
display dynamic previews of a command, as applied to the current context,
2.
can be made to persist,
3.
support interaction,
4.
scale to commands with multiple parameters through parameter spectrums, or ranges of previews for a command, and
5.
can be chained together to allow for function composition.
Lightweight, Authentic Previews
Side Views offer a lightweight mechanism to quickly scan the interface and its available options: users simply sweep the cursor across the interface, pausing over commands of interest. After a short delay, a pop-up window appears containing a preview of the command as applied to the current document. While many existing user interfaces offer previews of commands, users are typically required to invoke a modal dialog box to access these previews. Burying previews in modal dialog boxes increases the time and effort required to access these previews. Furthermore, modal dialog boxes prevent users from viewing previews for several commands simultaneously.
Persistent Side Views dynamically update their contents according to the active document. For example, if a new document is opened, all Side Views update their previews accordingly. Figure 3 shows an example of two Side Views in our image manipulation application updating their previews when a new document is chosen. Interactive
Users can interact with a Side View window, for example, resizing it, or invoking the command it represents. In the image manipulation application, resizing the Side View enlarges the preview to fit the available space. Parameter Spectrums
For commands that accept parameters, Side Views can be expanded to show parameter spectrums, or multiple previews across a range of values (Figure 4). Parameter spectrums show a series of previews across the range of values for each parameter. Initially, the range of values displayed is a sampling of all possible values for a parameter. However, users can vary the range previewed to focus on a specific range of values. Function Composition
Side Views can be chained together (i.e., stringing multiple commands together into one command) to allow for function composition. For example, in the image manipulation application, users can combine multiple filters into one filter. As with Side Views for single commands, users can interact with the parameters for individual commands in a composite Side View. As a user makes changes to commands early in the chain, the previews for commands later in the chain update accordingly. This property allows users to see how changes in earlier commands affect the output of later in the chain of commands.
Figure 4. Parameter spectrums display a spectrum of previews covering a range of values for each parameter. Figure 3. Side Views can persist, offering dynamic previews. In the figure above, the user changes the active document from the star to the square, and the Side Views update accordingly. APPLYING SIDE VIEWS TO CREATIVE WORK
At the most basic level, Side Views provide users with unambiguous previews of commands that help to clarify the effect of a command. Thus, users do not need to internalize a model of a command’s effect for the sake of predicting its effect. When made persistent, Side Views enable users to perform direct comparisons between multiple commands. This capability helps users when competing alternatives exist, and when users experiment with possibilities as they develop novel solutions to a problem. Side Views can also be used as “what-if” tools [7]. Whatif tools allow users to experiment with their data, without committing to any changes of their original data. For example, Side Views enables users to sample the effect of a range of commands through persistent Side Views (a breadth-first search of options), or combine several Side Views into a single preview (a depth-first search of a series of commands). This flexibility and power facilitates the exploration of possibilities, without requiring users to first make duplicate copies of their document.
Finally, persistent Side Views automatically update as changes are made to the document. This behavior allows users to serendipitously discover viable alternatives to a planned course of action. For example, a user may instantiate a number of Side Views, make changes to the document, then find that some of the Side Views previously instantiated would produce desirable effects on the new state of the document. FUTURE WORK
Side Views represent an initial exploration into fundamental user interface mechanisms intended to support creative pursuits. However, much work remains to make computer interfaces fluid partners in creative activities. In the case of Side Views, our next steps include performing rigorous user evaluations. While informal feedback to Side Views has been positive, more testing is required to understand how effective Side Views are in authentic tasks. For that reason, we plan on testing Side Views in our image manipulation application, focusing on the task of color-correcting images. Future work also includes investigating alternative visualization schemes for Side Views. While Side Views can “open up” the interface, making its functionality less opaque to users, informal testing has shown that Side Views does not cleanly scale when users wish to work with many commands, or commands with many parameters. One possible solution to this problem is zoomable interfaces [1, 2], which may offer tools to better
organize and manage the display of many previews at once. REFERENCES
1.
2.
3. 4.
5.
6. 7.
8.
Bederson, B. B., Hollan, J. D., Perlin, K., Meyer, J., Bacon, D., & Furnas, G. W. (1996). Pad++: A Zoomable Graphical Sketchpad for Exploring Alternate Interface Physics. Journal of Visual Languages and Computing, 7, pp. 3-31. Bederson, B. B., Meyer, J., & Good, L. (2000). Jazz: An Extensible Zoomable User Interface Graphics Toolkit in Java. In Proceedings of User Interface and Software Technology (UIST 2000), pp. 171-180. Csikszentmihalyi, M. Creativity: Flow and the Psychology of Discovery and Invention. HarperCollins Publishers, New York, NY. 1999. Klemmer, S.R., M. Thomsen, E. Phelps-Goodman, R. Lee, J.A. Landay, Where Do Web Sites Come From? Capturing and Interacting with Design History. CHI Letters, Human Factors in Computing Systems: CHI2002. 4(1). Newman, M., & Landay, J. Sitemaps, Storyboards, and Specifications: A Sketch of Website Design Practice. In Proceedings of Designing Interactive Systems (DIS 2000). NY, NY, pp. 263-274 Schön, D. A. The Reflective Practitioner: How Professionals Think in Action. Basic Books, NY. 1983. Shneiderman, B. Creating Creativity: User Interfaces for Supporting Innovation. In ACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction, Vol. 7., No. 1, March 2000, pp. 114-138. Terry, M., & Mynatt, E. Side Views: Persistent, OnDemand Previews for Open-Ended Tasks. To appear in Conference Proceedings of UIST, 2002.
