Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!bgsuvax!instone
From: instone@bgsuvax.UUCP (Keith Instone)
Newsgroups: comp.cog-eng
Subject: Tools for user interface RESEARCH
Keywords: user interfaces, research, tools
Message-ID: <4128@bgsuvax.UUCP>
Date: 15 May 89 20:59:15 GMT
Organization: Bowling Green State University B.G., Oh.
Lines: 51


I know it has nothing to do with poor writing (except an example), 
but here goes ...


I have been thinking about all the different ways people
are _studying_ user interfaces now-a-days.

1.Lots of people are building user interface management systems (UIMSs) to
make building interfaces easier.

2.Several companies are making prototype interfaces and testing them
to see which specific style/lookNfeel is best for them.

3.Some people are doing laboratory experiments on both parts of the
interface (menus vs icons, choice of color, ...) and on complete
systems (direct manipulation vs commands vs menus, etc).

My question deals with the third. In all those papers, they never
talk about what _tools_ they used to test these things. Is that
because there are no tools supporting this? At CHI 89, 3 papers were
presented under the heading "Tools and environments for interface
DESIGN". Why not the same for "interface RESEARCH"?

For example, at CHI 88, the (in)famous Linear vs Pie menu research
was presented. It was implemented on a Sun under MIT's X window
system. That was all I could find out about HOW the test system was
implemented. So, if anyone else wants to test this, do they have to
do it from scratch? There isn't a run-on-any-machine program which
lets you control menus enough for empirical testing?

So, I guess my question for all of you is:

Has anyone made a generic tool for user interface research?

  (defn. generic - runs on any system, supports any
                   interaction style, easily configurable)

    [note: 'generic' is approximately like 'standard', but I don't
      want to scare anyone away by using the s-word. (^; ]

If yes, what?
If no, why not? Too hard? Nobody wants one? Waste of time?

Inquiring minds want to know!

Keith Instone, Research Associate
Department of Computer Science, Bowling Green State University
CSNET  :  instone@andy.bgsu.edu   
UUCP   :  ...!osu-cis!bgsuvax!instone
BITNET :  KINSTON@TRAPPER, INSTONE@BGSUOPIE