Menu Selection Form Fillin Dialog Boxes and Fittss

Menu Selection, Form Fillin, Dialog Boxes, and Fitts's Law Lecture 8 1

Task-Related Organization "The primary goal for menu, form-fillin, and dialog-box designers is to create a sensible, comprehensible, memorable, and convenient organization relevant to the user's task. " CS 774 – Spring 2006 2

Single Menus n n n Binary Menus ¨ Mnemonic letters ¨ Radio Buttons ¨ Button Choice Multiple-item Menus Multiple-selection menus or check boxes CS 774 – Spring 2006 3

Single Menus (cont. ) CS 774 – Spring 2006 4

Single Menus (cont. ) CS 774 – Spring 2006 5

Single Menus (cont. ) CS 774 – Spring 2006 6

Single Menus (cont. ) CS 774 – Spring 2006 7

Combination of multiple menus n Linear menu sequences and simultaneous menus ¨ Linear n Guide the user through complex decision-making process. ¨ E. g. cue cards or "Wizards" n Effective for novice users performing simple tasks ¨ Simultaneous n Present multiple active menus at the same time and allows users to enter choices in any order CS 774 – Spring 2006 8

Combination of multiple menus (cont. ) n Tree-structured menus ¨ Designers can form categories of similar items to create a tree structure n E. g. , fonts, size style, spacing ¨ Fast retrieved if natural and comprehensive ¨ Use terminology from the task domain ¨ Expanding menus maintain the full context of each choice n E. g. , Windows Explorer CS 774 – Spring 2006 9

Combination of multiple menus (cont. ) n Menu Maps ¨ Menu maps can help users stay oriented in a large menu tree ¨ Effective for providing overviews to minimize user disorientation. n Acyclic and Cyclic Networks ¨ Useful for ¨ social relationships ¨ transportation routing ¨ scientific-journal citations ¨ Can cause confusion and disorientation. CS 774 – Spring 2006 10

Content Organization n Task-related grouping in tree organization ¨ Create groups of logically similar items ¨ Form groups that cover all possibilities ¨ Make sure that items are nonoverlapping ¨ Use familiar terminology, but ensure that items are distinct from one another CS 774 – Spring 2006 11

Content Organization (cont. ) n Item Presentation Sequence ¨ The order of items in the menu is important, and should take natural sequence into account when possible: n Time n Numeric ordering n Physical properties ¨ When cases have no task-related orderings, the designer must choose from such possibilities as: n Alphabetic sequence of terms n Grouping of related items n Most frequently used items first n Most important items first. CS 774 – Spring 2006 12

Content Organization (cont. ) CS 774 – Spring 2006 13

Content Organization (cont. ) n Menu layout CS 774 – Spring 2006 14

Content Organization (cont. ) n Menu layout (cont. ) ¨ Titles n Phrasing of menu items ¨ Use familiar and consistent terminology ¨ Ensure that items are distinct from one another ¨ Use consistent and concise phrasing ¨ Bring the keyword to the left CS 774 – Spring 2006 15

Content Organization (cont. ) n Menu layout (cont. ) ¨ Graphic layout and design n Constraints ¨ screen width and length ¨ display rate ¨ character set ¨ highlighting techniques CS 774 – Spring 2006 16

Fast Movement Through Menus n Keyboard shortcuts ¨ Supports expert use ¨ Can make translation to a foreign language more difficult ¨ Bookmarks in browsers ¨ User configured toolbars CS 774 – Spring 2006 17

Question n You are in charge of designing a menu tree for navigating 1, 250 books in a digital library. Present an argument of whether the menu should have larger depth (number of levels) or breadth (number of items per level). CS 774 – Spring 2006 18

Data Entry with Menus: Form Fillin, Dialog Boxes, and Alternatives n Form Fillin ¨ Appropriate when many fields of data must be entered: n Full complement of information is visible to user. n Display resembles familiar paper forms. n Few instructions are required for many types of entries. ¨ Users must be familiar with: n Keyboards n Use of TAB key or mouse to move the cursor n Error correction methods n Field-label meanings n Permissible field contents n Use of the ENTER and/or RETURN key. CS 774 – Spring 2006 19

Data Entry with Menus: Form Fillin, Dialog Boxes, and Alternatives n Form-Fillin Design Guidelines ¨ ¨ ¨ ¨ Meaningful title Comprehensible instructions Logical grouping and sequencing of fields Visually appealing layout of the form Familiar field labels Consistent terminology and abbreviations Visible space and boundaries for data-entry fields Convenient cursor movement Error correction for individual characters and entire fields Error prevention Error messages for unacceptable values Optional fields clearly marked Explanatory messages for fields Completion signal CS 774 – Spring 2006 20

Data Entry with Menus: Form Fillin, Dialog Boxes, and Alternatives CS 774 – Spring 2006 21

Data Entry with Menus: Form Fillin, Dialog Boxes, and Alternatives n Dialog Boxes ¨ Combination of menu and form-fillin techniques. ¨ Internal layout guidelines: n n n n Meaningful title, consistent style Top-left to bottom-right sequencing (for English readers) Clustering and emphasis Consistent layouts (margins, grid, white space, lines, boxes) Consistent terminology, fonts, capitalization, justification Standard buttons (OK, Cancel) Error prevention by direct manipulation CS 774 – Spring 2006 22

Data Entry with Menus: Form Fillin, Dialog Boxes, and Alternatives n Dialog Boxes (cont. ) ¨ External Relationship n Smooth appearance and disappearance n Distinguishable but small boundary n Size small enough to reduce overlap problems n Display close to appropriate items n No overlap of required items n Easy to make disappear n Clear how to complete/cancel CS 774 – Spring 2006 23

Question n Give examples of applications where menu selection and form fillin are more appropriate than a direct-manipulation strategy. CS 774 – Spring 2006 24

Audio Menus and Menus for Small Displays n Menu systems in small displays and situations where hands and eyes are busy are a challenge. n Audio menus ¨ Verbal prompts and option descriptions ¨ Input is normally verbal or keypad ¨ Not persistent, like a visual display, so memorization is required. ¨ Frequent users can avoid listening to options CS 774 – Spring 2006 25

Question n A telephone-based menu system is being designed for a magazine subscription service system. There are seven magazines available: National Geographic, Travel and Leisure, Entrepreneur, Time, Golf, US News and World Report, and Fortune. Describe some reasonable orderings of the voice menus. CS 774 – Spring 2006 26

Fitts's Law n Index of difficulty = log 2 (D / W+1) D = distance between buttons ¨ W = target size ¨ n n Time to point = C 1 + C 2 (index of difficulty) C 1 and C 2 and constants that depend on the device C 1 = start/stop time in seconds ¨ C 2 = speed of the device ¨ n Index of difficulty is log 2 (2*8/1) = log 2 (16) = 4 bits CS 774 – Spring 2006 27