Why interaction methods should be exposed and recognizable
Abstract
Interaction with interactive systems mostly relies on command selection, enabling users to specify their intentions to the system. This habilitation manuscript discusses the design of command selection techniques on desktop and touch-based computers, which today require far too much from users: to know what they can do, to know how it can be done, and to improve by themselves on doing it. I argue for a design of Graphical User Interfaces (GUIs) that would rely more on users' recognition skills than their explicit memorization and recall skills. I present first the work I have conducted on the transition between a recognition-based method (e.g. selecting using a pointer in a menu) and a recall-based interaction mode (e.g. keyboard shortcuts) and reflect on how it might not be possible to perfect it. Therefore, I then explore whether it is possible to design highly efficient techniques with which users can still rely on recall whenever they want. Finally, I present work conducted on how GUIs could be refined to help uses discover that they can use certain input modalities with interactive systems.
Interaction with interactive systems mostly relies on command selection, enabling users to specify their intentions to the system. This habilitation manuscript discusses the design of command selection techniques on desktop and touch-based computers, which today require far too much from users: to know what they can do, to know how it can be done, and to improve by themselves on doing it. I argue for a design of Graphical User Interfaces (GUIs) that would rely more on users' recognition skills than their explicit memorization and recall skills. I present first the work I have conducted on the transition between a recognition-based method (e.g. selecting using a pointer in a menu) and a recall-based interaction mode (e.g. keyboard shortcuts) and reflect on how it might not be possible to perfect it. Therefore, I then explore whether it is possible to design highly efficient techniques with which users can still rely on recall whenever they want. Finally, I present work conducted on how GUIs could be refined to help uses discover that they can use certain input modalities with interactive systems.
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