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Broadening Access to Large Online Databases by Generalizing Query. E. Tanin. C. Plaisant. B. Shneiderman. May 2000.
Companies, government agencies, and other types of organizations are making their large databases available to the world over the Internet. Current database front-ends do not give users information about the distribution of data. This leads many users to waste time and network resources posing queries that have either zero-hit or mega-hit result sets. Query previews form a novel visual approach for browsing large databases. Query previews supply data distribution information about the database that is being searched and give continuous feedback about the size of the result set for the query as it is being formed. On the other hand, query previews use only a few pre-selected attributes of the database. The distribution information is displayed only on these attributes. Unfortunately, many databases are formed of numerous relations and attributes. This paper introduces a generalization of query previews. We allow users to browse all of the relations and attributes of a database using a hierarchical browser. Any of the attributes can be used to display the distribution information, making query previews applicable to many public online databases. (Also cross-referenced as UMIACS-TR-2000-32) (Also cross-referenced as HCIL-TR-2000-14) University of Maryland Institute for Advamced Computer Studies, Department of Computer Science, University of Maryland, Human-Computer Interaction Laboratory, University of Maryland,
Direct Annotation: A Drag-and-Drop Strategy for Labeling Photos. B. Shneiderman. H. Kang. April 2000.
Annotating photos is such a time-consuming, tedious and error-prone data entry task that it discourages most owners of personal photo libraries. By allowing users to drag labels such as personal names from a scrolling list and drop them on a photo, we believe we can make the task faster, easier and more appealing. Since the names are entered in a database, searching for all photos of a friend or family member is dramatically simplified. We describe the user interface design and the database schema to support direct annotation, as implemented in our PhotoFinder prototype. (HCIL-2000-06) (Also cross-referenced as UMIACS-TR-2000-23) University of Maryland Institute for Advamced Computer Stdies, Human-Computer Interaction Laboratory, University of Maryland, Department of Computer Science, University of Maryland,
Snap-Together Visualization: A User Interface for Coordinating. C. North. B. Shneiderman. April 2000.
Multiple coordinated visualizations enable users to rapidly explore complex information. However, users often need unforeseen combinations of coordinated visualizations that are appropriate for their data. Snap-Together Visualization enables data users to rapidly and dynamically mix and match visualizations and coordinations to construct custom exploration interfaces without programming. Snap's conceptual model is based on the relational database model. Users load relations into visualizations then coordinate them based on the relational joins between them. Users can create different types of coordinations such as: brushing, drill down, overview and detail view, and synchronized scrolling. Visualization developers can make their independent visualizations snap-able with a simple API. Evaluation of Snap revealed benefits, cognitive issues, and usability concerns. Data savvy users were very capable and thrilled to rapidly construct powerful coordinated visualizations. A snapped overview and detail-view coordination improved user performance by 30-80%, depending on task. (Also cross-referenced as UMIACS-TR-2000-22) University of Maryland Institute for Advanced Computer Studies, Human-Computer Interaction Laboratory, University of Maryland, Department of Computer Science, University of Maryland,
Performance Benefits of Simultaneous over Sequential Menus as Task. H. Hochheiser. N. Kositsyna. G. Ville. B. Shneiderman. September 1999.
To date, experimental comparisons of menu layouts have concentrated on variants of hierarchical structures of sequentially presented menus. Simultaneous menus - layouts which present multiple active menus on a screen at the same time - are an alternative arrangement that may be useful in many web design situations. This paper describes an experiment involving a between-subject comparison of simultaneous menu and their traditional sequential counterparts. Twenty experienced web users used either simultaneous or sequential menus in a standard web browser to answer questions based on US Census data. For novice users performing simple tasks the simplicity of sequential menus appears to be helpful, but for most tasks and most users there is good evidence to believe that simultaneous menus speed performance and improve satisfaction. Design improvements can amplify the benefits of simultaneous menu layouts. (Also cross-referenced asUMIACS-TR-99-60) University of Maryland Institute for Advanced Computer Studies, Department of Computer Science, University of Maryland, Human-Computer Interaction Laboratory, University of Maryland,
Last Generated Fri Aug 11 04:01:01 EDT 2000