Location via proxy:   [ UP ]  
[Report a bug]   [Manage cookies]                
skip to main content
10.1145/2181216.2181217acmotherconferencesArticle/Chapter ViewAbstractPublication PageschinzConference Proceedingsconference-collections
research-article

Symmetry for successful interactive systems

Published: 11 July 2002 Publication History
  • Get Citation Alerts
  • Abstract

    HCI has some rich and suggestive ideas, like affordance and direct manipulation. Abstract (not just geometrical) symmetry is a powerful explanation of why these concepts work, and it can be generalised to guide new design for more effective user interfaces. Symmetry makes user interfaces easier to learn, easier to use, and easier to program --- and hence more reliable. Symmetry raises in very clear ways many design trade-offs. In particular, symmetry can be abused when it used to design only superficially symmetric systems, which may look good but are deceptive.

    References

    [1]
    Ballard, D. H., An Introduction to Natural Computation, MIT Press, 1997.
    [2]
    de Bruxelles, S., "Kidney Death Surgeon 'Reversed X-ray'," The Times, June 14, p13, 2002.
    [3]
    Byrne, M. D., "ACT-R/PM and Menu Selection: Applying Cognitive Architecture to HCI," International Journal of Human-Computer Studies, 55, pp41--84, 2001.
    [4]
    Friedhoff, R. M. & Peercy, M. S., Visual Computing, Scientific American Library, 2000.
    [5]
    Gaver, W. W., "Technology Affordances," ACM CHI'91 Conference, pp79--84, 1991.
    [6]
    Gaver, W. W., "Affordances for Interaction: The Social is Material for Design," Ecological Psychology, 8(2), pp111--129, 1996.
    [7]
    Gibson, J. J., The Ecological Approach to Visual Perception, Houghton Mifflin, 1979.
    [8]
    Hutchins, E. L., Hollan, J. D. & Norman, D. A., "Direct Manipulation Interfaces," in Norman, D. A. & Draper, S. W., User Centered System Design, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1986.
    [9]
    Jacob, R. J. K., "A Specification Language for Direct-Manipulation User Interfaces," ACM Transactions on Graphics, 5(4), pp283--317, 1986.
    [10]
    Johnson, D. L., Symmetries, Springer, 2001.
    [11]
    Nardie, B. A. editor, Context and Consciousness, MIT Press, 1997.
    [12]
    Norman, D. A., "Design Rules Based on Analysis of Human Error," Communications of the ACM, 26(4), pp254--258, 1983.
    [13]
    Norman, D. A., The Psychology of Everyday Things, Basic Books, 1988.
    [14]
    Norman, D. A., "Affordance, Conventions, and Design," ACM Interactions, 6(3), pp38--43, 1999.
    [15]
    Reason, J., Human Error, Cambridge University Press, 1990.
    [16]
    Reeves, C. & Nass, B., The Media Equation, Cambridge Univesity Press, 1996.
    [17]
    Shneiderman, B., "Direct Manipulation: A Step Beyond Programming Languages," IEEE Computer, 16(8), pp57--69, 1983.
    [18]
    Tesler, L. "The Smalltalk Environment," BYTE, 6(8), pp90--147, 1981.
    [19]
    Thimbleby, H., User Interface Design, Addison-Wesley, 1990.
    [20]
    Thimbleby, H., "Calculators are Needlessly Bad," International Journal of Human-Computer Studies, 52(6), pp1031--1069, 2000.
    [21]
    Thimbleby, H., "Affordance and Symmetry," in Johnson, C. editor, Interactive Systems: Design, Specification, and Verification, 8th. International Workshop, DSV-IS 2001. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, 2220, pp199--217, Springer Verlag, 2001.
    [22]
    Thimbleby, H., "Reflections on Symmetry," Proceedings of Advanced Visual Interfaces, AVI2002, pp28--33, 2002.
    [23]
    Weyl, H., Symmetry, Princeton University Press, 1952.

    Cited By

    View all
    • (2016)SwipeKeyProceedings of the 18th International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction with Mobile Devices and Services10.1145/2935334.2935336(60-71)Online publication date: 6-Sep-2016
    • (2003)Cognitive, physical, sensory, and functional affordances in interaction designBehaviour & Information Technology10.1080/0144929031000159258722:5(315-338)Online publication date: Sep-2003
    1. Symmetry for successful interactive systems

      Recommendations

      Comments

      Information & Contributors

      Information

      Published In

      cover image ACM Other conferences
      CHINZ '02: Proceedings of the SIGCHI-NZ Symposium on Computer-Human Interaction
      July 2002
      111 pages
      ISBN:0473085003
      DOI:10.1145/2181216
      Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for components of this work owned by others than ACM must be honored. Abstracting with credit is permitted. To copy otherwise, or republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. Request permissions from [email protected]

      Sponsors

      • New Zealand Chapter of ACM SIGCHI
      • Google Inc.
      • The University of Waikato

      Publisher

      Association for Computing Machinery

      New York, NY, United States

      Publication History

      Published: 11 July 2002

      Permissions

      Request permissions for this article.

      Check for updates

      Author Tags

      1. affordance
      2. ambiguity
      3. direct manipulation
      4. illusion
      5. objects
      6. symmetry
      7. user interface design
      8. virtual reality

      Qualifiers

      • Research-article

      Acceptance Rates

      Overall Acceptance Rate 8 of 23 submissions, 35%

      Contributors

      Other Metrics

      Bibliometrics & Citations

      Bibliometrics

      Article Metrics

      • Downloads (Last 12 months)2
      • Downloads (Last 6 weeks)0
      Reflects downloads up to 27 Jul 2024

      Other Metrics

      Citations

      Cited By

      View all
      • (2016)SwipeKeyProceedings of the 18th International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction with Mobile Devices and Services10.1145/2935334.2935336(60-71)Online publication date: 6-Sep-2016
      • (2003)Cognitive, physical, sensory, and functional affordances in interaction designBehaviour & Information Technology10.1080/0144929031000159258722:5(315-338)Online publication date: Sep-2003

      View Options

      Get Access

      Login options

      View options

      PDF

      View or Download as a PDF file.

      PDF

      eReader

      View online with eReader.

      eReader

      Media

      Figures

      Other

      Tables

      Share

      Share

      Share this Publication link

      Share on social media