research-article

Task-centric interfaces for feature-rich software

Authors:

Benjamin Lafreniere,

Michael TerryAuthors Info & Claims

OzCHI '14: Proceedings of the 26th Australian Computer-Human Interaction Conference on Designing Futures: the Future of Design

Pages 49 - 58

https://doi.org/10.1145/2686612.2686620

Published: 02 December 2014 Publication History

Abstract

Feature-rich software can be difficult to learn and use, and current approaches to organizing functionality do little to help users with performing unfamiliar tasks. In this paper, we investigate the potential for alternative task-centric interface designs that organize functionality around specific tasks. To understand the potential of this approach, we developed and studied Workflows, a prototype task-centric interface design. Our findings suggest that task-centric interfaces scaffold and guide the user's exploration of a subset of application functionality, and thereby help them to avoid common difficulties and inefficiencies caused by self-directed exploration of the full interface. We also found evidence that task-centric interfaces enable a different kind of application learning, in which users associate tasks with relevant keywords as opposed to low-level commands and procedures. This has potential benefits for memorability, because the keywords themselves describe the task, and scalability, because a few keywords can map to an arbitrarily large procedure.

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Perraud RTabard AMalacria S(2024)Tutorial mismatches: investigating the frictions due to interface differences when following software video tutorialsProceedings of the 2024 ACM Designing Interactive Systems Conference10.1145/3643834.3661511(1942-1955)Online publication date: 1-Jul-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3643834.3661511
Baghestani ALatulipe CBunt A(2024)Older Adults' Collaborative Learning Dynamics When Exploring Feature-Rich SoftwareProceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction10.1145/36373788:CSCW1(1-27)Online publication date: 26-Apr-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3637378
Sarma AHwang KHullman JKay M(2024)Milliways: Taming Multiverses through Principled Evaluation of Data Analysis PathsProceedings of the 2024 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3613904.3642375(1-15)Online publication date: 11-May-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3613904.3642375
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Index Terms

Task-centric interfaces for feature-rich software
1. Human-centered computing

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OzCHI '14: Proceedings of the 26th Australian Computer-Human Interaction Conference on Designing Futures: the Future of Design

December 2014

689 pages

ISBN:9781450306539

DOI:10.1145/2686612

Conference Chair:
Tuck Leong
University of Technology Sydney

Copyright © 2014 ACM.

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 the author(s) 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].

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U1: U1 PTY LTD
IDHuP: Interaction Design and Human Practice Lab
UTS-HCTDRS: The UTS Human Centred Technology Design Research Strength
CSIRO
QUT
HFESA: Human Factors and Ergonomics Society of Australia Inc.
University of Technology Sydney
IDF: The Interaction Design Foundation
CHISIG: Computer-Human Interaction Special Interest Group, Human Factors & Ergonomics Society of Australia

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SIGCHI: ACM Special Interest Group on Computer-Human Interaction

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Association for Computing Machinery

New York, NY, United States

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Published: 02 December 2014

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OzCHI '14

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IDHuP
UTS-HCTDRS
HFESA
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CHISIG

OzCHI '14: the Future of Design

December 2 - 5, 2014

New South Wales, Sydney, Australia

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OzCHI '14 Paper Acceptance Rate 85 of 176 submissions, 48%;

Overall Acceptance Rate 362 of 729 submissions, 50%

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Cited By

Perraud RTabard AMalacria S(2024)Tutorial mismatches: investigating the frictions due to interface differences when following software video tutorialsProceedings of the 2024 ACM Designing Interactive Systems Conference10.1145/3643834.3661511(1942-1955)Online publication date: 1-Jul-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3643834.3661511
Baghestani ALatulipe CBunt A(2024)Older Adults' Collaborative Learning Dynamics When Exploring Feature-Rich SoftwareProceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction10.1145/36373788:CSCW1(1-27)Online publication date: 26-Apr-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3637378
Sarma AHwang KHullman JKay M(2024)Milliways: Taming Multiverses through Principled Evaluation of Data Analysis PathsProceedings of the 2024 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3613904.3642375(1-15)Online publication date: 11-May-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3613904.3642375
Xia Q(2024)Supporting Spreadsheet Users in Knowledge Sharing2024 IEEE Symposium on Visual Languages and Human-Centric Computing (VL/HCC)10.1109/VL/HCC60511.2024.00059(386-388)Online publication date: 2-Sep-2024
https://doi.org/10.1109/VL/HCC60511.2024.00059
Lintunen ESalmela VJarre PHeikkinen TKilpeläinen MJokela MOulasvirta A(2024)Cognitive abilities predict performance in everyday computer tasksInternational Journal of Human-Computer Studies10.1016/j.ijhcs.2024.103354192(103354)Online publication date: Dec-2024
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhcs.2024.103354
Masson DVermeulen JFitzmaurice GMatejka J(2022)Supercharging Trial-and-Error for Learning Complex Software ApplicationsProceedings of the 2022 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3491102.3501895(1-13)Online publication date: 29-Apr-2022
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Guo P(2021)Ten Million Users and Ten Years Later: Python Tutor’s Design Guidelines for Building Scalable and Sustainable Research Software in AcademiaThe 34th Annual ACM Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology10.1145/3472749.3474819(1235-1251)Online publication date: 10-Oct-2021
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Fraser CMarkel JBasa NDontcheva MKlemmer SIqbal SMacLean KChevalier FMueller S(2020)ReMapProceedings of the 33rd Annual ACM Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology10.1145/3379337.3415592(979-986)Online publication date: 20-Oct-2020
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Alvina JBunt AChilana PMalacria SMcGrenere JWakkary RAndersen KOdom WDesjardins APetersen M(2020)Where is that Feature?Proceedings of the 2020 ACM Designing Interactive Systems Conference10.1145/3357236.3395506(1103-1115)Online publication date: 3-Jul-2020
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Mahmud SAlvina JChilana PBunt AMcGrenere JBernhaupt RMueller FVerweij DAndres JMcGrenere JCockburn AAvellino IGoguey ABjørn PZhao SSamson BKocielnik R(2020)Learning Through Exploration: How Children, Adults, and Older Adults Interact with a New Feature-Rich ApplicationProceedings of the 2020 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3313831.3376414(1-14)Online publication date: 21-Apr-2020
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