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\majorheading{Introduction to User Interface Systems

for HCI Developers and Researchers}


\author{Wilfred J. Hansen

}\bigger{\center{Director, Andrew Consortium, School of Computer Science \


Carnegie Mellon University;  5000 Forbes Ave.;  Pittsburgh, PA 15213

Tel: +1 (412) 268-6788    \italic{E-mail: wjh+@cmu.edu}}}


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\section{ABSTRACT} \


\italic{User interface systems} (UIS) combine essential applications for 
compound documents with a toolkit for building new applications that 
inter-operate with the others.  The essential applications--word 
processing, drawing editor, spread sheet, equation editor, image editor, 
electronic mail management, and so on--all support embedding of objects to 
create compound documents and can themselves all be embedded as objects in 
compound documents.  When building new applications, the user draws the 
screen image with the drawing editor and selects components from among the 
applications or the objects in the toolkit.  The earliest and most complete 
system at this time is the Andrew User Interface System, which will be used 
for examples during the tutorial.


User Interface Systems challenge HCI workers to develop interface 
conventions that stretch harmoniously across the wide spectrum of 
applications.  However, these same systems aid HCI work by simplifying 
construction of experimental interfaces and providing tools for evaluation 
of user behavior across multiple diverse applications.


\bold{\section{KEYWORDS:}}  user interface system, compound documents, word 
processing, electronic mail, graphical user interface toolkit, application 
builders, user interface management system, text editing, Andrew User 
Interface System, AUIS, Andrew Toolkit, ATK, evaluation of user behavior, 
standards for interactive interfaces, object linking and embedding, OLE.


\section{INTRODUCTION} \


A \italic{user interface system} (UIS) is an integrated environment for 
interactive computing which provides key applications, a component toolkit, 
and an application building environment for constructing new applications 
which cooperate with all others.  In times past, the data stream shared by 
applications was ASCII text; in a UIS the data stream is that of 
\italic{compound documents,} that is, documents with typographic formatting 
and embedded objects.  Indeed, most applications can embed others and can 
themselves be embedded, so there is \italic{recursive embedding} of 
objects.  The most common applications/embeddable-objects are word 
processing, drawing editor, image editor, spread sheet, equation editor, 
and electronic mail management. \



As in typical graphical user interface toolkits, a UIS includes a 
collection of objects suitable for constructing new applications: buttons, 
labels, sliders, dials, and so on.  In addition, the UIS provides an 
application building environment to aid construction of new applications by 
assembling components.  The system is extensible because created objects 
and applications can serve as components of still newer applications. 
 Moreover, the UIS architectures permit new applications to 
\italic{inter-operate} with each other and existing applications.  This 
means that new and old objects can share data streams, access to an 
extension language, universal cut/copy/paste, and printing of the resulting 
images. \



\section{AVAILABLE SYSTEMS} \


The first attempt to create a comprehensive user interface system was the 
Andrew User Interface System[10, 2].  Developed in C for Unix at Carnegie 
Mellon University, the system has now been converted to the C++ 
object-oriented language.  Based on ideas from Andrew and Interviews[5], an 
X Consortium committee is defining the Fresco system[4].  Commercial 
systems are just beginning to be introduced and include OLE[6] from 
Microsoft and OpenDoc[8] from the Component Integration Laboratory.  The 
latter three systems do not actually offer key applications;  the 
expectation is that vendors will offer them once the framework is in place. 
 OpenDoc is even more focused in that it does not even define a graphic 
layer; applications in OpenDoc adopt whatever graphics layer is 
appropriate.


As an example of a user interface system, the Andrew User Interface System 
(AUIS) offers several stand-alone applications:  word processing, shell 
interface, help browser, and a MIME compatible mail and bulletin board 
reader, writer, and manager.  Among the objects available as both 
applications and embeddable objects are images, drawings, spreadsheets, 
equations, and simple animations.  There is a collection of small widget 
objects and a dozen other interesting objects that are not usually used as 
stand-alone editors.  Extensibility is supported with a template generator 
for coding objects, an application builder[7], and an extension language 
[3]. \



\section{HCI CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES} \


Since a UIS defines a community of inter-operating applications and 
objects, the user can be expected to interact with many of them, often 
simultaneously.  The HCI worker is challenged to develop habitable 
interfaces for each application.  More challenging, however, is to develop 
interfaces that are harmonious between applications so that behavior 
learned in one application will be useful--or at least harmless--in 
another.  The Macintosh environment[1] and Motif[9] both offer guidelines 
for user interfaces, but there is significant room for improvement. \



In a good UIS, user interface actions are encapsulated into objects.  Thus 
the HCI practitioner has a unique opportunity to explore alternate 
interfaces to multiple applications by just changing a single object.  This 
can be exploited during development or as an independent variable in an 
experiment. \



Once an interface has been constructed, the HCI scientist must measure how 
humans react to it and interact with it.  Typically, users are videotaped 
to record their gross behavior and the software logs each input 
interaction.  Logging is facilitated by the UIS in those architectures 
where all inputs are initially fielded by a central routine which 
distributes them to the appropriate object.  The UIS can also be utilized 
to quickly create applications which present questionnaires to gather 
user's subjective reactions. \



\section{SOFTWARE INTERFACES} \


In evaluating user interface systems, there are several programmer 
interfaces to look for.  These permit sharing of resources between an 
object and the substrate in which it is embedded [11, 12].  Among the 
resources to share are screen space, user input devices, file data streams, 
memory, execution time, printed page, and access to the extension language. 


\formatnote{.ne 1.2i}

\section{REFERENCES}

\bib{[1] Apple Computer, \italic{Macintosh Human Interface Guidelines}, 
Apple technical library, Addison-Wesley, Reading, Mass, 1992.

[2]  Borenstein, Nathaniel S., \italic{Multimedia Applications Development 
with the Andrew Toolkit}, Prentice Hall, 1990. \


[3]  Hansen, Wilfred J., Enhancing documents with embedded programs: How 
Ness extends insets in the Andrew Toolkit, \italic{Proceedings of IEEE 
Computer Society 1990 International Conference on Computer Languages}, 
(March, 1990, New Orleans), IEEE Computer Society Press, Los Alamitos, CA, 
1990, pp. 23-32. \


[4] Linton, M. and C. Price, Building Distributed User Interfaces with 
Fresco, \italic{Proceedings of the 7th X Technical Conference}, (January, 
1993, Boston, Massachusetts), X Consortium, Boston, MA, 1993, pp. 77-87. \


[5] Linton, M. A., J. M. Vlissides, P. R. Calder, Composing user interfaces 
with interviews, \italic{IEEE Computer} 22(2), February, 1989, 8-22. \


[6] Microsoft Corp., \italic{Object Linking and Embedding (OLE)}, Part No. 
098-31727, Microsoft Corp., Redmond, WA, 1992.

[7] Neuendorffer, Thomas,  "ADEW: A Multimedia Interface Builder for 
Andrew", \italic{ Proceedings Multi-Media Communications, Applications and 
Technology Workshop}, (Sydney, Australia, 1-2 July, 1991) ftp: 
emsworth.andrew.cmu.edu: papers/\{atk,ps\}/Neuendorffer.ADEW, 1991. \


[8] OpenDoc Design Team, \italic{OpenDoc Technical Summary}, Apple 
Computer, ftp:cil.org:/pub/opendoc-interest/OD-tech-summary.RTF, October, 
1993.

[9] Open Software Foundation, \italic{OSF/MOTIF Style Guide}, Prentice 
Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, 1990.

[10] Andrew J. Palay, Wilfred J. Hansen, et al., The Andrew Toolkit - An 
Overview, Usenix Conference, Dallas, TX, January, 1988. \


[11] Palay, Andrew J., Towards an "Operating System" for User Interface 
Components, in \italic{Multimedia Interface Design} ed. Meera M. Blattner 
and Roger B. Dannenberg, ACM Press, New York, 1992. \


[12]  Sherman, Mark, D. Anderson, W. J. Hansen, T. P. Neuendorffer, A. J. 
 Palay, Z. Stern, "Allocation of User-Interface Resources in the Andrew 
Toolkit,", \italic{Proceedings of the International Conference on 
Multimedia Information Systems} (Singapore, January, 1991), McGraw-Hill, 
New York, 1991. \


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