Modern applications such as Microsoft Word have many automatic features and hidden dependencies that are frequently helpful but can be mysterious to both novice and expert users. The “Crystal ” application framework provides an architecture and interaction techniques that allow programmers to create applications that let the user ask a wide variety of questions about why things did and did not happen, and how to use the related features of the application without using natural language. A user can point to an object or a blank space and get a popup list of questions about it, or the user can ask about recent actions from a temporal list. Parts of a text editor were implemented to show that these techniques are feasible, and a user test suggests that they are helpful and well-liked.

Modern applications such as Microsoft Word have many automatic features and hidden dependencies that are frequently helpful but can be mysterious to both novice and expert users. The "Crystal" application framework provides an architecture and interaction techniques that allow programmers to create applications that let the user ask a wide variety of questions about why things did and did not happen, and how to use the related features of the application without using natural language. A user can point to an object or a blank space and get a popup list of questions about it, or the user can ask about recent actions from a temporal list. Parts of a text editor were implemented to show that these techniques are feasible, and a user test suggests that they are helpful and well-liked.

Our research is highlighting some potential directions for the future of user interface design tools. One approach is to make the tools and their SDKs more usable, effective and understandable by making them more natural. Another is to take advantage of an "open data model" to more easily integrate new components. In addition, programming-bydemonstration techniques and model-based automatic generation still hold much promise.