User interfaces are getting more and more complex, and adaptable and adaptive interfaces have been proposed to address this issue. Previous studies have shown that users prefer interfaces that they can simply adapt themselves to self-adjusting ones. However, most existing user interface toolkits provide very little support for creating adaptable interfaces. As a consequence, interface customization techniques are still very primitive and usually constricted to particular applications. In this paper, we present User Interface Façades, a system that provides end-users with simple ways to adapt and recombine existing graphical interfaces, through the use of drag-and-drop paradigm. User Interface Façades employs a more appropriate level of granularity for adaptation compared to previous work and also allows end-users to adapt the interaction of arbitrary applications. Finally, we show several examples to demonstrate the power of the new technique. ACM Classification: H5.2 [Information interfaces and

As noted almost a decade ago, HCI (Human-Computer Interaction) aspects of visual language environments are under-developed. This remains a fact, in spite of the central role played by user interfaces in the acceptance and usability of visual languages. We introduce ZVTM, a toolkit aimed at promoting the development of HCI aspects of visual environments by making the creation of interactive structured graphical editors easier, while favoring the rapid integration of novel interaction techniques such as zoomable user interfaces, distortion lenses, superimposed layers, and alternate scrolling and pointing methods. 1.

Although the HCI research community has contributed a number of metaphors, interaction techniques and layout algorithms to improve window management tasks, most of these ended as prototypes and only a few were implemented in real window managers. In this paper, we present Ametista, a mini-toolkit designed to facilitate the exploration of new window management techniques using both low-fidelity prototyping and a high-fidelity approach based on X Window application redirection.

Involving graphic designers in the large-scale development of user interfaces requires tools that provide more graphical flexibility and support efficient software processes. These requirements were analysed and used in the design of the TkZinc graphical library and the IntuiKit interface design environment. More flexibility is obtained through a wider palette of visual techniques and support for iterative construction of images, composition and parametric displays. More efficient processes are obtained with the use of the SVG standard to import graphics, support for linking graphics and behaviour, and a unifying model-driven architecture. We describe the corresponding features of our tools, and show their use in the development of an application for airports. Benefits include a wider access to high quality visual interfaces for specialised applications, and shorter prototyping and development cycles for multidisciplinary teams.

This article introduces the Complexity of Interaction Sequences model (CIS). CIS describes the structure of interaction techniques and predicts their performance in the context of an interaction sequence. The model defines the complexity of an interaction technique as a measure of its effectiveness within a given context. We tested CIS to compare three interaction techniques: fixed unimanual palettes, fixed bimanual palettes and toolglasses. The model predicts that the complexity of both palettes depends on interaction sequences, unlike toolglasses. CIS also predicts that fixed bimanual palettes outperform the other two techniques. Predictions were tested empirically with a controlled experiment and contrast with previous studies. We argue that, in order to be generalisable, experimental

Abstract. CPN/Tools is a major redesign of the popular Design/CPN tool for editing, simulation and state space analysis of Coloured Petri Nets. The new interface is based on advanced interaction techniques, including bi-manual interaction, toolglasses and marking menus and a new metaphor for managing the workspace. It challenges traditional ideas about user interfaces, getting rid of pull-down menus, scrollbars, and even selection, while providing the same or greater functionality. CPN/Tools requires an OpenGL graphics accelerator and will run on all major platforms (Windows, Unix/Linux, MacOS). 1 The CPN/Tools Interface Interaction techniques for desktop workstations have changed little since the creation of the Xerox Star in the early eighties. The vast majority of today’s interfaces are still based on a single mouse and keyboard to manipulate windows, icons, menus, dialog boxes, and to drag and drop objects on the screen. While these interfaces are now ubiquitous they are also reaching their limits: as new

Abstract. In this paper the implementation of a Microsoft Windows driver including APIs supporting multiple pointing devices is presented. Microsoft Windows does not natively support multiple pointing devices controlling independent cursors, and a number of solutions to this have been implemented by us and others. Here we motivate and describe a general solution, and how user applications can use it by means of a framework. The device driver and the supporting APIs will be made available free of charge. Interested parties can contact the author for more information. 1

The venerable desktop metaphor is beginning to show signs of strain in supporting modern knowledge work. In this paper, we examine how the desktop metaphor can be reframed, shifting the focus away from a low-level (and increasingly obsolete) focus on documents and applications to an interface based upon the creation of and interaction with manually declared, semantically meaningful activities. We begin by unpacking some of the foundational assumptions of desktop interface design, describe an activity-based model for organizing the desktop interface based on theories of cognition and observations of realworld practice, and identify a series of high-level system requirements for interfaces that use activity as their primary organizing principle. Based on these requirements, we present the novel interface design of the Giornata system, a prototype activity-based desktop interface, and share initial findings from a longitudinal deployment of the Giornata system in a real-world setting.

The basic elements of WIMP interfaces have proven to be robust components for building interactive systems, but these standard interactors also have limitations. On many occasions, researchers have introduced augmented GUI elements that are capable of more expressive interactions and that are better suited to user tasks. Although many of these novel designs have been effective, augmented interactors are still invented in an ad-hoc fashion, and there is no systematic way of thinking about or designing augmentations. As a result, there is little understanding of the principles underlying augmentation, the relationships between different designs, or the possibilities for creating new interactors. In this paper we present a framework that specifies elemental interactions with WIMP components and identifies the possible ways in which augmentations can occur. We show the explanatory and generative power of the framework by analysing existing and novel augmented interactions.

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