Dips and ceilings

Abstract

Interface guidelines encourage designers to include shortcut mechanisms that enable high levels of expert performance, but prior research has demonstrated that few users switch to using them. To help understand how interfaces can better support a transition to expert performance we develop a framework of the interface and human factors influencing expertise development. We then present a system called Blur that addresses three main problems in promoting the transition: prompting an initial switch to expert techniques, minimising the performance dip arising from the switch, and enabling a high performance ceiling. Blur observes the user"s interaction with unaltered desktop applications and uses calm notification to support learning and promote awareness of an alternative hot command interface. An empirical study validates Blur"s design, showing that users make an early and sustained switch to hot commands, and that doing so improves their performance and satisfaction.

KnobSlider

“…It can also study how to promote users' transition to expert functions, as SCIs will get more sophisticated. It can refer research in GUI, e.g., [30].…”

“…R6. Retro-compatibility with current interaction: it is arduous for users to give up current UIs -even though new ones can be beneficial in the long term [30]. This can be supported by standard operations of standard devices and customizability.…”

Plateaus, Dips, and Leaps: Where to Look for Inventions and Discoveries During Skilled Performance

“…This led us to "something new," the distinction between performance plateaus and performance asymptotes-an essential distinction for those who believe that performance could or should be better than it is. One route, plateaus, leads towards human training (e.g., Ericsson et al, 1993), whereas the other route, asymptotes, leads toward human factors engineering (e.g., Cockburn et al, 2014;Gray, John, & Atwood, 1993;Scarr, Cockburn, Gutwin, & Quinn, 2011). To put this as clearly as we can, a plateau exists when there is a better goal (or better method for implementing an existing goal).…”

Impact of semantic aids on command memorization for on-body interaction and directional gestures

“…User interfaces mostly rely on recognition: the user must typically recognize the command she wants to perform in a set of buttons or in a list of menu items. However, recall, which does not require searching commands, is believed to provide better speed performance [38,40] and better accuracy especially when items are small [37]. This is especially true for repetitive actions, which users might perform very often in their life.…”