Unit-3: Command and Natural Languages

The Basic Goals of Language Design:

• Precision

• Compactness

• Ease in writing and reading

• Speed in learning

• Simplicity to reduce errors

• Ease of retention over time

Higher-Level Goals of Language Design

• Close correspondence between reality and the notation

• Convenience in carrying out manipulations relevant to user's tasks

• Compatibility with existing notations

• Flexibility to accommodate novice and expert users

• Expressiveness to encourage creativity

• Visual appeal

Functionality to Support User’s Tasks

Users do wide range of work:

• text editing

• electronic mail

• financial management

• airline or hotel reservations

• inventory

• manufacturing process control

• gaming

Designers should

• determine functionality of the system by studying users' task domain

 • create a list of task actions and objects

• abstract this list into a set of interface actions and objects

• represent low-level interface syntax

• create a table of user communities and tasks, with expected use frequency

• determine hierarchy of importance of user communities (i.e. prime users)

• evaluate destructive actions (e.g. deleting objects) to ensure reversibility

• identify error conditions and prepare error messages

• allow shortcuts for expert users, such as macros and customizing system parameters

Command-Organization Strategies

A unifying interface concept or metaphor aids

– learning

– problem solving

– retention

Designers often err by choosing a metaphor closer

to machine domain than to the user's task domain.

Simple command set

– Each command is chosen to carry out a single task. The number of commands
match the number of tasks.

– For small number of tasks, this can produce a system easy to learn and use.

E.g. the vi editor of Unix.

Command plus arguments/options

Command plus arguments

• Follow each command by one or more arguments that indicate objects to be

manipulated, e.g.

– COPY FILEA, FILEB

– DELETE FILEA

– PRINT FILEA, FILEB, FILEC

 • Keyword labels for arguments are helpful for some users, e.g. COPY FROM=FILEA
TO=FILEB.

• Commands may also have options to indicate special cases, e.g.:

– PRINT/3,HQ FILEA

– PRINT (3, HQ) FILEA

– PRINT FILEA -3, HQ

To produce 3 copies of FILEA on the printer in the headquarters building.

• Error rates and the need for extensive training increase with the number of possible
options.

The Benefits of Structure

Human learning, problem solving, and memory

are greatly facilitated by meaningful structure.

Beneficial for
task concepts
computer concepts
syntactic details of command languages

Consistent Argument Ordering

Hierarchical command structure

– The full set of commands is organized into a tree structure

Inconsistent order of arguments Consistent
order of =arguments
– 5x3x4 60 tasks with 5 command names and 1 rule of formation
SEARCH file no, message id SEARCH message
id, file no
TRIM message id, segment size TRIM message id,
segment size
REPLACE message id, code no REPLACE message
id, code no
INVERT group size, message id INVERT message
id, group size
Symbols versus Keywords

Command structure affects performance

Naming and Abbreviations

There is often a lack of consistency or obvious strategy for construction of command

abbreviations.

Specificity Versus Generality

Six Potential Abbreviation Strategies

1. Simple truncation: The first, second, third, etc. letters of each command.

2. Vowel drop with simple truncation: Eliminate vowels and use some of what
remains.

3. First and last letter: Since the first and last letters are highly visible, use them.

4. First letter of each word in a phrase: Use with a hierarchical design plan.

5. Standard abbreviations from other contexts: Use familiar abbreviations.

6. Phonics: Focus attention on the sound.

Guidelines for using abbreviations

Ehrenreich and Porcu (1982) offer this set of guidelines:

• A simple primary rule should be used to generate abbreviations for most items; a
simple secondary rule should be used for those items where there is a conflict.

• Abbreviations generated by the secondary rule should have a marker (for example,
an asterisk) incorporated in them.

• The number of words abbreviated by the secondary rule should be kept to a

minimum.

• Users should be familiar with the rules used to generate abbreviations.

• Truncation should be used because it is an easy rule for users to comprehend and
remember. However, when it produces a large number of identical abbreviations for
different words, adjustments must be found.

• Fixed-length abbreviations should be used in preference to variable-length ones.

• Abbreviations should not be designed to incorporate endings (ING, ED, S).

• Unless there is a critical space problem, abbreviations should not be used in

messages generated by the computer and read by the user.

Command-language guidelines

Natural Language in Computing

• Natural-language interaction

• Natural-language queries and question answering

• Text-database searching

• Natural-language text generation

• Adventure games and instructional systems

 Interaction Devices

Keyboard Layouts

• QWERTY layout

– 1870 Christopher Latham Sholes

– good mechanical design and a clever placement of the letters that

slowed down the users enough that key jamming was infrequent

– put frequently used letter pairs far apart, thereby increasing finger
travel distances

• Dvorak layout

– 1920

– reduces finger travel distances by at least one order of magnitude

– Acceptance has been slow despite the dedicated efforts of some

devotees

– it takes about 1 week of regular typing to make the switch, but

most users have been unwilling to invest the effort

• ABCDE style

– 26 letters of the alphabet laid out in alphabetical order nontypists

will find it easier to locate the keys

• Additional keyboard issues

– IBM PC keyboard was widely criticized because of the placement

of a few keys

• backslash key where most typists expect SHIFT key

• placement of several special characters near the ENTER key

– Number pad layout

wrist and hand placement

• Keys

– 1/2 inch square keys

– 1/4 inch spacing between keys

– slight concave surface

– matte finish to reduce glare finger slippage

– 40- to 125-gram force to activate

– 3 to 5 millimeters displacement

– tactile and audible feedback important

– certain keys should be larger (e.g. ENTER, SHIFT, CTRL)

– some keys require state indicator, such as lowered position or light

indicator (e.g. CAPS LOCK)

– key labels should be large, meaningful, permanent

– some "home" keys may have additional features, such as deeper

cavity or small raised dot, to help user locate their fingers properly
(caution - no standard for this)

• Function keys

– users must either remember each key's function, identify them

from the screen's display, or use a template over the keys in order
to identify them properly

– can reduce number of keystrokes and errors

– meaning of each key can change with each application

– placement on keyboard can affect efficient use

– special-purpose displays often embed function keys in monitor

bezel

– lights next to keys used to indicate availability of the function, or

on/off status
 – typically simply labeled F1, F2, etc, though some may also have
meaningful labels, such as CUT, COPY, etc.

– frequent movement between keyboard home position and mouse

or function keys can be disruptive to use

– alternative is to use closer keys (e.g. ALT or CTRL) and one letter to
indicate special function

• Cursor movement keys

– up, down, left, right

– some keyboards also provide diagonals

– best layout is natural positions

– inverted-T positioning allows users to place their middle three

fingers in a way that reduces hand and finger movement

– cross arrangement better for novices than linear or box

– typically include typamatic (auto-repeat) feature

– important for form-fillin and direct manipulation

– other movements may be performed with other keys, such as TAB,

ENTER, HOME, etc.

• Keyboard and keypads for small devices

– Wireless or foldable keyboards

– Virtual keyboards

– Cloth keyboards

– Soft keys

– Pens and touchscreens

Pointing Devices

Pointing devices are applicable in six types of interaction tasks:

• 1. Select:

– user chooses from a set of items.

– used for traditional menu selection, identification of a file in a

directory, or marking of a part in an automobile design.

• 2. Position:

– user chooses a point in a one-, two-, three-, or higher-dimensional

space

– used to create a drawing, to place a new window, or to drag a

block of text in a figure.

• 3. Orient:

– user chooses a direction in a two-, three-, or higher-dimensional

space.

– direction may simply rotate a symbol on the screen, indicate a

direction of motion for a space ship, or control the operation of a
robot arm.

• 4. Path:

– user rapidly performs a series of position and orient operations.

– may be realized as a curving line in a drawing program, the

instructions for a cloth cutting machine, or the route on a map.

• 5. Quantify:

– user specifies a numeric value.

– usually a one-dimensional selection of integer or real values to set

parameters, such as the page number in a document, the velocity
of a ship, or the amplitude of a sound.
 • 6. Text:

– user enters, moves, and edits text in a two-dimensional space. The

– pointing device indicates the location of an insertion, deletion, or

change.

– more elaborate tasks, such as centering; margin setting; font sizes;

highlighting, such as boldface or underscore; and page layout.

Direct-control pointing devices

• lightpen

– enabled users to point to a spot on a screen and to perform a

select, position, or other task

– it allows direct control by pointing to a spot on the display

– incorporates a button for the user to press when the cursor is

resting on the desired spot on the screen
 – lightpen has three disadvantages: users' hands obscured part of
the screen, users had to remove their hands from the keyboard,
and users had to pick up the lightpen

• Touchscreen

– allows direct control touches on the screen using a finger

– early designs were rightly criticized for causing fatigue, hand-

obscuring-the-screen, hand-off-keyboard, imprecise pointing, and
the eventual smudging of the display

– lift-off strategy enables users to point at a single pixel

– the users touch the surface

– then see a cursor that they can drag around on the display

– when the users are satisfied with the position, they lift their
fingers off the display to activate

– can produce varied displays to suit the task

– are fabricated integrally with display surfaces

Tablet PCs and Mobile Devices:

• Natural to point on the LCD surface

• Stylus

• Keep context in view

• Pick up & put down stylus

• Gestures and handwriting recognition

Indirect pointing devices:

• mouse

– the hand rests in a comfortable position, buttons on the mouse

are easily pressed, even long motions can be rapid, and
positioning can be precise
 • trackball

– usually implemented as a rotating ball 1 to 6 inches in diameter

that moves a cursor

• joystick

– are appealing for tracking purposes

• graphics tablet

– a touch-sensitive surface separate from the screen

• touchpad

– built-in near the keyboard offers the convenience and precision of

a touchscreen while keeping the user's hand off the display
surface

Comparison of pointing devices

• Human-factors variables

– speed of motion for short and long distances

– accuracy of positioning

– error rates

– learning time

– user satisfaction

• Other variables

– cost

– durability

– space requirements

– weight

– left- versus right-hand use

 – likelihood to cause repetitive-strain injury

– compatibility with other systems

• Some results

– direct pointing devices faster, but less accurate

– graphics tablets are appealing when user can remain with device
for long periods without switching to keyboard

– mouse is faster than isometric joystick

– for tasks that mix typing and pointing, cursor keys a faster and are
preferred by users to a mouse

– muscular strain is low for cursor keys

• Fitts' Law

– Index of difficulty = log2 (2D / W)

– Time to point = C1 + C2 (index of difficulty)

– C1 and C2 and constants that depend on the device

– Index of difficulty is log2 (2*8/1) = log2(16) = 4 bits

– A three-component equation was thus more suited for the high-

precision pointing task:

– Time for precision pointing = C1 + C2 (index of difficulty) + C3 log2

(C4 / W)

Novel devices

1. Foot controls

2. Eye-tracking

3. Multiple-degrees-of-freedom devices

4. DataGlove

5. Haptic feedback
 6. Bimanual input

7. Ubiquitous computing and tangible user interfaces

8. Handheld devices

9. Smart pens

10.Table top touch screens

11.Game controllers

Speech and auditory interfaces

• Speech recognition still does not match the fantasy of science fiction:

– demands of user's working memory

– background noise problematic

– variations in user speech performance impacts effectiveness

– most useful in specific applications, such as to benefit

handicapped users
Discrete word recognition

– recognize individual words spoken by a specific person; can work

with 90- to 98-percent reliability for 20 to 200 word vocabularies

– Speaker-dependent training, in which the user repeats the full

vocabulary once or twice

– Speaker-independent systems are beginning to be reliable enough

for certain commercial applications

– been successful in enabling bedridden, paralyzed, or otherwise

disabled people

– also useful in applications with at least one of the following

conditions:

• speaker's hands are occupied

• mobility is required

• speaker's eyes are occupied

• harsh or cramped conditions preclude use of keyboard

– voice-controlled editor versus keyboard editor

• lower task-completion rate

• lower error rate

– use can disrupt problem solving

• Continuous-speech recognition

– Not generally available:

• difficulty in recognizing boundaries between spoken words

• normal speech patterns blur boundaries

• many potentially useful applications if perfected

• Speech store and forward

 – Voice mail users can

• receive messages

• replay messages

• reply to caller

• forward messages to other users, delete messages

• archive messages

• Systems are low cost and reliable.

• Voice information systems

– Stored speech commonly used to provide information about

tourist sites, government services, after-hours messages for
organizations

– Low cost

– Voice prompts

– Deep and complex menus frustrating

– Slow pace of voice output, ephemeral nature of speech, scanning

and searching problems

– Voice mail

– Handheld voice recorders

– Audio books

– Instructional systems

• Speech generation

– Michaelis and Wiggins (1982) suggest that speech generation is

"frequently preferable" under these circumstances:

• The message is simple.

• The message is short.

 • The message will not be referred to later.

• The message deals with events in time.

• The message requires an immediate response.

• The visual channels of communication are overloaded.

• The environment is too brightly lit, too poorly lit, subject to

severe vibration, or otherwise unsuitable for transmission of
visual information.

• The user must be free to move around.

• The user is subjected to high G forces or anoxia

• Audio tones, audiolization, and music

– Sound feedback can be important:

• to confirm actions

• offer warning

• for visually-impaired users

• music used to provide mood context, e.g. in games

• can provide unique opportunities for user, e.g. with

simulating various musical instruments

Displays – Small and Large

• The display has become the primary source of feedback to the user from
the computer

– The display has many important features, including:

• Physical dimensions (usually the diagonal dimension and

depth)

• Resolution (the number of pixels available)

• Number of available colors, color correctness

 • Luminance, contrast, and glare

• Power consumption

• Refresh rates (sufficient to allow animation and video)

• Cost

• Reliability

Usage characteristics distinguish displays:

• Portability
• Privacy
• Saliency
• Ubiquity
• Simultaneity

Display technology

• Monochrome displays

– are adequate, and are attractive because of their lower cost

• RGB shadow-mask displays

– small dots of red, green, and blue phosphors packed closely

• Raster-scan cathode-ray tube (CRT)

– electron beam sweeping out lines of dots to form letters

– refresh rates 30 to 70 per second

• Liquid-crystal displays (LCDs)

– voltage changes influence the polarization of tiny capsules of

liquid crystals

– flicker-free

– size of the capsules limits the resolution

• Plasma panel
 – rows of horizontal wires are slightly separated from vertical wires
by small glass-enclosed capsules of neon-based gases

• Light-emitting diodes (LEDs)

– certain diodes emit light when a voltage is applied

– arrays of these small diodes can be assembled to display

characters

• Electronic ink

– Paper like resolution

– Tiny capsules with negatively and positively charged particles

• Braille displays

– Pins provide output for the blind

• Large displays

– Informational wall displays

– Interactive wall displays

– Multiple desktop displays

• Heads-up and helmet mounted displays

– A heads-up display can, for instance, project information on a

partially silvered widescreen of an airplane or car

– A helmet/head mounted display (HMD) moves the image with the

user

– 3D images

Mobile device displays

• Currently mobile devices used for brief tasks, except for game playing

• Optimize for repetitive tasks

• Custom designs to take advantage of every pixel

 • DataLens allows compact overviews

• Web browsing difficult

• Okay for linear reading, but making comparisons can be difficult

Animation, image, and video

• Accelerated graphics hardware

• More information shared and downloaded on the web

• Scanning of images and OCR

• Digital video

• CD-ROMs and DVDs

• Compression and decompression through MPEG

• Computer-based video conferencing