chapter 16
dialogue notations and
design
Dialogue Notations and Design
• Dialogue Notations
– Diagrammatic
• state transition networks, JSD diagrams, flow charts
– Textual
• formal grammars, production rules, CSP
• Dialogue linked to
– the semantics of the system – what it does
– the presentation of the system – how it looks
• Formal descriptions can be analysed
– for inconsistent actions
– for difficult to reverse actions
– for missing actions
– for potential miskeying errors
what is dialogue?
• conversation between two or more parties
– usually cooperative
• in user interfaces
– refers to the structure of the interaction
– syntactic level of human–computer ‘conversation’
• levels
– lexical – shape of icons, actual keys pressed
– syntactic – order of inputs and outputs
– semantic – effect on internal application/data
structured human dialogue
• human-computer dialogue very constrained
• some human-human dialogue formal too …
Minister: do you man’s name take this woman …
Man: I do
Minister: do you woman’s name take this man …
Woman: I do
Man: With this ring I thee wed
(places ring on womans finger)
Woman: With this ring I thee wed (places ring ..)
Minister: I now pronounce you man and wife
lessons about dialogue
• wedding service
– sort of script for three parties
– specifies order
– some contributions fixed – “I do”
– others variable – “do you man’s name …”
– instructions for ring
concurrent with saying words “with this ring …”
• if you say these words are you married?
– only if in the right place, with marriage licence
– syntax not semantics
… and more
• what if woman says “I don’t”?
• real dialogues often have alternatives:
Judge: How do you plead guilty or not guilty?
Defendant: either Guilty or Not guilty
– the process of the trial depends on the defendants
response
• focus on normative responses
– doesn’t cope with judge saying “off with her head”
– or in computer dialogue user standing on keyboard!
dialogue design notations
• dialogue gets buried in the program
• in a big system can we:
– analyse the dialogue:
• can the user always get to see current shopping basket
– change platforms (e.g. Windows/Mac)
– dialogue notations helps us to
• analyse systems
• separate lexical from semantoc
• … and before the system is built
– notations help us understand proposed designs
graphical notations
state-transition nets (STN)
Petri nets, state charts
flow charts, JSD diagrams
State transition networks
(STN)
• circles - states
• arcs - actions/events
click on
click on centre circumference
Circle 1 Circle 2 Finish
select 'circle' rubber band draw circle
Start Menu
select 'line' click on
first point double click
Line 1 Line 2 Finish
rubber band draw last
line
click on point
draw a line
State transition networks -
events
• arc labels a bit cramped because:
– notation is `state heavy‘
– the events require most detail
click on
click on centre circumference
Circle 1 Circle 2 Finish
rubber band draw circle
select 'circle'
Start Menu
select 'line' click on
first point double click
Line 1 Line 2 Finish
rubber band draw last
line
click on point
draw a line
State transition networks -
states
• labels in circles a bit uninformative:
– states are hard to name
– but easier to visualise
click on
click on centre circumference
Circle 1 Circle 2 Finish
rubber band draw circle
select 'circle'
Start Menu
select 'line'
... ... ...
Hierarchical STNs
• managing complex dialogues
• named sub-dialogues
Graphics Submenu
select ‘graphics’
Text Submenu
select ‘text’
Main
Menu
Paint Submenu
select ‘paint’
Concurrent dialogues - I
simple dialogue box
Text Style
bold
example italic
underline
Concurrent dialogues - II
three toggles - individual STNs
click on ‘bold’
NO
bold
bold bold
click on ‘italic’
NO
italic
italic italic
click on ‘underline’
NO
u’line
u’line underline
Concurrent dialogues - III
bold and italic combined
Text Style
bold
NO click on ‘bold’ bold example italic
style only underline
click click
on on
‘italic’ ‘italic’
italic click on ‘bold’ bold
only italic
Concurrent dialogues - IV
all together - combinatorial explosion
Text Style
NO ‘bold’ bold bold
style only example italic
‘underline’ ‘underline’ underline
‘italic’ ‘italic’
u’line ‘bold’ bold
only u’line
‘italic’ ‘italic’
italic ‘bold’ bold
only italic
‘underline’ ‘underline’
bold
italic ‘bold’ italic
u’line u’line
escapes
• ‘back’ in web, escape/cancel keys
– similar behaviour everywhere
– end up with spaghetti of identical behaviours
• try to avoid this Graphics Submenu ESC
select ‘graphics’
normal
e.g. on high level diagram finish
‘normal’ exit for select ‘text’
Text Submenu ESC
Main
each submenu Menu normal
plus separate finish
escape arc active Paint Submenu ESC
‘everywhere’ in submenu
select ‘paint’ normal
finish
help menus
• similar problems
– nearly the same everywhere
– but return to same point in dialogue
– could specify on STN … but very messy
– usually best added at a ‘meta’ level
click on centre click on circumference
from
Circle 1 Circle 2 Finish
Menu rubber band draw circle
press HELP press HELP
button button
Help Subsystem Help Subsystem
Petri nets
• one of the oldest notations in computing!
• flow graph:
– places – a bit like STN states
– transitions – a bit like STN arcs
– counters – sit on places (current state)
• several counters allowed
– concurrent dialogue states
• used for UI specification (ICO at Toulouse)
– tool support – Petshop
Petri net example
Bold On Italic On
user presses user presses
‘Bold’ ‘Italic’
T1 T2 T3 T4
Bold Off Italic Off
user actions transition ‘fires’
represented when all input
as a new counter places have counters
State charts
• used in UML
• extension to STN
Standby
– hierarchy
– concurrent sub-nets ON OFF
RESET
– escapes
• OFF always active Sound Channel
– history 1
H
SEL
• link marked H On
2
goes back to last MUTE
SEL SEL
state on re-entering Off 3
subdialogue SEL
4
Flowcharts
Delete D1
Please enter
employee no.: ____
• familiar to C1
read record
programmers
• boxes Delete D2 Delete D3
- process/event
Name: Alan Dix Name: Alan Dix
Dept: Computing Dept: Computing
delete? (Y/N): _ delete? (Y/N): _
- not state
Please enter Y or N
• use for dialogue answer?
C2 other
(not internal algorithm)
Y N Finish
C3
delete record
Finish
it works!
• formal notations – too much work?
• COBOL transaction processing
– event-driven – like web interfaces
– programs structure
Delete D1
Please enter
employee no.: ____
≠ dialogue structure
• used dialogue flow charts
C1
read record
– discuss with clients Delete
Name: Alan Dix
D2 Delete D3
delete? (Y/N): _
– transform to code
Dept: Computing Please enter Y or N
delete? (Y/N): _
– systematic testing answer?
C2
other
– 1000% productivity gain
Y N Finish
C3
• formalism saves time!!
delete record
Finish
JSD diagrams
• for tree structured dialogues
– less expressive
Personnel
– greater clarity Record
System
login transaction
* logout
add change display delete
employee employee employee employee
record record record record
textual notations
grammars
production rules
CSP and event algebras
Textual - Grammars
• Regular expressions
sel-line click click* dble-click
• compare with JSD
• same computational model
• different notation
• BNF
expr ::= empty
| atom expr
| '(' expr ')' expr
• more powerful than regular exp. or STNs
• Still NO concurrent dialogue
Production rules
• Unordered list of rules:
if condition then action
– condition based on state or pending events
– every rule always potentially active
• Good for concurrency
• Bad for sequence
Event based production rules
Sel-line first
C-point first rest
C-point rest rest
D-point rest < draw line >
• Note:
– events added to list of pending events
– ‘first’ and ‘rest’ are internally generated events
• Bad at state!
Prepositional Production System
• State based
• Attributes:
Mouse: { mouse-off, select-line, click-point, double-click }
Line-state: { menu, first, rest }
• Rules (feedback not shown):
select-line mouse-off first
click-point first mouse-off rest
click-point rest mouse-off
double-click rest mouse-off menu
• Bad at events!
CSP and process algebras
• used in Alexander's SPI, and Agent notation
• good for sequential dialogues
Bold-tog = select-bold? bold-on select-bold?
bold-off Bold-tog
Italic-tog = . . .
Under-tog = . . .
• and concurrent dialogue
Dialogue-box = Bold-tog || Italic-tog || Under-tog
• but causality unclear
Dialogue Notations -
Summary
• Diagrammatic
• STN, JSD, Flow charts
• Textual
• grammars, production rules, CSP
• Issues
• event base vs. state based
• power vs. clarity
• model vs. notation
• sequential vs. concurrent
Semantics Alexander SPI (i)
• Two part specication:
• EventCSP - pure dialogue order
• EventISL - target dependent semantics
• dialogue description - centralised
• syntactic/semantic trade-off - tollerable
Semantics Alexander SPI (ii)
• EventCSP
Login = login-mess -> get-name -> Passwd
Passwd = passwd-mess -> (invalid -> Login [] valid -> Session)
• EventISL
event: login-mess
prompt: true
out: “Login:”
event: get-name
uses: input
set: user-id = input
event: valid
uses: input, user-id, passwd-db
wgen: passwd-id = passwd-db(user-id)
Semantics - raw code
• event loop for word processor
switch ( ev.type ) {
case button_down:
• dialogue description if ( in_text ( ev.pos ) ) {
- very distributed mode = selecting;
mark_selection_start(ev.pos);
}
• syntactic/semantic trade-off ...
case button_up:
- terrible! if ( in_text ( ev.pos )
&& mode == selecting ) {
mode = normal;
mark_selection_end(ev.pos);
}
...
case mouse_move:
if (mode == selecting ) {
extend_selection(ev.pos);
}
...
} /* end of switch */
Action properties
• completeness
• missed arcs
• unforeseen circumstances
• determinism
• several arcs for one action
• deliberate: application decision
• accident: production rules
• nested escapes
• consistency
• same action, same effect?
• modes and visibility
Checking properties (i)
• completeness
– double-click in circle states?
double
?
click
click on
click on centre circumference
Circle 1 Circle 2 Finish
rubber band draw circle
select 'circle'
Start Menu
select 'line' click on
first point double click
Line 1 Line 2 Finish
rubber band draw last
line
click on point
draw a line
Checking properties (ii)
select 'circle'
... ... ...
Start Menu
select 'line' click on
double click
• Reversibility: Line 1
first point
rubber band
Line 2
draw last
Finish
line
– to reverse select `line' click on point
draw a line
Graphics Sub-menu
select 'graphics'
Main
Menu
select 'text' ... ... ...
... ... ...
select 'paint'
Checking properties (ii)
select 'circle'
... ... ...
Start Menu
select 'line' click on
double click
• Reversibility: Line 1
first point
rubber band
Line 2
draw last
Finish
line
– to reverse select `line' click on point
draw a line
– click
Graphics Sub-menu
select 'graphics'
Main
Menu
select 'text' ... ... ...
... ... ...
select 'paint'
Checking properties (ii)
select 'circle'
... ... ...
Start Menu
select 'line' click on
double click
• Reversibility: Line 1
first point
rubber band
Line 2
draw last
Finish
line
– to reverse select `line' click on point
draw a line
– click - double click
Graphics Sub-menu
select 'graphics'
Main
Menu
select 'text' ... ... ...
... ... ...
select 'paint'
Checking properties (ii)
select 'circle'
... ... ...
Start Menu
select 'line' click on
double click
• Reversibility: Line 1
first point
rubber band
Line 2
draw last
Finish
line
– to reverse select `line' click on point
draw a line
– click - double click - select `graphics'
– (3 actions)
Graphics Sub-menu
• N.B. not undo select 'graphics'
Main
Menu
select 'text' ... ... ...
... ... ...
select 'paint'
State properties
• reachability
• can you get anywhere from anywhere?
• and how easily
• reversibility
• can you get to the previous state?
• but NOT undo
• dangerous states
• some states you don't want to get to
Dangerous States
• word processor: two modes and exit
F1 - changes mode
F2 - exit (and save)
Esc - no mode change
Esc
F1 F2
edit menu exit
but ... Esc resets autosave
Dangerous States (ii)
• exit with/without save dangerous states
• duplicate states - semantic distinction
F1 F2
edit menu exit
any Esc
update
F1 F2
edit menu exit
F1-F2 - exit with save
F1-Esc-F2 - exit with no save Esc
Lexical Issues
• visibility
• differentiate modes and states
• annotations to dialogue
• style
• command - verb noun
• mouse based - noun verb
• layout
• not just appearance ...
layout matters
• word processor - dangerous states
F1 F2
edit menu exit
any Esc
update
• old keyboard - OK F1 F2
edit menu exit
Esc
Esc 1
tab ...
F1 F2
...
F3 F4
... ...
layout matters
• new keyboard layout
Esc F1 F2 F3 ...
intend F1-F2 (save) F1 F2
edit menu exit
finger catches Esc
any Esc
update
F1 F2
edit menu exit
Esc
layout matters
• new keyboard layout
Esc F1 F2 F3 ...
intend F1-F2 (save) F1 F2
edit menu exit
finger catches Esc
any Esc
update
F1-Esc-F2 - disaster! F1 F2
edit menu exit
Esc
Dialogue Analysis - Summary
• Semantics and dialogue
• attaching semantics
• distributed/centralised dialogue description
• maximising syntactic description
• Properties of dialogue
• action properties: completeness, determinism,
consistency
• state properties: reachability, reversibility, dangerous
states
• Presentation and lexical issues
• visibility, style, layout
• N.B. not independent of dialogue
Dialogue Analysis - Summary
• Semantics and dialogue
• attaching semantics
• distributed/centralised dialogue description
• maximising syntactic description
• Properties of dialogue
• action properties: completeness, determinism,
consistency
• state properties: reachability, reversibility, dangerous
states
• Presentation and lexical issues
• visibility, style, layout
• N.B. not independent of dialogue
Digital watch – User
Instructions
Time display Stop watch
SMTWTFS SMTWTFS
• two main modes A STP
• limited interface
- 3 buttons Depress
button A
A A for 2 seconds
• button A
SMTWTFS SMTWTFS
changes mode SET A ALM
AM
Time setting Alarm setting
Digital watch – User
Instructions
Time display Stop watch
SMTWTFS SMTWTFS
A
• dangerous states STP
• guarded
… by two second hold
Depress
button A
A A for 2 seconds
• completeness
• distinguish depress A SMTWTFS SMTWTFS
and release A SET A ALM
• what do they do AM
in all modes? Time setting Alarm setting
Digital watch – Designers
instructions Time display Stop watch
SMTWTFS SMTWTFS
STP
and ... Depress A
Release A Release A
that’s just
SMTWTFS SMTWTFS
STP
one button
2 seconds 2 seconds
Depress A
SMTWTFS SMTWTFS
Release A Release A
SET Depress A ALM
AM
Time setting Alarm setting
