EXPERIMENTAL COMPARISON BETWEEN AUTOMATIC AND MANUAL MENU INTERFACE DESIGN METHODS

Authors
Citation
P. Shoval, EXPERIMENTAL COMPARISON BETWEEN AUTOMATIC AND MANUAL MENU INTERFACE DESIGN METHODS, Interacting with computers, 7(1), 1995, pp. 73-89
Citations number
26
Categorie Soggetti
Computer Sciences, Special Topics","Computer Science Interdisciplinary Applications
Journal title
ISSN journal
09535438
Volume
7
Issue
1
Year of publication
1995
Pages
73 - 89
Database
ISI
SICI code
0953-5438(1995)7:1<73:ECBAAM>2.0.ZU;2-D
Abstract
An experimental comparison between two methods of designing a menu-tre e interface for an information system is described. The 'automatic' me thod is based on the ADISSA methodology (architectural design of infor mation systems based on structured analysis) according to which the in terface is derived automatically from dataflow diagrams (DFD) as a by- product of the system analysis stage. In the 'manual' ('conventional') method the designer constructs an appropriate interface by applying c ommon principles of interface design. The objective of the experiment is to find out which design method yields a better initial interface, before it is given to users for further improvements. The user's viewp oint is adopted i.e., the interface was evaluated subjectively. The hy pothesis is that menu-trees designed automatically are as good as thos e designed by people. The experiment included six information system d evelopment projects. One menu-tree interface was designed automaticall y for each system. Four others were designed manually by different des igners who were assigned randomly to the systems. The five different i nterfaces of each system were given to 16 potential users for evaluati on and comparison. Analysis of the results revealed no significant dif ference between the mean scores of the two types of interface. Noting that the automatic menus are obtained as a by-product of the system an alysis stage, and that they can be improved by users during prototypin g, it is concluded that the method provides a good start for the inter face design.