A toolset supported approach for designing and testing virtual environmentinteraction techniques

Usability problems associated with virtual environments are a serious obsta cle to their successful development. One source of these problems is that v irtual environment toolkits provide only a small number of predefined inter action techniques that are expected to be used regardless of context, hence developers are not encouraged to consider interaction. In addition, there are no generally accepted development methodologies for virtual environment s. Therefore, even when developers do consider interaction, it is likely to be in an ad hoc fashion driven by technology rather than requirements. If virtual environments are to be useful in a wider context, it is important t o provide developers with methods (and tools to support the methods) by whi ch interaction techniques can be systematically designed, tested and refine d. In this paper we present the Marigold toolset which supports such a develop ment process. The process begins with a visual specification of the techniq ue being designed. This is requirements centred because it abstracts from i mplementation issues. Using the toolset, this specification is refined to a prototype implementation so that the technique can be explored in the cont ext of the other elements of the environment. In this way, the developer ca n verify the technique against requirements in both the specification and p rototype. Additionally, because the specification is readily understandable , users can be involved at both stages of the process. (C) 2001 Academic Press.