Interaction technique

An interaction technique, user interface technique or input technique is a combination of hardware and software elements that provides a way for computer users to accomplish a single task. For example, one can go back to the previously visited page on a Web browser by either clicking a button, hitting a key, performing a mouse gesture or uttering a speech command. It is a key concept in Human-Computer Interaction.

Definition

Although there is no general agreement on the exact meaning of the term "interaction technique", the most popular definition is from the computer graphics literature:

A more recent variation is:

The computing view

From the computer's perspective, an interaction technique involves:
* One or several input devices,
* A piece of code which:
** interprets user input into commands the computer can understand,
** possibly produces user feedback,
* One or several output devices.

Consider for example the process of deleting a file using a contextual menu. This first requires a mouse and a screen (input/output devices). Then, a piece of code needs to paint the contextual menu on the screen and animate the selection when the mouse moves (user feedback). The software also needs to send a command to the file system when the user clicks on the "delete" item (interpretation).

The user's view

From the user's perspective, an interaction technique is a way to perform a simple computing task and can be described by the way of instructions or usage scenarios. For example "right-click on the file you want to delete, then click on the delete item".

The conceptual view

From a conceptual standpoint, an interaction technique is a simple idea, a way to solve a well-defined user interface design problem. It does not always need to be bound to a very specific input or output device. For example, menus can be controlled with many sorts of pointing devices.

Interaction techniques as conceptual ideas can be refined, extended, modified and combined. For example, pie menus are a radial variant of contextual menus. Marking menus combine pie menus with gestures.

Interaction techniques are usually fine-grained entities. For example, a desktop environment is too complex to be an interaction technique, whereas Exposé fits the common intuitive understanding of the term perfectly well. In general, a user interface can be seen as a combination of many interaction techniques, some of which are not necessarily as well-defined as widgets.

Interaction tasks and domain objects

An interaction task is "the unit of an entry of information by the user" , such as entering a piece of text, issuing a command, or specifying a 2D position. A similar concept is that of domain object, which is a piece of application data that can be manipulated by the user.M. Beaudouin-Lafon (2000) Instrumental interaction: an interaction model for designing post-WIMP user interfaces. In Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems.]

Interaction techniques can be seen as adapters that map I/O devices to interaction tasks or to domain objects.P. Dragicevic and J-D Fekete (2004) The Input Configurator toolkit: towards high input adaptability in interactive applications. In Proceedings of the Working Conference on Advanced Visual interfaces.] Many types of interaction techniques can be used to map a specific device to a specific domain object. For example, different gesture alphabets exist for pen-based text input.

In general, the less compatible the device is with the domain object, the more complex the interaction technique.W. Buxton (1986) There's More to Interaction than Meets the Eye: Some Issues in ManualInput. In Norman, D. A. and Draper, S. W. (Eds.), User Centered System Design:New Perspectives on Human-Computer Interaction. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Hillsdale,New Jersey, 319-337.] For example, using a mouse to specify a 2D point involves a trivial interaction technique, whereas using a mouse to rotate a 3D object requires more creativity to design the technique and more lines of code to implement it.

A current trend is to avoid complex interaction techniques by matching physical devices with the task as close as possible, such as exemplified by the field of tangible computing. But this is not always a practical solution. Furthermore, device/task incompatibilities are unavoidable in computer accessibility, where a single switch can be used to control a whole computer.

Interaction style

Interaction techniques that share the same metaphor or design principles can be seen as belonging to the same [http://www.interaction-design.org/encyclopedia/interaction_styles.html interaction style] . General examples are command line and direct manipulation user interfaces.

Visualization technique

Interaction techniques essentially involve data manipulation and thus place greater emphasis on input than output. Output is merely used to convey affordances and provide user feedback. The use of the term "input technique" further reinforces the central role of input. Conversely, techniques that mainly involve data exploration and thus place greater emphasis on output are called visualization techniques. They are studied in the field of information visualization.

Research and innovation

A large part of research in human-computer interaction involves exploring easier-to-learn or more efficient interaction techniques for common computing tasks. This includes inventing new (post-WIMP) interaction techniques, possibly relying on methods from user interface design, and comparing them with existing techniques using methods from experimental psychology. Examples of scientific venues in these topics are the [http://www.acm.org/uist UIST] and the CHI conferences.

See also

* 3D interaction techniques
* Interaction styles
* Types of user interface

External links

* [http://www.acm.org/uist/archive/html/videos.html UIST video archive]
* [http://designinginterfaces.com/ Patterns for effective interaction design]

References