Embedded menus: selecting items in context

ABSTRACT

In many situations, embedded menus represent an attractive alternative to the more traditional explicit menus, particularly in touchtext, spelling checkers, language-based program editors, and graphics-based systems.

REFERENCES

• 1: Jon Bentley, Programming pearls: a spelling checker, Communications of the ACM, v.28 n.5, p.456-462, May 1985 [doi>10.1145/3532.315102]
• 2: Gould, J.D., and Grischkowsky, N. Doing the same work with hard copy and with cathode-ray tube (CRT) computer terminals. Hum. Factors 26, 3 (June 1984), 323-337. A study was conducted to determine the potential negative effects CRT displays may have on people using them. One result of the study showed that people read from computer displays slower than from paper.
• 3: Hansen, W.J. User engineering principles for interactive systems. In Proceedings of the Fall Joint Computer Conference, vol. 39 (Las Vegas, Nev., Nov. 16-18). AFIPS Press, Montvale, N.J., 1971. pp. 523-532. The Emily program editor is described, and also gives guidelines for the design of user interfaces.
• 4: Hansen, W.J., Doring, R., and Whitlock, L.R., Why an examination was slower on-line than on paper. Int. J. Man-Mach. Stud. 10, 5 (Sept. 1978). 507-519. Students were given an examination on-line, and the reasons for why the examination took longer to use were studied.
• 5: Christopher F. Herot, Graphical user interfaces, Proc. of the NYU symposium on user interfaces on Human factors and interactive computer systems, p.83-103, November 1984, New York, United States
• 6: Koved, L. Implicit versus Explicit Menus. IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center, Yorktown Heights, N.Y., 1984. Embedded and explicit menus are described, and some examples are given.
• 7: Koved. L. Restructuring textual information for online retrieval. Master's thesis, TR-1529. Dept. of Computer Science, Univ. of Maryland, College Park, July 1985. (Also, IBM Res. Div. Rep. KC 11278, IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center, Yorktown Heights, N.Y.) Two different techniques for storing manuals on-line are used in experiments to evaluate their design. The "pruning" technique enabled simple tasks io be accomplished in half the time than if the technique was not used.
• 8: Mills, C.B., and Weldon, L.J. Reading from computer screens. Tech. Rep. CAR-TR-94, Human-Computer Interaction Laboratory, Center for Automation Research, Univ. of Maryland, College Park, Oct. 1984. Survey of issues relating to the readability of computer screens.
• 9: Newcomer, J.M.. Ed. SUDS Users' Manual. Carnegie-Mellon Univ., Pittsburgh, Pa., 1980. Describes a logic and PC board design system.
• 10: Powell, fi. Experimental Evaluation of Two Menu Designs fo; Information Retrieval. Dept. of Computer Science, Univ. of Maryland, College Park, 1985. An experiment was conducted to compare embedded and explicit menus.
• 11: Shneiderman, B. Direct manipulation: A step beyond programming languages. Computer 16, 8 (Aug. 1983), 57-69. Describes direct manipulation, and Fjves examples:.
• 12: Shneiderman, B. Designing menu selection systems. 1. Am. Sot. If. Sci. To be published.
• 13: Shneiderman, B.. and Ostroff, D. TIES authoring system. Univ. of Maryland, College Park, Dec. 1985 Author's manual for creating TIES databases.
• 14: Tim Teitelbaum , Thomas Reps, The Cornell program synthesizer: a syntax-directed programming environment, Communications of the ACM, v.24 n.9, p.563-573, Sept. 1981 [doi>10.1145/358746.358755]

INDEX TERMS

Classification:
  D. Software
  D.2 SOFTWARE ENGINEERING
      D.2.2 Design Tools and Techniques
          Subjects: User interfaces
      D.2.3 Coding Tools and Techniques
          Subjects: Program editors

  H. Information Systems
  H.1 MODELS AND PRINCIPLES
      H.1.2 User/Machine Systems
          Subjects: Human factors
  H.3 INFORMATION STORAGE AND RETRIEVAL
      H.3.3 Information Search and Retrieval
          Subjects: Search process; Selection process

  I. Computing Methodologies
  I.3 COMPUTER GRAPHICS
      I.3.6 Methodology and Techniques
          Subjects: Interaction techniques

General Terms:
Human Factors