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Training wheels in a user interface

Authors:

John M. Carroll,

Caroline CarrithersAuthors Info & Claims

Communications of the ACM, Volume 27, Issue 8

Pages 800 - 806

https://doi.org/10.1145/358198.358218

Published: 01 August 1984 Publication History

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Abstract

New users of high-function application systems can become frustrated and confused by the errors they make in the early stages of learning. A training interface for a commercial word processor was designed to make typical and troublesome error states “unreachable,” thus eliminating the sources of some new-user learning problems. Creating a training environment from the basic function of the system itself afforded substantially faster learning coupled with better learning achievement and better performance on a comprehension post-test. A control group spent almost a quarter of their time recovering from the error states that the training interface blocked off. We speculate on how this training strategy might be refined, and more generally, on how function should be organized in a user interface.

References

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Carroll. J.M. The adventure of getting to know a computer. Computer 15, 11 (Nov. 1982). 49-58.

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[2]

Carroll. J.M. Presentation and form in user-interface architecture. BYTE 8, 12 (Dec. 1983). 113-122.

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[3]

Carroll. J.M. and Mack. R.L. Actively learning to use a word processor. In Cognitive Aspects of Skilled Typewriting, W.E. Cooper, ed. Springer-Verlag, New York, 1983.

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Carroll, J.M. and Mack, R.L. Learning to use a word processor: By doing, by thinking, and by knowing. In Human Factors in Computing Systems, J.C. Thomas and M. Schneider, eds. ABLEX, Norwood, N.J., 1984.

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Ferguson. G.A. Statistical Analysis in Psychology and Education. Mc- Graw-Hill, New York. 1971.

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Mack, R.L., Lewis, C.H., and Carroll, LM. Learning to use word processors: Problems and prospects. ACM Trans. Off. lnfo. Syst. 1, 3 (July 1983), 254-271.

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Cited By

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Perraud RTabard AMalacria S(2024)Tutorial mismatches: investigating the frictions due to interface differences when following software video tutorialsProceedings of the 2024 ACM Designing Interactive Systems Conference10.1145/3643834.3661511(1942-1955)Online publication date: 1-Jul-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3643834.3661511
Gutzwiller RFugate SLukos JWiegand K(2024)A novel visual interface enables human detection of malware in portable document formatJournal of Cybersecurity10.1093/cybsec/tyae01610:1Online publication date: 29-Aug-2024
https://doi.org/10.1093/cybsec/tyae016
Coutaz J(2024)At the Confluence of Software Engineeringand Human-Computer Interaction:A Personal AccountThe French School of Programming10.1007/978-3-031-34518-0_5(89-122)Online publication date: 30-Apr-2024
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-34518-0_5
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Index Terms

Training wheels in a user interface
1. Human-centered computing
  1. Human computer interaction (HCI)
2. Software and its engineering
  1. Software notations and tools
    1. Development frameworks and environments
      1. Integrated and visual development environments

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Reviews

Reviewer: John M. Hammer

A word processing interface was modified to limit the functions available to novice users. These functions, which were unnecessary for basic word processing, had been previously observed to be error states that novices had difficulty recovering from. When evaluated against the original system, the modified system was superior for novices in terms of time to finish a task, successful completion rate, time spent correcting errors, etc. This paper is useful because it provides a design approach. In contrast, a great deal of literature in this area produces empirical facts of limited generality.

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Published In

Communications of the ACM Volume 27, Issue 8

Aug 1984

90 pages

ISSN:0001-0782

EISSN:1557-7317

DOI:10.1145/358198

Editor:
Peter J. Denning
NASA Ames Research, Moffett Field, CA

Issue’s Table of Contents

Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for components of this work owned by others than ACM must be honored. Abstracting with credit is permitted. To copy otherwise, or republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. Request permissions from [email protected]

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Association for Computing Machinery

New York, NY, United States

Publication History

Published: 01 August 1984

Published in CACM Volume 27, Issue 8

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Perraud RTabard AMalacria S(2024)Tutorial mismatches: investigating the frictions due to interface differences when following software video tutorialsProceedings of the 2024 ACM Designing Interactive Systems Conference10.1145/3643834.3661511(1942-1955)Online publication date: 1-Jul-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3643834.3661511
Gutzwiller RFugate SLukos JWiegand K(2024)A novel visual interface enables human detection of malware in portable document formatJournal of Cybersecurity10.1093/cybsec/tyae01610:1Online publication date: 29-Aug-2024
https://doi.org/10.1093/cybsec/tyae016
Coutaz J(2024)At the Confluence of Software Engineeringand Human-Computer Interaction:A Personal AccountThe French School of Programming10.1007/978-3-031-34518-0_5(89-122)Online publication date: 30-Apr-2024
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-34518-0_5
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Desai STwidale M(2023)Metaphors in Voice User Interfaces: A Slippery FishACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction10.1145/360932630:6(1-37)Online publication date: 25-Sep-2023
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Sarkar A(2023)Should Computers Be Easy To Use? Questioning the Doctrine of Simplicity in User Interface DesignExtended Abstracts of the 2023 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3544549.3582741(1-10)Online publication date: 19-Apr-2023
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Mo GKristensson P(2023)Relative Design Acquisition: A Computational Approach for Creating Visual Interfaces to Steer User ChoicesProceedings of the 2023 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3544548.3581028(1-17)Online publication date: 19-Apr-2023
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Otto H(2023)UNDO, an aid for explorative learning?Journal of Computer Science and Technology10.1007/BF029465727:3(226-236)Online publication date: 22-Mar-2023
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The University of Alberta user interface management system

The University of Alberta user interface management system

Building a user-derived interface

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