CS789, Spring, 2005
Activity instructions, Week 3
This week's activity: Explore the state diagram of a simple user
interface.
It is extremely useful to have a formal model of any specific user
interface, just because it is then possible to draw reliable conclusions
about the control properties of the interface. (E.g., Does the interface
always return to the start state? Do all paths to a particular state run
through a particular antecedent state?) Many simple user interfaces can
effectively be represented as state diagrams. To get a feeling how this works
choose a simple interface -- withdrawing money from an automated bank
machine, for example -- and reverse engineer the state diagram that describes
its behaviour.
- Choose a simple interface. An automatic teller machine is one
possibility; the course web pages are another; the university phone
system is another.
- Observe the start state.
- Move through a normal interaction sequence, identifying states and
transitions.
- Ask yourself how the machine behaves if you deviate from the
sequence?
- Hypothesize a state diagram, and roughly sketch its topology.
You can get to this point by thinking about an interface you have used in the
past, or by actually using one making observations as you go along. From here
the activity can continue in any one of three ways; choose one and follow it.
- Test and elaborate the hypothesized state diagram by interaction with
the real interface.
- Change the sketched state diagram into a better state diagram with
equivalent or enhanced functionality. Consider such things as regularity,
consistency and modularity in your design.
- Make some primitive web pages that have a transition pattern similar to
the one you identified. Try interacting with them, and consider changes
you might want to make on the basis of your experience.
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