Effect of Task Complexity on User Interfaces: A Comparison of Command Language Interface and Direct Manipulation Interface.

摘要

A computer-user interface is the software that communicates the user's inputs to the computer and returns information from the computer back to the user. A variety of user interfaces have been developed, including command language interfaces, direct manipulation interfaces, and menus. This research explored the relative benefits of command language interfaces (CLI) and direct manipulation interfaces (DMI) for performance of simple and complex tasks by novices. Two levels of task complexity were used, one requiring five inputs (simple) and one requiring 24 inputs (complex). Dependent variables were (1) time to complete each task set, (2) number of errors, and (3) number of references to online help. Results indicate that learning to use a DMI takes longer than learning to use a CLI. No significant difference was observed in time to complete the simple task. However, once a novice learns to use a DMI, a complex task requires less time, fewer errors are made, and references to help screens are required less often. With complex tasks, direct manipulation interfaces appear to help novices to be more productive than do command language interfaces.