Determining the Best Way to Represent Computer Functions to the User: Text Only, Graphics Only, or a Mixture of Both

摘要

Recent advances in computer technology have provided designers with a wide range of alternatives for representing system functions to users. These alternatives range from short command abbreviations to complex english-like statements to graphic symbols. As a result, there has been a proliferation of terminology and interaction modes leading to extreme non-standardization of the user-computer interface. This condition is of particular concern for the Army in that standardization is a necessary prerequisite for minimizing training time and costs, and ensuring inter-system compatibility. Recognizing the potential impact of this situation on system readiness, a research program was initiated to assess the magnitude of the non-standardization problem and to identify trends in the assignment of names, abbreviations, and symbols. As part of that effort, a pilot study was conducted to determine the requirements for conducting a major study to evaluate the relative effectiveness of alternatives modes of function representation. Three modes of representation were selected for the pilot study: text only, graphic only, and mixed (text and graphic). This report presents the results of the pilot study. (KR)