Key Contribution |
1978
Adaptable Interfaces for Interactive System
E.A.Edmonds, Proc. Workshop Comp. Skills and Adapt. Systems, Liverpool
University, pp 145-152.
ABSTRACT
It has been seen that, at least in the case
of managers, there is significant discontent with the man/machine interfaces
provided. It was further observed that the provision of an increased range
of facilities did not noticeably improve the situation. It would seem
that what is needed in such cases is a complex system that can be tailored
to the users needs ion the light of experience.
When a systems designer is faced with the problem of designing the software
for the man/machine interface he can thus be helped if he can economically
delay his decisions until the system can be tried out with its potential
users. Ideally it should be easy to modify the interface from time to
time to meet the needs of changing circumstances and users. It might further
to valuable to provide a variety of interfaces to one system, especially
where the users have diverse skills and status. One solution to these
problems, is firstly, to provide software tools that make the writing
and changing of the interface a simpler task, and, secondly, to allow
a number of versions of the interface to co-exist in the system. |