Teaching:TUW - UE InfoVis WS 2006/07 - Gruppe 02 - Aufgabe 1 - AlphaSlider
Definitions
Usage
The AlphaSlider interface was originally devised in 1993 and promoted by Ahlberg and Shneiderman. The essential components of the AlphaSlider are the same as that of the drop-down listbox. There is a slider area, a slider thumb (the square in the middle that a user can directly drag on), and left / right arrow.
The small size of the Alphaslider allows it to be placed on mobile devices, on a credit card, on a control panel for a VCR, or as a widget in direct manipulation based database interface. [Osada et al., 1993]
Conclusion
Research and user experience came to following conclusion:
Pros
The advantages of this AlphaSlider approach are:
- there are no typing errors
- performance increases as the number of words per entry increases
- keyboards are not necessary
[Osada et al., 1993]
- due the small size of Alphasliders, they can be placed on small displays, like those of mobile devices.
- quick and easy usage, even for unexperienced users
Cons
The disadvantages of the current implementation are that:
- the number of entries is limited by the number of pixels
- Alphasliders also does not allow users to input words freely
[Osada et al., 1993]
Future Direction
Important items to examine are:
- slider design when the number of entries exceeds the number of horizontal pixels
- performance when sliders and buttons are made of hardware devices
- combination of AlphaSliders and other information visualization techniquges
[Osada et al., 1993]
- With good use of feedback techniques, the Alphaslider is a powerful, compact, and rapid way of selecting items from lists.
[Ahlberg, Shneiderman, 1993]
Related Links
References
- [Osada et al., 1993] Osada M.,Liao H., Shneiderman B., AlphaSlider: Searching Textual Lists with Sliders, Department of Computer Science, Human-Computer Interaction Laboratory and Institute for Systems Research, University of Maryland, April 1993, http://hcil.cs.umd.edu/trs/93-08/93-08.html
- [Ahlberg, Shneiderman, 1993] Ahlberg C.,Shneiderman B., The Alphaslider: A Compact and Rapid Selector, Department of Computer Science, Human-Computer Interaction Laboratory and Institute for Systems Research, University of Maryland, 1993, http://hcil.cs.umd.edu/trs/93-15/93-15.html