The design and evaluation of online help for Unix EMACS: capturing the user in menu design

Author

Palmer, James ; Duffy, Thomas ; Gomoll, Kathleen ; Gomoll, Thomas ; Richards-palmquist, Jessica ; Trumble, John A.

Author_Institution

Carnegie-Mellon Univ., Pittsburgh, PA, USA

Volume

31

Issue

1

fYear

1988

fDate

3/1/1988 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

44

Lastpage

51

Abstract

The card-sort technique and cluster analysis were used for determining an effective organization for a help menu in Unix EMACS. Similarity data were gathered for with a card-sorting task using EMACS commands, and a hierarchical cluster analysis of the data was performed. The results indicate that differences among novices, intermediates, and experts appear with computer-based concepts such as windows and buffers, but that the sorts are more similar than they are different. It is argued that cluster analysis may aid designers in determining a functional organization, but that in the domain of this study, this organization may not help users bridge the mapping from real world tasks to computer tasks

Keywords

operating systems (computers); user interfaces; Unix EMACS; buffers; card-sort technique; cluster analysis; computer-based concepts; experts; intermediates; menu design; novices; online help; windows; Application software; Bridges; Data analysis; Documentation; Human computer interaction; Learning; Rhetoric; Taxonomy; User interfaces; Writing;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Professional Communication, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0361-1434

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/47.6920

Filename

6920