Project Sun May 4, 2005

Sun Project May 4, 2005 Overview Introduction and project description Background Research Contextual Inquiries Design Ideas and Consolidation Prototypes Future Plans

Sun Project May 4, 2005 Aditya Chand Design Lead Braden Kowitz Technical Lead Chirag Nangia Document & Web Lead Jessica Smith Project Manager/ Client Liaison Jake Pierson Behavior al Lead Our Team Aditya Chand Design Lead Braden Kowitz Technical Lead Chirag Nangia Document & Web Lead Jessica Smith Project Manager/ Client Liaison Jake Pierson Behavior al Lead

Sun Project May 4, 2005 Our Client Sun Microsystems Frank Ludolph UI expert Project Looking Glass lead Hideya Kawahara Project Looking Glass visionary

Sun Project May 4, 2005 Our Project File system to help with organization Animation and 3D perception cues Non-immersive desktop environment Support searching, and recognition over recall For new 3D apps and existing 2D apps Standard I/O hardware

Sun Project May 4, 2005 Focus and Users Questions from group members and client Affinity diagramming Original focus question: “How do people organize their objects/files in physical space and in virtual (e.g. computer file system) space for later retrieval?” Target user group: Office Workers

Sun Project May 4, 2005 Literature Review Over 45 Papers 3D perception Animation Information visualization Users and the file system Versioning

Sun Project May 4, 2005 Competitive Analysis Listings Carousel menus Side-by-side views Enclosures Many 3DFMs ZUI: Zoomable User Interfaces Outlines Mainstream OS Node-Link Mostly Research and Info Viz Search Gaining Momentum

Sun Project May 4, 2005 Background Research Summary Helped us to see what had already been done Takeaways 3D rarely resulted in greater efficiency or ease-of-use over 2D 3D often contributed to user enjoyment Subtle depth cues are already commonly used in effective ways.

Sun Project May 4, 2005 Contextual Inquiries Contextual Inquires on Office workers “Real-world” files Computer based files Designers Editors Watched them access and organize files Often modified method to include retrospective accounts of file management

Sun Project May 4, 2005 CI Summary Major breakdowns: Files not well organized Inconsistent naming schemes Poor version control Preview Synchronization with remote drives

Sun Project May 4, 2005 Design Ideas Individually brainstormed many ideas Focused on solving specific problems with each round of ideas Preview Versioning Browsing Wide range of ideas from... 2D to 3D Large-scale to widget level Radical to conservative

Sun Project May 4, 2005 Consolidation Encountered difficulty reconciling variety of ideas Looked for solutions that Solved problems found in CIs Used 3D effectively Individually crafted consolidations Found that browsing had been largely overlooked

Sun Project May 4, 2005 Design Critiques Two designers Weekly sessions with client Group heuristic evaluations We have used this information to guide our designs for Usability Aesthetic appeal Effectiveness

Sun Project May 4, 2005 Prototypes Based on low-fidelity prototypes. Recently-Used File Browser Column-Tree Browser Folding Browser Designed to test the interactive validity of the design. Animation transparency, adds 3D. Screen size test. Created in Flash Mid FidelityLow Fidelity Based on modifications of individual consolidation ideas Recently-Used File Browser Sphere Browser Platters Browser Intended to test the conceptual validity of the design ideas. Widgets and general navigation. Created in Adobe Illustrator

Sun Project May 4, 2005 Recently-Used File Browser Problem: Users have to open the application to open a recently used document. 1 Solution:

Sun Project May 4, 2005 Recently-Used File Browser Paper prototype

Sun Project May 4, 2005 Recently-Used File Browser Think Aloud Results 1 = worked = did not work

Sun Project May 4, 2005 Recently-Used File Browser 1 (Flash prototype) !

Sun Project May 4, 2005 Folding Browser Problem: Context is lost in column view

Sun Project May 4, 2005 Platters Original design sketch (circa February) Retains context through browsing Uses depth to show focus Platters stack to maximize space Hierarchical relationship is shown through “spotlights”

Sun Project May 4, 2005 Platters Control for stacking First iteration

Sun Project May 4, 2005 Platters Second iteration Directories represented by mini platters. Displays file count. Controls close platter preview list view icon view

Sun Project May 4, 2005 Platters Third iteration Grid layout layout to reduce visual clutter Redesigned preview Think Aloud No problems with navigation. Affordances Users were not able to change views, but could close window. Users were unable to scroll

Sun Project May 4, 2005 Alternate Browser Concepts

Sun Project May 4, 2005 Tree Browser

Sun Project May 4, 2005 Sphere Browser

Sun Project May 4, 2005 Column-Tree Browser Flash Prototyp e

Sun Project May 4, 2005 Column-Tree Think-Alouds

Sun Project May 4, 2005 Future Plans Choose a design based on Think-Aloud results and advice from client and faculty Begin iterative implementations in summer Flash first Project Looking Glass (3D java) next Final implementation and presentation in August

Sun Project May 4, 2005 Questions? Special thanks to Frank Ludolph and Hideya Kawahara Sun Microsystems Bob Kraut and Carolyn Rosé Carnegie Mellon University