I/O Toolkits

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I/O Toolkits

• Scott Klemmer
• 29 November 2005

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Recap What are Interface Toolkits?

• Goal make it easier to develop user interfaces
  by providing application developers with reusable
  components that accomplish common input and
  output needs
• Toolkits have a well-planned architecture and API
  provide a library

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Example Java Swing

• GUI toolkit with a widget set and an API

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Example M Interface Builder

• Can specify widget placement and basic properties
  with a visual editor
• Programmer writes code for widget callbacks and
  complex behaviors

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Why use toolkits?

• Code reuse saves programmer time
• 50 of code is for the GUI Myers Rosson, CHI
  92
• Consistent look feel across apps
• Easier to modify and iterate the UI
• Make UI development accessible to more people
• Non-artists
• Non-programmers???

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Drawbacks

• Can be limiting developers are likely to make
  the kinds of UIs that the toolkit makes easy
• Traditional GUI toolkits are problematic for
  non-WIMP user interfaces such as
• Groupware
• Physical UIs

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DiamondSpin Toolkit

• Toolkit for tabletop user interfaces
• Shen, Vernier, Forlines, Ringel CHI 04

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Tabletop UI Needs

• Multi-user support
• Identity-aware widgets
• Multiple menus
• Public and personal spaces
• Resolving conflicting actions
• Arbitrary orientation of UI elements
• Techniques to control orientation and layout
• Rotation sensitive components

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DiamondSpin Video
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iStuff Toolkit

• Physical UI components for ubiquitous computing
  environments (multiple users, devices, and
  applications)
• Ballagas, Ringel, Stone, Borchers, CHI 03

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iStuff Design

• iStuff components
• Device proxy (smarts are in the proxy)
• PatchPanel
• Translate between iStuff events and
  application-specific events
• Run-time retargetable events
• Address dimension mismatches

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Evaluating Toolkits

• Ease of use
• A toolkits API is a user interface, too!
  Klemmer et al., 2004 evaluated the API of
  Papier-Mache
• Depth, Breadth, and Extensibility
• Systems issues
• Speed
• Portability

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Current Research Challenges

• Complex design space
• e.g., Do we have to update the toolkit every time
  someone creates a new sensor or actuator?
• Ambiguous input
• Speech, gestures, computer vision, etc. arent
  recognized as accurately as mouse clicks. Should
  the toolkit handle the recognition?

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Summary

• I/O Toolkits provide reusable interface
  components to simplify UI development
• Toolkit trap its tempting to only make UIs that
  the toolkit makes easy, instead of making whats
  best for a specific app
• Toolkit types
• WIMP (Garnet, Swing, Motif, etc)
• Speciality (Phidgets, iStuff, Papier-Mache,
  DiamondSpin, GroupKit, Peripheral Displays
  Toolkit, etc)