Browsing Unix Directories With Dynamic Queries: An Evaluation of Three Information Display Techniques
Holmes Liao, Masakazu Osada, Ben Shneiderman · 1998
: We designed, implemented, and evaluated an innovative concept for dynamic queries which involves the direct manipulation of small databases. Our domain was directories in a Unix file system. Dynamic queries allow users to formulate queries and explore the databases with graphical widgets, such as sliders and buttons, without requiring them to have any knowledge about the underlying structure of the database query languages, or command language syntax. Three interfaces for presenting directories were developed and tested with eighteen subjects in a within-subject design. The results of the formative evaluation yielded some useful guidelines for software designers. 1. Introduction The conventional approach to database queries is to compose a textual query in a language such as SQL, which presumes that the users are familiar with the logical structure of the database and the syntax of the query language. Dynamic query is an approach which combines both direct manipulation [1] and da...