UNIT-5

SOFTWARE
TOOLS

Specification methods, interface building Tools. Interaction Devices –

Keyboard and function keys – pointing devices – speech recognition
digitization and generation – image and video displays – drivers.
HUMAN COMPUTER INTERFACE UNIT-5 DANISH AHMAD KHAN

Software Tool:
A software is programmatic software used to create, maintain or support other
programs and applications. Some of the commonly used software tools in human
computer interface are as follows:
1) Specification Methods:
The methods used to specify the GUI. These are lengthy and ambiguous
methods, but easy to understand.

2) Grammars:
These are written instructions or expressions that a program would
understand. They provide confirmations for completeness and correctness.

3) Transition Diagram:
These are set of nodes and links that can be displayed in text, link
frequency, state diagram etc. They are difficult in evaluating usability,
visibility, modularity and synchronization.

4) State Charts:
Chart methods developed for simultaneously user activities and external
actions. They provide link specification with interface building tools.

5) Interface Building Tools:

Design methods that help in designing command languages, data entry
structures and widgets.

6) Interface Mock-up Tools:

Tools to develop a quick sketch of GUI. Example Visual Studio, dot Net
etc.
7) Software Engineering Tools:
Extensive programming tools to provide interface management system.

8) Evolution Tools:
Tools to evaluate the correctness and completeness of programs.
Specification Method:
 The default language used for specifications in any field is the designer’s
natural language, such as English and the initial specification are generally
drawn up on a sketchpad or blackboard.

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 But natural language specifications tend to be lengthy, vague and

ambiguous and therefore often are difficult to prove correct, consistent or
complete.
 Formal and semiformal languages have proved their value in many areas,
including mathematics, physics, circuit design, music and even knitting.
 Formal languages have a specified grammar, and effective procedures
exists to determine whether a string adheres to the languages.
Various Specification Methods:
1) Grammar:
a) Grammars are useful to specify textual commands or expressions that a
program should understand.
b) They were necessary with older terminal-based interfaces and are still
used on interactive systems that need powerful and extensible symbolic
expressions.
c) Grammars are also useful to verify the validity of stereotypical
computer forms filled in by users, such as telephone-book entries.
d) In programming, Backus Normal Form is often used to describe
programming languages.
e) High-level components are described by non-terminals and specific
strings are terminals.

2) Menu-selection and dialog box trees:

a) A menu selection tree has a simple structure that guides designers and
users alike, making it an excellent selection style for many applications.
b) Specification methods include online tools to help in the construction
of menu trees and simple drawing tools that enable designers and users
to see the entire tree at one time.

3) Transition Diagram:
a) Transition diagram has a set of nodes that represent system states and a
set of links between the node that represent possible transitions.
b) Each link is labelled with the user action that selects that link and
possible computer responses.

4) State charts:
a) State charts have several virtues in specifying interface.
b) Because a grouping feature is offered through nested round tangles
repeated transitions can be factored out to the surrounding round tangle.

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Interface Building Tools:

 Specification methods are important for the design of components of a
system, such as command languages, data entry sequence, and widgets.
 Screen transition diagrams drawn or printed on paper are an excellent
means of providing on overview of the system.
 They allow user interface architect, designers, managers, users and
software engineers to sit around a table, discuss the design, and prepare for
the big job that lies ahead.
 Paper-based designs are a great way to start, but the details specification of
complete user interfaces requires software tools such as:
a) Interface Mock-up Tools:
1) User interface architects recognize that creating quick sketches is
important during the early stages of design to explore multiple
alternatives, to allow communication within the design team, and to
convey to clients what the product will look like.
2) User interface mock-ups can be created with paper and pencil, word
processors, or slideshow presentation software.
3) Resourceful designers have also built user-interface prototypes with
multimedia construction tools, such as Dreamweaver.
4) These programs can quickly generate animated or even interface
programs and be distributed via the Web.
b) Software Engineering Tools:
1) Experience programmers sometimes build user interfaces with general
purpose programming languages such as Java, C#, or specially tuned to
user interface development and web access.
2) Choosing among them is sometimes a complete and confusing task, due
to the lack of uniform terminology used to describe the tools and their
features.
c) The Windowing System Layer:
1) Some platforms are too new to offer high level building tools, forcing
the software engineer to work at a low level. Only some graphics
resources such as icons, imaging, cursors, or fonts can be edited
interactively at this level.
2) Although better tools are being created every day, new platforms are
being created too. Interface for some mobile devices or cell phones
should currently be done at the windowing system level.
d) The GUI Toolkit Layer:

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1) Most products provide user interface program libraries called GUI

toolkits that offer common widgets, such as windows, scroll bars, pull-
down or pop-up menus, data-entry fields, buttons and dialog boxes.
2) Programming languages with accompanying libraries are familiar to
experienced programmers and afford great flexibility.
3) However, toolkits without interactive support can become complex and
the programming environments for those, such as the Microsoft
Windows Forms, Apple Macintosh Toolkit, and Unix X Toolkit (Xtk),
require months of learning for programmers to gain proficiency.
4) Even then, the burden in creating application is great, and maintenance
is difficult.
Features:
1) User interface independence:
a) Separate interface design from internals.
b) Enable multiple user interface strategies
c) Enable multiple platform support
d) Establish role of user interface architect
e) Enforce standards
2) Methodology and Notation:
a) Develop design procedures
b) Find ways to talk about design
c) Create project management
3) Rapid prototyping:
a) Try out ideas very early
b) Test, revise, test, revise
c) Engage end users, managers, and customers
4) Software Support:
a) Increase productivity
b) Offer constraint and consistency checks
c) Facilitate team approaches
d) Ease maintenance
Interaction Devices:
Several interactive devices are used for the human computer interaction. Some of
them are known tools and some are recently developed or are a concept to be
developed in the future.

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A. Touch Screen:
 The touch screen concept was prophesized decades ago, however the
platform was acquired recently. Today there are many devices that use
touch screen. After vigilant selection of these devices, developers
customize their touch screen experiences.
 The cheapest and relatively easy way of manufacturing touch screens are
the ones using electrodes and a voltage association. Other than the
hardware differences, software alone can bring major differences from one
touch device to another, even when the same hardware is used.
 Along with the innovative designs and new hardware and software, touch
screens are likely to grow in a big way in the future. A further development
can be made by making a sync between the touch and other devices.
 In HCI, touch screen can be considered as a new interactive device.
B. Gesture Recognition:
 Gesture recognition is a subject in language technology that has the
objective of understanding human movement via mathematical procedures.
Hand gesture recognition is currently the field of focus. This technology is
future based.
 This new technology magnitudes an advanced association between human
and computer where no mechanical devices are used. This new interactive
device might terminate the old devices like keyboards and is also heavy on
new devices like touch screens.
C. Speech Recognition:
 The technology of transcribing spoken phrases into written text is Speech
Recognition. Such technologies can be used in advanced control of many
devices such as switching on and off the electrical appliances. Only certain
commands are required to be recognized for a complete transcription.
However, this cannot be beneficial for big vocabularies.
 This HCI device help the user in hands free movement and keep the
instruction-based technology up to date with the users.
D. Keyboard:
 A keyboard can be considered as a primitive device known to all of us
today. Keyboard uses an organization of keys/buttons that serves as a
mechanical device for a computer. Each key in a keyboard corresponds to
a single written symbol or character.
 This is the most effective and ancient interactive device between man and
machine that has given ideas to develop many more interactive devices as
well as has made advancements in itself such as soft screen keyboards for
computers and mobile phones.
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E. Response Time
 Response time is the time taken by a device to respond to a request.
 The request can be anything from a database query to loading a web page.
 The response time is the sum of the service time and wait time.
Transmission time becomes a part of the response time when the response
has to travel over a network.
Keyboard:
 The keyboard is still one of the most common input devices in use today.\
 It is used for entering textual data and commands.
 The vast majority of keyboards have a standardized layout, and are known
by the first six letters of the top row of alphabetical keys, QWERTY.
 The layout of the digits and letters on a QWERTY keyboard is fixed, but
non-alphanumeric keys vary between keyboards.
 The QWERTY arrangement of keys is not optimal for typing, however.
The reason for the layout of the keyboard in this fashion can be traced back
to the days of mechanical typewriters.
 The electric typewriter and now the computer keyboard are not subject to
the original mechanical constraints, but the QWERTY keyboard remains
the dominant layout.
 There is also a large investment in current keyboards, which would all have
to be either replaced at great cost, or phased out, with the subsequent
requirement for people to be proficient on both keyboards.
Function Keys:
 A function key is a key on the computer keyboard which can be
programmed so as to cause an OS program to perform certain actions.
 The function keys are arranged at the top of our keyboard numbered across
from F1 to F12 and are commonly referred to as F keys or FB keys.
 The keys are providing some interesting shortcuts for common computer
functions that can be useful tools in everyday computing.
 The keys are frequently used in combination with other keys such as the
CTRL key, the ALT key, and the SHIFT key.
Pointing Devices
Pointing devices are applicable in six types of interaction tasks:
1. Select:
 user chooses from a set of items.
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 used for traditional menu selection, identification of a file in a directory, or

marking of a part in an automobile design.
2. Position:
 user chooses a point in a one-, two-, three-, or higher-dimensional space
 used to create a drawing, to place a new window, or to drag a block of text
in a figure.
3. Orient:
 user chooses a direction in a two-, three-, or higher-dimensional space.
 direction may simply rotate a symbol on the screen, indicate a direction of
motion for a space ship, or control the operation of a robot arm.
4. Path:
 user rapidly performs a series of position and orient operations.
 may be realized as a curving line in a drawing program, the instructions for
a cloth cutting machine, or the route on a map.
5. Quantify:
 user specifies a numeric value.
 usually, a one-dimensional selection of integer or real values to set
parameters, such as the page number in a document, the velocity of a ship,
or the amplitude of the sound
6. Text:
 user enters, moves, and edits text in a two-dimensional space. The
 pointing device indicates the location of an insertion, deletion, or change.
 more elaborate tasks, such as centering; margin setting; font sizes;
highlighting, such as boldface or underscore; and page layout.
Speech Recognition and Auditory Interfaces:
 Speech recognition still does not match the fantasy of science fiction:
 demands of user's working memory
 background noise problematic
 variations in user speech performance impacts effectiveness
 most useful in specific applications, such as to benefit handicapped
users.
 Discrete word recognition

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 recognize individual words spoken by a specific person; can work

with 90- to 98 percent reliability for 20-to-200-word vocabularies.
 Speaker-dependent training, in which the user repeats the full
vocabulary once or twice
 Speaker-independent systems are beginning to be reliable enough
for certain commercial applications
 been successful in enabling bedridden, paralyzed, or otherwise
disabled people also useful in applications with at least one of the
following conditions:
o speaker's hands are occupied
o mobility is required
o speaker's eyes are occupied
harsh or cramped conditions preclude use of keyboard
 voice-controlled editor versus keyboard editor
o lower task-completion rate
o lower error rate
 use can disrupt problem solving
 Continuous-speech recognition
 Not generally available:
o difficulty in recognizing boundaries between spoken words
o normal speech patterns blur boundaries
o many potentially useful applications if perfected
 Speech store and forward
 Voice mail users can
o receive messages
o replay messages
o reply to caller
o forward messages to other users, delete messages
o archive messages
 Systems are low cost and reliable.
 Voice information systems
 Stored speech commonly used to provide information about tourist
sites,
 government services, after-hours messages for organizations
 Low cost
 Voice prompts
 Deep and complex menus frustrating
 Slow pace of voice output, ephemeral nature of speech, scanning and
searching problems

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 Voice mail
 Handheld voice recorders
 Audio books
 Instructional systems
 Speech generation
 Michaelis and Wiggins (1982) suggest that speech generation is
"frequently preferable" under these circumstances:
 The message is simple.
 The message is short.
 The message will not be referred to later.
 The message deals with events in time.
 The message requires an immediate response.
 The visual channels of communication are overloaded.
 The environment is too brightly lit, too poorly lit, subject to severe
vibration, or otherwise unsuitable for transmission of visual
information.
 The user must be free to move around.
 The user is subjected to high G forces or anoxia
Audio tones, audiolization, and music
 Sound feedback can be important:
 to confirm actions
 offer warning
 for visually-impaired users
 music used to provide mood context, e.g., in games
 can provide unique opportunities for user, e.g., with simulating various
musical instruments
Displays -Small and Large:
 The display has become the primary source of feedback to the user from
the computer
 The display has many important features, including:
o Physical dimensions (usually the diagonal dimension and depth)
o Resolution (the number of pixels available)
o Number of available colors, color correctness
o Luminance, contrast, and glare
 Power consumption
 Refresh rates (sufficient to allow animation and video)
 Cost

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 Reliability
Usage characteristics distinguish displays:
 Portability
 Privacy
 Saliency
 Ubiquity
 Simultaneity
Display technology:
 Monochrome displays
o are adequate, and are attractive because of their lower cost
 RGB shadow-mask displays
o small dots of red, green, and blue phosphors packed closely
 Raster-scan cathode-ray tube (CRT)
o electron beam sweeping out lines of dots to form letters
o refresh rates 30 to 70 per second
 Liquid-crystal displays (LCDs)
o voltage changes influence the polarization of tiny capsules of liquid
crystals
o flicker-free
o size of the capsules limits the resolution
 Plasma panel
 rows of horizontal wires are slightly separated from vertical wires by small
glass enclosed capsules of neon-based gases
 Light-emitting diodes (LEDs)
o certain diodes emit light when a voltage is applied
o arrays of these small diodes can be assembled to display characters
 Electronic ink
o Paper like resolution
o Tiny capsules with negatively and positively charged particles
 Braille displays
o Pins provide output for the blind
 Large displays
o Informational wall displays
o Interactive wall displays
o Multiple desktop displays
 Heads-up and helmet mounted displays

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o A heads-up display can, for instance, project information on a

partially silvered widescreen of an airplane or car
o A helmet/head mounted display (HMD) moves the image with the
user
o 3D images
Mobile device displays:
 Currently mobile devices used for brief tasks, except for game playing
 Optimize for repetitive tasks
 Custom designs to take advantage of every pixel
 Data Lens allows compact overviews
 Web browsing difficult
 Okay for linear reading, but making comparisons can be difficult
 Animation, image, and video
o Accelerated graphics hardware
o More information shared and downloaded on the web
o Scanning of images and OCR
o Digital video
o CDROMS and DVDs
 Compression and decompression through MPEG
 Computer-based video conferencing
Printers:
 Important criteria for printers:
o Speed
o Print quality
o Cost
o Compactness
o Quiet operation
o Use of ordinary paper (fanfolded or single sheet)
o Character set
o Variety of typefaces, fonts, and sizes
o Highlighting techniques (boldface, underscore, and so on)
o Support for special forms (printed forms, different lengths, and so on)
o Reliability
 dot-matrix printers
o print more than 200 characters per second, have multiple fonts, can print
boldface, use variable width and size, and have graphics capabilities
 inkjet printers
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o offer quiet operation and high-quality output

 thermal printers or fax machines
o offer quiet, compact, and inexpensive output on specially coated papers
 laser printers
o operate at 30,000 lines per minute
 color printers
o allow users to produce hardcopy output of color graphics, usually by an
inkjet approach with three colored and black inks
 photographic printers
o allow the creation of 35-millimeter or larger slides (transparencies) and
photographic prints

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