# Presentation: 215449

## GUI Concepts for Novice, Intermediate, & Expert UsersJohn C. Lowry

**GUI Concepts for Novice, Intermediate, & Expert Users****John C. Lowry**

- JL2-1

**January 28, 1997**

- 733-PP-005-001

## ECS Level 3/4 Requirements

**ECS Level 3/4 Requirements**

**IMS-0490  The IMS shall provide levels of user interaction support to include at a minimum:**
**a. Expert (e.g., quick command driven direct information input)**
**b. Intermediate (e.g., some prompting and automatically supplied help)**
**c. Novice (e.g., extensive prompting and help facilities)**
**ECS interpretation:**
**S-CLS-12920****	****Option for Expert level interaction**
**S-CLS-12930****	****Expert: direct information input w/o automatically-supplied help**
**S-CLS-12940****	****Option for Intermediate level interaction**
**S-CLS-12950****	****Intermediate: prompting and automatically-supplied help**
**S-CLS-12960****	****Option for Novice level interaction**
**S-CLS-12970****	****Novice: prompting and automatic help facilities for user-initiated**
**	****	****	****actions**

## Targeted User Description

**Targeted User Description**

**I.  NOVICE**
**User types: (a) Brand New User, (b) Infrequent User (non-science), (c) Infrequent User (senior scientist)**
**No/limited experience in use of web client tool**
**No/limited knowledge of ECS data types & schema**
**May be a recognized expert in their area of specialty**
**Therefore, user’s mental model of ECS is generalized and unstructured with respect to ECS data structures**
**II.  INTERMEDIATE**
**Moderate/heavy experience in use of web client tool**
**Diversified knowledge of ECS data types & schema, with ‘deep’ knowledge in area of scientific specialty**
**Competent user of graphical user interface-driven software**
**Consequently, user’s mental model of ECS is structured and generally maps ‘monotonically’ to ECS data structures**
**III. EXPERT**
**Power User (Intermediate + competency in command line interfaces + willing to assume adverse consequences of own errors)**

## Novice Level Interaction 

**Novice Level Interaction **

**Client Search operations:**
**Simple top-down, topical hierarchical search patterns**
**Linear step-search sequences (step---> forward; step--->backward; repeat)**
**Single search -- returns ---> single result sets mapping**
**Client Search Results operations:**
**1 result set per search (no capability to merge multiple result sets)**
**1 result screen with capability to prepare 1 working set of products for order**
**Result screen is the working list, to support transition to order**
**Client Order operations:**
**1 result set/working list ---> 1 order**
**Client prompts & help**
**User prompts present unless dismissed by user**
**User help persistent unless dismissed by user (web help)**

## Novice Hierarchical Search

**Novice Hierarchical Search**

- _F_ile	_E_dit	_O_ption	_P_rocess				      _H_elp

- Project Folder

- Create/Edit Search

- Inspect Results

- Create/Edit Order

- Get Status

- Set Options

- First, select from the preset groups of attributes...

- Help

- Submit for Order

- In order to create your search, first choose the attributes with which you wish to work.
- There are two methods of selection.
- 1) You may choose from the list of preset groups.
-    You may also bypass this process and simply
-    choose the default.
- 2)  You may create your own customized list.
- The attribute groups you select will be displayed as individual folders under the search tab when you click “OK”

**Select Preset Attribute Set....**

- Create a custom set of attributes...

**Attributes**

**Preset Groups**

- CORE
- Product Specific
- Oceanographic
- Geographic
- Atmospheric
- Volcanic
- Vegetation

- Site
- Platform
- Spatial
- Temporal
- Topic
- Parameter
- Collection
- Instrument/Sensor
- Processing Level
- Size

- OK

- Select Default Attribute Sets

## Novice Search Results Screen

**Novice Search Results Screen**

## Intermediate Level Interaction

**Intermediate Level Interaction**

**Client Search operations:**
**GUI forms and graphical widget driven user interaction, capability to enter search parameters directly into ‘search tree’**
**‘****Canned’ search screens, user selectable using CLS-standard selection dialog**
**Customizable GUI components using CLS-standard selection dialog**
**Client Search Results operations:**
**Capability to configure search results screen (columns) ‘on-the-fly’**
**‘****Canned’ search results screens, user selectable using CLS-standard selection dialog**
**Customizable GUI components using CLS-standard selection dialog**
**Client Order operations:**
**Combined with Search Results operations**

## Intermediate Search Screen

**Intermediate Search Screen**

## CLS-Standard Selection Dialog

**CLS-Standard Selection Dialog**

## Intermediate Search Results Screen

**Intermediate Search Results Screen**

## Expert Level Interaction

**Expert Level Interaction**

**Client Search operations:**
**Direct edit operations through full-screen ‘search tree editor’**
**expert is responsible for search syntax and semantics**
**expert is responsible for diagnostics of syntactically-incorrect or semantically-meaningless searches**
**Full-screen search editor is ‘default’ for expert level interaction (user may toggle on additional tools as desired)**
**Client Search Results operations:**
**Same as Intermediate Search Results operations**
**Client Order operations:**
**Combined with Search Results operations**

## Expert Search Screen

**Expert Search Screen**