Human interfaces to structured documents

Flynn, Peter

Human interfaces to structured documents

dc.check.embargoformat	Not applicable	en
dc.check.info	No embargo required	en
dc.check.opt-out	Not applicable	en
dc.check.reason	No embargo required	en
dc.check.type	No Embargo Required
dc.contributor.advisor	Kirakowski, Jurek	en
dc.contributor.advisor	McCarthy, John	en
dc.contributor.author	Flynn, Peter
dc.date.accessioned	2014-10-09T12:26:12Z
dc.date.available	2014-10-09T12:26:12Z
dc.date.issued	2014
dc.date.submitted	2014
dc.description.abstract	This research investigates some of the reasons for the reported difficulties experienced by writers when using editing software designed for structured documents. The overall objective was to determine if there are aspects of the software interfaces which militate against optimal document construction by writers who are not computer experts, and to suggest possible remedies. Studies were undertaken to explore the nature and extent of the difficulties, and to identify which components of the software interfaces are involved. A model of a revised user interface was tested, and some possible adaptations to the interface are proposed which may help overcome the difficulties. The methodology comprised: 1. identification and description of the nature of a ‘structured document’ and what distinguishes it from other types of document used on computers; 2. isolation of the requirements of users of such documents, and the construction a set of personas which describe them; 3. evaluation of other work on the interaction between humans and computers, specifically in software for creating and editing structured documents; 4. estimation of the levels of adoption of the available software for editing structured documents and the reactions of existing users to it, with specific reference to difficulties encountered in using it; 5. examination of the software and identification of any mismatches between the expectations of users and the facilities provided by the software; 6. assessment of any physical or psychological factors in the reported difficulties experienced, and to determine what (if any) changes to the software might affect these. The conclusions are that seven of the twelve modifications tested could contribute to an improvement in usability, effectiveness, and efficiency when writing structured text (new document selection; adding new sections and new lists; identifying key information typographically; the creation of cross-references and bibliographic references; and the inclusion of parts of other documents). The remaining five were seen as more applicable to editing existing material than authoring new text (adding new elements; splitting and joining elements [before and after]; and moving block text).	en
dc.description.status	Not peer reviewed	en
dc.description.version	Accepted Version
dc.format.mimetype	application/pdf	en
dc.identifier.citation	Flynn, P. 2014. Human interfaces to structured documents. PhD Thesis, University College Cork.	en
dc.identifier.endpage	445
dc.identifier.uri	https://hdl.handle.net/10468/1690
dc.language.iso	en	en
dc.publisher	University College Cork	en
dc.rights	© 2014, Peter Flynn.	en
dc.rights.uri	http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/	en
dc.subject	XML	en
dc.subject	Latex	en
dc.subject	Usability	en
dc.subject	Software	en
dc.subject	Authoring	en
dc.subject	Editing	en
dc.subject	XML	en
dc.subject	LATEX	en
dc.subject	Structure	en
dc.subject	Documents	en
dc.subject.lcsh	XML (Document markup language)
dc.subject.lcsh	LaTeX (Computer file)
dc.subject.lcsh	User interfaces (Computer systems)
dc.subject.lcsh	Human-computer interaction
dc.thesis.opt-out	false
dc.title	Human interfaces to structured documents	en
dc.title.alternative	The usability of software for authoring and editing	en
dc.type	Doctoral thesis	en
dc.type.qualificationlevel	Doctoral	en
dc.type.qualificationname	PhD (Arts)	en
ucc.workflow.supervisor	jzk@ucc.ie