Users are accustomed to a variety of utile features in textual editing that also benefits graphical modeling tools, such as efficient auto-completion, automated formatters, and immediate feedback on the software. As developers of graphical modeling tools, we strive to assist users in creating high-quality and scalable models.

Bianca, Alois, and Rick share their experiences with typical trade-offs in improving the user interface of our modeling tool 4diac IDE, opens an external URL in a new window in a recently published paper @ MODELS’21. They used the  "Cognitive Dimensions of Notations" framework to perform developer walk-throughs and user studies to reveal usability flaws, report how they resolved these issues, and discuss relevant lessons learned for the community.

Read how design trade-offs affect either usability aspects or user groups, as, for instance, a new feature may support novice users, while slowing down experts.

Lesen Sie, wie sich Kompromisse bei der Gestaltung auf Aspekte der Benutzerfreundlichkeit oder auf Benutzergruppen auswirken, denn eine neue Funktion kann beispielsweise unerfahrene Benutzer unterstützen, während sie Experten ausbremst.

Bianca Wiesmayr, Alois Zoitl, Rick Rabiser - Assessing the Usefulness of a Visual Programming IDE for Large-Scale Automation Software - ePUP, opens an external URL in a new window - DOI, opens an external URL in a new window

Did you miss the presentation? We are pleased to announce that our colleagues will also present the paper at the SE Conference 2022, opens an external URL in a new window. This conference will take place between February 21-25 and will be held virtually. The conference is aimed at both software development experts, and researchers in academia.

We will focus on the need to discuss usability within the open source project community and we hope that our findings will benefit developers in area of visual modeling and programming tools.