[UI] ARIS

ARIS: An Interface for Application Relocation in an Interactive Space
Jacob T. Biehl and Brian P. Bailey
Dept. of Computer Science, Univ. of Illinois Urbana, IL, USA
Graphics Interface 2004

• ARIS:
• an interactive space window manager
  
• to enable a user to better manage information in an interactive space
• provides an iconic map of the space that enables a user to visually relocate applications among screens
• contribution: provide direct manipulation interface
  
• build on top of Gaia, a middleware OS that manages resources in their Active Space Lab
• iteration I: multiple Low-fidelity prototypes
• users dislike:
• select and drop
• use of a back and forth gesture
• textual list
• users like:
  
• select a button from the title bar
• iconic map interface
• want strong orientation cues
  
• iteration II: revised low-fidelity prototype
• lessons learned:
• enable a user to initiate a window relocation task from a window's title bar
  
• a 2D iconic map of the space may be good enough for window relocation tasks
• provide feedback:
• in the space as a user interacts with the iconic map
• that transcends the end of the relocation task
  
• users believe that the use of an interactive space could enhance collaborative work
  
• ...
  
• My Thoughts:
• although our scenario is different from theirs, and also we want it to be automatic map, however, is the difference big enough? Or we just combine different works together?
• speaking to UI, our original rough idea is almost the same... just that users don't need to orient themselves
• doing rough prototypes => tradeoff: time and results/expectations
• we should really think of a novel and different interface to achieve our goal, or works are too similar, but, this is not easy