Intelligent user support in graphical user interfaces

Abstract

1. This paper presents a frontend to an intelligent help system based on plans called InCome (Interaction Control Manager). It visualizes user actions previously executed in a specific application as a graph structure and enables the user to navigate through this structure. A higher level of abstraction on performed user actions shows the dialog history, the interaction context and reachable goals. Finally, the user is able to act on the application via InCome by performing undo mechanisms as well as specifying user goals inferred already by the help system. 2. This paper describes the system PLUS, a plan-based help system for applications offering an object-oriented user interface. Our plan recognition process is based on a predefined static hierarchical plan base, that is modelled using a goal plan language. This language is designed to especially cope with the problems arising when plan recognition is performed in a graphical user interface environment whose interaction is based on a user-directed dialog by means of direct manipulation -- so-called Direct Manipulation User Interfaces. The plan hierarchy is entered using the interactive graphics-oriented plan editor PlanEdit+. The plan recognition module PlanRecognizer+ builds a dynamic plan base by mapping user actions to plans stored in the static plan base. The dynamic plan base contains hypotheses about tasks the user is pursuing at the moment. These plan hypotheses serve as a basis to offer various kinds of assistance to the user. A central component of our graphical help is the module InCome+. InCome+ visualizes user actions previously executed in an application as a graph structure and enables the user to navigate through this structure. A higher level of abstraction on performed actions shows the dialog history, the interaction context, and reachable goals. InCome+ offers special features like task-oriented undo und redo facilities and a context-sensitive tutor. As a substantial extension of the graphical user assistance, we integrate the presentation of animated help within PLUS. Animation sequences are generated in the context of the tasks the user is currently working on.