Interactieparadigma en Prototype voor Business Software

For various good reasons, many businesses are moving from traditional desktop applications towards web based applications. But especially in web based applications, the user system interaction lacks any fluidity that could keep the user in the task flow. Jumps and breaks reduce the usability. Furthermore, the transaction orientedness and static paths of actions in these applications reduce the usability even more.

We developed a new interaction paradigm, adopting the notion of an information space containing the business data. Landmarks, contextual information and animation were used to deliver good navigation and direct manipulation in this information space. A graph-based conceptual model was created, that resulted in the concrete interaction paradigm.

The paradigm was implemented in a personnel administration system. Qualitative evaluation of a high-fi prototype with a small group of participants demonstrated that the new interaction paradigm is very promising for the creation of business software with a more fluid user system interaction within the restrictions of a browser environment.