Improving target acquisition in Web applications with link prediction
Author(s)
Hanna, Roger B
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Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.
Advisor
Robert C. Miller.
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Web application users spend considerable time clicking on hyperlinks and buttons to complete frequent tasks. Individual application developers can optimize their interfaces to improve typical usage; however, no single task model will accurately reflect the needs of a wide audience of users. This thesis describes EasyLink, an automated optimization to the view of Web applications. EasyLink facilitates the common activities of individual users without explicit customization by each user. Using a record of the user's actions, EasyLink adapts the view of the page on later visits. The new view reduces unused elements by decreasing their contrast and emphasizes the most used elements by enlarging their size and ease of pointing. An evaluation of EasyLink on Gmail shows that it accurately models 64% of user behaviour, significantly reduces the time to complete simple tasks, and is preferred by users over the default view of Gmail.
Description
Thesis (M. Eng.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 2007. Includes bibliographical references (p. 81-84).
Date issued
2007Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer SciencePublisher
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Keywords
Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.