On the impact of layout quality to understanding UML diagrams

Harald Störrle

doi:10.1109/VLHCC.2011.6070390

On the impact of layout quality to understanding UML diagrams

Harald Störrle

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Article in proceedings › Research › peer-review

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Abstract

Practical experience suggests that use and understanding of UML diagrams is greatly affected by the quality of their layout. However, existing experimental evidence for this effect is been weak and inconclusive. In this paper, we explore two explanations. Firstly, we observe that the visual qualities of diagrams are more prominent in earlier life cycle phases so that the impact of layout quality should be more apparent in models and diagram types used there, an aspect not studied in previous research. Secondly, in practice, good layouts use many different heuristics simultaneously whereas previous research considered them in isolation only. In this paper, we report the results of a series of controlled experiments using compound layouts on requirements analysis models. With very high significance, we find a notable impact of the layout quality measured by different aspects of cognitive load.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	2011 IEEE Symposium on Visual Languages and Human-Centric Computing (VL/HCC)
Publisher	IEEE
Publication date	2011
Pages	135-142
ISBN (Print)	978-1-4577-1246-3
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1109/VLHCC.2011.6070390
Publication status	Published - 2011
Event	2011 IEEE Symposium on Visual Languages and Human-Centric Computing - Pittsburgh, PA, United States Duration: 18 Sept 2011 → 22 Sept 2011 http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~vlhcc2011/

Conference

Conference	2011 IEEE Symposium on Visual Languages and Human-Centric Computing
Country/Territory	United States
City	Pittsburgh, PA
Period	18/09/2011 → 22/09/2011
Internet address	http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~vlhcc2011/

Series	IEEE Symposium on Visual Languages and Human-Centric Computing. Proceedings
ISSN	1943-6092

Bibliographical note

(c) 2011 IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. Permission from IEEE must be obtained for all other users, including reprinting/ republishing this material for advertising or promotional purposes, creating new collective works for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or reuse of any copyrighted components of this work in other works must be obtained from the IEEE.

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title = "On the impact of layout quality to understanding UML diagrams",

abstract = "Practical experience suggests that use and understanding of UML diagrams is greatly affected by the quality of their layout. However, existing experimental evidence for this effect is been weak and inconclusive. In this paper, we explore two explanations. Firstly, we observe that the visual qualities of diagrams are more prominent in earlier life cycle phases so that the impact of layout quality should be more apparent in models and diagram types used there, an aspect not studied in previous research. Secondly, in practice, good layouts use many different heuristics simultaneously whereas previous research considered them in isolation only. In this paper, we report the results of a series of controlled experiments using compound layouts on requirements analysis models. With very high significance, we find a notable impact of the layout quality measured by different aspects of cognitive load.",

author = "Harald St{\"o}rrle",

note = "(c) 2011 IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. Permission from IEEE must be obtained for all other users, including reprinting/ republishing this material for advertising or promotional purposes, creating new collective works for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or reuse of any copyrighted components of this work in other works must be obtained from the IEEE.; 2011 IEEE Symposium on Visual Languages and Human-Centric Computing, VL/HCC ; Conference date: 18-09-2011 Through 22-09-2011",

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language = "English",

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series = "IEEE Symposium on Visual Languages and Human-Centric Computing. Proceedings",

publisher = "IEEE",

pages = "135--142",

booktitle = "2011 IEEE Symposium on Visual Languages and Human-Centric Computing (VL/HCC)",

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Störrle, H 2011, On the impact of layout quality to understanding UML diagrams. in 2011 IEEE Symposium on Visual Languages and Human-Centric Computing (VL/HCC). IEEE, IEEE Symposium on Visual Languages and Human-Centric Computing. Proceedings, pp. 135-142, 2011 IEEE Symposium on Visual Languages and Human-Centric Computing, Pittsburgh, PA, United States, 18/09/2011. https://doi.org/10.1109/VLHCC.2011.6070390

On the impact of layout quality to understanding UML diagrams. / Störrle, Harald.
2011 IEEE Symposium on Visual Languages and Human-Centric Computing (VL/HCC). IEEE, 2011. p. 135-142 (IEEE Symposium on Visual Languages and Human-Centric Computing. Proceedings).

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Article in proceedings › Research › peer-review

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N2 - Practical experience suggests that use and understanding of UML diagrams is greatly affected by the quality of their layout. However, existing experimental evidence for this effect is been weak and inconclusive. In this paper, we explore two explanations. Firstly, we observe that the visual qualities of diagrams are more prominent in earlier life cycle phases so that the impact of layout quality should be more apparent in models and diagram types used there, an aspect not studied in previous research. Secondly, in practice, good layouts use many different heuristics simultaneously whereas previous research considered them in isolation only. In this paper, we report the results of a series of controlled experiments using compound layouts on requirements analysis models. With very high significance, we find a notable impact of the layout quality measured by different aspects of cognitive load.

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On the impact of layout quality to understanding UML diagrams

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