Interactive Layout Generation with a Diagrammatic Constraint Language

The paper analyzes a diagrammatic reasoning problem that consists in finding a graphical layout which simultaneously satisfies a set of constraints expressed in a formal language and a set of unformalized mental constraints, e.g. esthetic preferences. For this type of problem, the performance of a layout assistance system does not only depend on its use of computational resources (algorithmic complexity) but also on the mental effort required to understand the system's output and to plan the next interaction (cognitive complexity). We give a formal analysis of the instantiation space of a weakly constrained rectangle layout task and propose a measure for the cognitive complexity. It is discussed how the user's control of the presentation order of the different constraint instantiations affects the cognitive complexity. 1 Partially Unformalized Constraint Systems One of the fields in which constraint-based approaches to spatial configuration have been particularly successful i...

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2000
• Where: SPATIALCOGNITION
• Authors: Christoph Schlieder, Cornelius Hagen
• Keywords: Cognitive Complexity, Constrained Rectangle Layout, Information Management, SPATIALCOGNITION 2000, Unformalized Mental Constraints