Programming rich interactions using the hierarchical state machine toolkit

Structured graphics models such as Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) enable designers to create visually rich graphics for user interfaces. Unfortunately current programming tools make it difficult to implement advanced interaction techniques for these interfaces. This paper presents the Hierarchical State Machine Toolkit (HsmTk), a toolkit targeting the development of rich interactions. The key aspect of the toolkit is to consider interactions as firstclass objects and to specify them with hierarchical state machines. This approach makes the resulting behaviors self-contained, easy to reuse and easy to modify. Interactions can be attached to graphical elements without knowing their detailed structure, supporting the parallel refinement of the graphics and the interaction. Categories and Subject Descriptors H.5.2 [Information Interfaces and Presentation (e.g., HCI)]: User Interfaces--graphical user interfaces, interaction styles, prototyping; D.2.2 [Software Engineering]: Design Tools an...

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2006
• Where: AVI
• Authors: Renaud Blanch, Michel Beaudouin-Lafon
• Keywords: Advanced Interaction Techniques, AVI 2006, Hierarchical State Machines, Scalable Vector Graphics, Software Engineering