scholarly journals Influence of diagram layout and scrolling on understandability of BPMN processes: an eye tracking experiment with BPMN diagrams

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Lübke ◽  
Maike Ahrens ◽  
Kurt Schneider
Keyword(s):  
Eye Tracking ◽  
Business Process ◽  
Process Modeling ◽  
Business Models ◽  
Business Process Modeling ◽  
Process Models ◽  
Software Systems ◽  
Process Diagrams ◽  
Style Guides ◽  
Important Activity

AbstractBusiness process modeling is an important activity for developing software systems—especially within digitization projects and when realizing digital business models. Specifying requirements and building executable workflows is often done by using BPMN 2.0 process models. Although there are several style guides available for BPMN, e.g., by Silver and Richard (BPMN method and style, vol 2, Cody-Cassidy Press, Aptos, 2009), there has not been much empirical research done into the consequences of the diagram layout. In particular, layouts that require scrolling have not been investigated yet. The aim of this research is to establish layout guidelines for business process modeling that help business process modelers to create more understandable business process diagrams. For establishing benefits and penalties of different layouts, a controlled eye tracking experiment was conducted, in which data of 21 professional software developers was used. Our results show that horizontal layouts are less demanding and that as many diagram elements as possible should be put on the initially visible screen area because such diagram elements are viewed more often and longer. Additionally, diagram elements related to the reader’s task are read more often than those not relevant to the task. BPMN modelers should favor a horizontal layout and use a more complex snake or multi-line layout whenever the diagrams are too large to fit on one page in order to support BPMN model comprehension.

Structuring of Interactive Style Guides

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marcel Müßiggang ◽  
Tim Rasim ◽  
Tilo Mentler ◽  
Michael Herczeg
Keyword(s):  
Style Guides

scholarly journals The use of person-first language in scholarly writing may accentuate stigma

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Morton Ann Gernsbacher
Keyword(s):  
Language Use ◽  
Children With Disabilities ◽  
First Language ◽  
Typical Development ◽  
Scholarly Writing ◽  
American Psychological ◽  
Adults With Disabilities ◽  
Style Guides

Numerous style guides, including those issued by the American Psychological and the American Psychiatric Associations, prescribe that writers use only person-first language so that nouns referring to persons (e.g. children) always precede phrases referring to characteristics (e.g. children with typical development). Person-first language is based on the premise that everyone, regardless of whether they have a disability, is a person-first, and therefore everyone should be referred to with person-first language. However, my analysis of scholarly writing suggests that person-first language is used more frequently to refer to children with disabilities than to refer to children without disabilities; person-first language is more frequently used to refer to children with disabilities than adults with disabilities; and person-first language is most frequently used to refer to children with the most stigmatized disabilities. Therefore, the use of person-first language in scholarly writing may actually accentuate stigma rather than attenuate it. Recommendations are forwarded for language use that may reduce stigma.

Using Online Writing Communities to Teach Writing MOOCs

2017 ◽  
pp. 317-330
Author(s):  
Rebekah Shultz Colby
Keyword(s):  
Online Courses ◽  
Technical Writing ◽  
Writing Classroom ◽  
Rhetorical Situation ◽  
Online Writing ◽  
Teacher Authority ◽  
Writing Genres ◽  
Style Guides ◽  
Writing Communities ◽  
Pedagogical Approaches

The immense enrollment capacity of massive open online courses (MOOCs) radically decenters student and teacher authority in the writing classroom. However, online writing communities teach each other how to write effectively within that community, a type of writing instruction which could be leveraged in a MOOC. The author qualitatively coded the types of writing questions and feedback posted on a technical writing forum, Technical Writing World and discovered that writing questions focused on technical writing genres, style guides, documentation practices, lower order concerns, and revision or outsourcing of work. Responses often directed the original poster to research the rhetorical situation within a specific company. The author then outlined three pedagogical approaches for writing MOOCs: students could ask writing questions from professionals on similar writing websites, conduct qualitative studies of similar online writing communities to learn their underlying writing values, and participate in MOOCs that were organized to be communities of practice.

A review of style guides

1973 ◽  
Vol PC-16 (1) ◽  
pp. 18-22 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dorothy D. Jones
Keyword(s):  
Style Guides

Traditional vs. Web Style Guides: How do they Differ?

1996 ◽  
Vol 40 (6) ◽  
pp. 365-369
Author(s):  
Julie A. Ratner ◽  
Eric Grose ◽  
Chris Forsythe
Keyword(s):  
User Interface ◽  
Graphical User Interface ◽  
Data Entry ◽  
Computer Interface ◽  
Web Pages ◽  
Human Computer Interface ◽  
Web Based ◽  
Information Display ◽  
Web Information ◽  
Style Guides

This paper describes a study in which Web style guides were characterized, compared to traditional human-computer interface (HCI) style guides, and evaluated against findings from HCI reviews of web pages and applications. Findings showed little consistency among the 21 Web style guides assessed, with 75% of recommendations appearing in only one style guide. While there was some overlap, only 20% of Web-relevant recommendations from traditional style guides were found in Web style guides. Web style guides emphasized common look and feel, information display, and navigation issues, with little mention of many issues prominent in traditional style guides such as help, message boxes, and data entry. This difference is reinforced by other results showing that Web style guides address Web information-only pages with much greater success than web-based control enabling features, like buttons and entry fields. It is concluded that while the WWW represents a unique graphical user interface (GUI) environment, development of Web style guides has been less rigorous, with issues associated with web-based control enabling features neglected.

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