Item

Usability of navigation tools for browsing genetic sequences

Rutherford, Paul
; 
Abell, Walter L.
; 
Churcher, Clare D.
; 
McKinnon, Alan E.
; 
McCallum, J.
Date
2010-01
Type
Conference Contribution - published
Collections
Department of Informatics and Enabling Technologies
Keywords
user interface, heuristic evaluation, applications, usability, navigation tools, genetic sequences, DNA sequences, bioinformatics, navigation
Fields of Research
Abstract
Software to display DNA sequences is a crucial tool for bioinformatics research. This study examined techniques for navigating large DNA sequences via panning and zooming. This involved surveying the navigation facilities of current bioinformatics applications and performing a heuristic analysis on the most common interface controls found. Several prototypes for sequence navigation via panning and zooming were then developed and usability trials carried out, getting users to perform common sequence navigation tasks using the prototypes. The 'Connected View' design was found to be most usable for panning while the zooming results were less clear. The outcomes of this type of research can help improve bioinformatics applications so that will be more usable by the target research users.
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Name: Abell_Rutherfordf_Usability.pdf
Size: 705.87 KB
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Permalink
https://hdl.handle.net/10182/4484
Source DOI
Rights
Copyright © 2010, Australian Computer Society, Inc. This paper appeared at the 11th Australasian User Interface Conference (AUIC 2010), Brisbane, Australia. Conferences in Research and Practice in Information Technology, Vol. 106. P. Calder, C. Lutteroth, Eds. Reproduction for academic, not for- profit purposes permitted provided this text is included.
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