End-user software customization by direct manipulation of tabular data
© 2020 Owner/Author. Customizing software should be as easy as using it. Unfortunately, most customization methods require users to abruptly shift from using a graphical interface to writing scripts in a programming language. We introduce data-driven customization, a new way for end users to extend...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Other Authors: | |
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
ACM
2022
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| Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/143685 |
| _version_ | 1826197783262003200 |
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| author | Litt, Geoffrey Jackson, Daniel Millis, Tyler Quaye, Jessica |
| author2 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory |
| author_facet | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory Litt, Geoffrey Jackson, Daniel Millis, Tyler Quaye, Jessica |
| author_sort | Litt, Geoffrey |
| collection | MIT |
| description | © 2020 Owner/Author. Customizing software should be as easy as using it. Unfortunately, most customization methods require users to abruptly shift from using a graphical interface to writing scripts in a programming language. We introduce data-driven customization, a new way for end users to extend software by direct manipulation without doing traditional programming. We augment existing user interfaces with a table view showing the structured data inside the application. When users edit the table, their changes are reflected in the original UI. This simple model accommodates a spreadsheet formula language and custom data-editing widgets, providing enough power to implement a variety of useful extensions. We illustrate the approach with Wildcard, a browser extension that implements data-driven customization on the web using web scraping. Through concrete examples, we show that this paradigm can support useful extensions to many real websites, and we share reflections from our experiences using the tool. Finally, we share our broader vision for data-driven customization: a future where end users have more access to the data inside their applications, and can more flexibly repurpose that data as part of everyday software usage. |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-23T10:53:23Z |
| format | Article |
| id | mit-1721.1/143685 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-23T10:53:23Z |
| publishDate | 2022 |
| publisher | ACM |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | mit-1721.1/1436852023-04-14T19:41:50Z End-user software customization by direct manipulation of tabular data Litt, Geoffrey Jackson, Daniel Millis, Tyler Quaye, Jessica Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory © 2020 Owner/Author. Customizing software should be as easy as using it. Unfortunately, most customization methods require users to abruptly shift from using a graphical interface to writing scripts in a programming language. We introduce data-driven customization, a new way for end users to extend software by direct manipulation without doing traditional programming. We augment existing user interfaces with a table view showing the structured data inside the application. When users edit the table, their changes are reflected in the original UI. This simple model accommodates a spreadsheet formula language and custom data-editing widgets, providing enough power to implement a variety of useful extensions. We illustrate the approach with Wildcard, a browser extension that implements data-driven customization on the web using web scraping. Through concrete examples, we show that this paradigm can support useful extensions to many real websites, and we share reflections from our experiences using the tool. Finally, we share our broader vision for data-driven customization: a future where end users have more access to the data inside their applications, and can more flexibly repurpose that data as part of everyday software usage. 2022-07-12T16:54:51Z 2022-07-12T16:54:51Z 2020 2022-07-12T16:50:59Z Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/ConferencePaper https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/143685 Litt, Geoffrey, Jackson, Daniel, Millis, Tyler and Quaye, Jessica. 2020. "End-user software customization by direct manipulation of tabular data." Onward! 2020 - Proceedings of the 2020 ACM SIGPLAN International Symposium on New Ideas, New Paradigms, and Reflections on Programming and Software, Co-located with SPLASH 2020. en 10.1145/3426428.3426914 Onward! 2020 - Proceedings of the 2020 ACM SIGPLAN International Symposium on New Ideas, New Paradigms, and Reflections on Programming and Software, Co-located with SPLASH 2020 Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ application/pdf ACM ACM |
| spellingShingle | Litt, Geoffrey Jackson, Daniel Millis, Tyler Quaye, Jessica End-user software customization by direct manipulation of tabular data |
| title | End-user software customization by direct manipulation of tabular data |
| title_full | End-user software customization by direct manipulation of tabular data |
| title_fullStr | End-user software customization by direct manipulation of tabular data |
| title_full_unstemmed | End-user software customization by direct manipulation of tabular data |
| title_short | End-user software customization by direct manipulation of tabular data |
| title_sort | end user software customization by direct manipulation of tabular data |
| url | https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/143685 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT littgeoffrey endusersoftwarecustomizationbydirectmanipulationoftabulardata AT jacksondaniel endusersoftwarecustomizationbydirectmanipulationoftabulardata AT millistyler endusersoftwarecustomizationbydirectmanipulationoftabulardata AT quayejessica endusersoftwarecustomizationbydirectmanipulationoftabulardata |