Ben Shneiderman

Example of a Nassi–Shneiderman diagram

In the 1973 article "Flowchart techniques for structured programming" presented at a 1973 SIGPLAN meeting Isaac Nassi and Ben Shneiderman argued:

With the advent of structured programming and GOTO-less programming a method is needed to model computation in simply ordered structures, each representing a complete thought possibly defined in terms of other thoughts as yet undefined. A model is needed which prevents unrestricted transfers of control and has a control structure closer to languages amenable to structured programming. We present an attempt at such a model.[8]

The new model technique for structured programming they presented has become known as the Nassi–Shneiderman diagram; a graphical representation of the design of structured software.[9]

In the 1970s Shneiderman continued to study programmers, and the use of flow charts. In the 1977 article "Experimental investigations of the utility of detailed flowcharts in programming" Shneiderman et al. summarized the origin and status quo of flowcharts in computer programming:

Flowcharts have been a part of computer programming since the introduction of computers in the 1940s. In 1947 Goldstein and von Neumann [7] presented a system of describing processes using operation, assertion, and alternative boxes. They felt that "coding begins with the drawing of flow diagram." Prior to coding, the algorithm had been identified and understood. The flowchart represented a high level definition of the solution to be implemented on a machine. Although they were working only with numerical algorithms, they proposed a programming methodology which has since become standard practice in the computer programming field. [10]

Furthermore, Shneiderman had conducted experiments which suggested that flowcharts were not helpful for writing, understanding, or modifying computer programs. At the end of their 1977 paper, Shneiderman et al. concluded:

Although our original intention was to ascertain under which conditions detailed flowcharts were most helpful, our repeated negative results have led us to a more skeptical opinion of the utility of detailed flowcharts under modern programming conditions. We repeatedly selected problems and tried to create test conditions which would favor the flowchart groups, but found no statistically significant differences between the flowchart and non-flowchart groups. In some cases the mean scores for the non-flowchart groups even surpassed the means for the flowchart groups. We conjecture that detailed flowcharts are merely a redundant presentation of the information contained in the programming language statements. The flowcharts may even be at a disadvantage because they are not as complete (omitting declarations, statement labels, and input/output formats) and require many more pages than do the concise programming language statements.[11]

In 1986, he published the first edition (now on its sixth edition) of his book "Designing the User Interface: Strategies for Effective Human-Computer Interaction." Included in this book is his most popular list of "Eight Golden Rules of Interface Design," which read:

1. Strive for consistency. Consistent sequences of actions should be required in similar situations ...
2. Enable frequent users to use shortcuts. As the frequency of use increases, so do the user's desires to reduce the number of interactions ...
3. Offer informative feedback. For every operator action, there should be some system feedback ...
4. Design dialog to yield closure. Sequences of actions should be organized into groups with a beginning, middle, and end ...
5. Offer simple error handling. As much as possible, design the system so the user cannot make a serious error ...
6. Permit easy reversal of actions. This feature relieves anxiety, since the user knows that errors can be undone ...
7. Support internal locus of control. Experienced operators strongly desire the sense that they are in charge of the system and that the system responds to their actions. Design the system to make users the initiators of actions rather than the responders.
8. Reduce short-term memory load. The limitation of human information processing in short-term memory requires that displays be kept simple, multiple page displays be consolidated, window-motion frequency be reduced, and sufficient training time be allotted for codes, mnemonics, and sequences of actions.[12]

These guidelines are frequently taught in courses on Human-Computer Interaction.

In 2003, Ben Bederson and Ben Shneiderman coauthored the book "The Craft of Information Visualization: Readings and Reflections". Included in Chapter 8: Theories for Understanding Information Visualization in this book are five goals of theories for HCI practitioners and researchers, which read:

The typical goals of theories are to enable practitioners and researchers to:

1. Describe objects and actions in a consistent and clear manner to enable cooperation
2. Explain processes to support education and training
3. Predict performance in normal and novel situations so as to increase the chances of success
4. Prescribe guidelines, recommend best practices, and caution about dangers
5. Generate novel ideas to improve research and practice.[13]

These goals are frequently taught in courses on Human-Computer Interaction and cited in works by authors such as Yvonne Rogers, Victor Kaptelinin, and Bonnie Nardi.

Shneiderman's cognitive analysis of user needs led to principles of direct manipulation interface design in 1982: (1) continuous representation of the objects and actions, (2) rapid, incremental, and reversible actions, and (3) physical actions and gestures to replace typed commands, which enabled designers to craft more effective graphical user interfaces. He applied those principles to design innovative user interfaces such as the highlighted selectable phrases in text, that were used in the commercially successful Hyperties.[14] Hyperties was used to author the world's first electronic scientific journal issue, which was the July 1988 issue of the Communications of the ACM[15] with seven papers from the 1987 Hypertext conference. It was made available as a floppy disk accompanying the printed journal. Tim Berners-Lee cited this disk as the source for his "hot spots" in his Spring 1989 manifesto[16] for the World Wide Web. Hyperties was also used to create the world's first commercial electronic book, Hypertext Hands-On! in 1988.

Direct manipulation concepts led to touchscreen interfaces for home controls, finger-painting, and the now ubiquitous small touchscreen keyboards. The development of the "Lift-off strategy"[17] by University of Maryland Human–Computer Interaction Lab (HCIL) researchers enabled users to touch the screen, getting feedback as to what will be selected, adjust their finger position, and complete the selection by lifting the finger off the screen.

The HCIL team applied direct manipulation principles for touchscreen home automation systems, finger-painting programs,[18] and the double-box range sliders[19] that gained prominence by their inclusion in Spotfire. The visual presentation inherent in direct manipulation emphasized the opportunity for information visualization.

His major work in recent years has been on information visualization, originating the treemap concept for hierarchical data.[20] Treemaps are implemented in most information visualization tools including Spotfire, Tableau Software, QlikView, SAS, JMP, and Microsoft Excel. Treemaps are included in hard drive exploration tools, stock market data analysis, census systems, election data, gene expression, and data journalism. The artistic side of treemaps are on view in the Treemap Art Project.

He also developed dynamic queries sliders with multiple coordinated displays that are a key component of Spotfire, which was acquired by TIBCO in 2007. His work continued on visual analysis tools for time series data, TimeSearcher, high dimensional data, Hierarchical Clustering Explorer, and social network data, SocialAction.[21] Shneiderman contributed to the widely used social network analysis and visualization tool NodeXL.

Current work deals with visualization of temporal event sequences, such as found in Electronic Health Records, in systems such as LifeLines2[22] and EventFlow.[23] These tools visualize the categorical data that make up a single patient history and they present an aggregated view that enables analysts to find patterns in large patient history databases.

In 2012, Jeffrey Heer and Ben Shneiderman coauthored the article “Interactive Dynamics for Visual Analysis” in Association for Computing Machinery Queue vol. 10, no. 2. Included in this article is a taxonomy of interactive dynamics to assist researchers, designers, analysts, educators, and students in evaluating and creating visual analysis tools. The taxonomy consists of 12 task types grouped into three high-level categories, as shown below.

[24]

He also defined the research area of universal usability to encourage greater attention to diverse users, languages, cultures, screen sizes, network speeds, and technology platforms.