Towards a Dynamic Strategy for Computer-Aided Visual Placement

This study is devoted to the layout problem in the TRIDENT project (Tools foR an Interactive Development ENvironmenT), which is dedicated to highly interactive business-oriented applications. In this project, the placement problem consists of a computer-aided visual placement of interaction objects (IO) included in a more composite IO called Presentation Unit (PU). Two strategies for placing IO within a PU are characterised and investigated: a static two-column based strategy and a dynamic right/bottom strategy. Each strategy decomposes the placement into three partially overlapping dimensions: localisation, dimensioning, and arrangement. A set of simple mathematical relationships is introduced to rate the quality of visual principles gained with the result of each strategy within the three dimensions. This rating shows that the lack of flexibility should lead us more towards a dynamic strategy for computer-aided visual placement.