Aesthetics of class diagrams

Eichelberger, Holger

doi:10.1109/vissof.2002.1019791

Cited by 27 publications

(33 citation statements)

References 11 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…[15]). Eichelberger [6] also discusses these criteria at length, and shows how they can be used in the automatic layout of UML class diagrams. The layout of UML diagrams is governed by four levels of design principles.…”

Section: "Good" Layout Of Uml Diagramsmentioning

confidence: 99%

On the Impact of Layout Quality to Understanding UML Diagrams: Size Matters

Störrle

2014

Lecture Notes in Computer Science

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Abstract. Practical experience suggests that usage and understanding of UML diagrams is greatly affected by the quality of their layout. While existing research failed to provide conclusive evidence in support of this hypothesis, our own previous work provided substantial evidence to this effect. When studying different factors like diagram type and expertise level, it became apparent that diagram size plays an important role, too. Since we lack an adequate understanding of this notion, in this paper, we define diagram size metrics and study their impact to modeler performance. We find that there is a strong negative correlation between diagram size and modeler performance. Our results are highly significant. We utilize these results to derive a recommendation on diagram sizes that are optimal for model understanding.

show abstract

Section: "Good" Layout Of Uml Diagramsmentioning

confidence: 99%

On the Impact of Layout Quality to Understanding UML Diagrams: Size Matters

Störrle

2014

Lecture Notes in Computer Science

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…[19]). Eichelberger [6] also discusses these criteria at length, and shows how they can be used in the automatic layout of UML class diagrams.…”

Section: Related Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

Diagram Size vs. Layout Flaws

Störrle

2016

Proceedings of the 10th ACM/IEEE International Symposium on Empirical Software Engineering and Measurement

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

CONTEXT: Previously, we have defined the notion of diagram size and studied its impact on the understanding of UML diagrams. Subsequently, questions have been raised regarding the reliability and generality of our findings. Also, new questions arose regarding how the quality of diagrams could be defined, and how it interacts with diagram size. GOAL: We pursue three goals. First, we want to increase the validity of our research by analyzing a substantially larger data set than before. Second, we broaden the generalizability of our results by including two more diagram types. Our main contribution, though, is our third goal of extending our analysis aspects of diagram quality. METHOD: We improve our definition of diagram size and add a (provisional) definition of diagram quality as the number of topographic layout flaws. We apply these metrics on 60 diagrams of the five most commonly used types of UML diagram. We carefully analyze the structure of our diagram samples to ensure representativeness. We correlate diagram size and layout quality with modeler performance data obtained in previous experiments. The data set is the largest of its kind (n = 156).RESULTS: We replicate earlier findings, and extend them to two new diagram types. We provide an improved definition of diagram size, and provide a definition of topographic layout quality, which is one more step towards a comprehensive definition of diagram quality as such. Both metrics are shown to be objectively applicable. We quantify the impact of diagram size and quality on diagram understanding. CONCLUSIONS: The overall results of previous studies are confirmed, while our previous recommendations for creating better diagrams are revised and refined.

show abstract

“…These findings strengthened the conviction that merging was vital, but needed to take account of, or at least try to preserve, as much of the meaning that layout conveyed as possible. However, having conducted a thorough analysis of existing automatic diagram layout approaches (typically based on automatic graph layout algorithms) it became clear that these did not meet our needs because they merely preserved the connections (in a topological sense) rather than dealing with the layout itself, and, similarly ignored many of the heuristics suggested above [20].…”

Section: Implications: a Different Approach To Mergingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…• The absolute position of a class symbol was meaningless [20,22], though the symbol's proximity (diagram context) and relation the other class symbols was important for the modellers' mental-map [13] of a diagram.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Supporting Collaborative Work by Preserving Model Meaning When Merging Graphical Models

Phalp

Grimm²,

2012

IFIP Advances in Information and Communication Technology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Abstract. An important aspect of support for distributed work is to enable users at different sites to work collaboratively; models need to be accessible by more than one user at a time allowing them to modify them independently from each other supporting parallel evolution [1]. As design is a largely creative process users also use layout to convey meaning. However, tools for merging such models tend to do so from a purely structural perspective, thus losing an important aspect of the meaning conveyed by the modeller. This paper presents a novel approach to model merging which allows us to preserve such layout meaning when merging. We first present evidence from an industrial study, which demonstrates how users use layout to convey specific meanings. We then introduce an approach to merging which will allow for the preservation of meaning and finally describe a prototype tool.

show abstract

Aesthetics of class diagrams

Cited by 27 publications

References 11 publications

On the Impact of Layout Quality to Understanding UML Diagrams: Size Matters

On the Impact of Layout Quality to Understanding UML Diagrams: Size Matters

Diagram Size vs. Layout Flaws

Supporting Collaborative Work by Preserving Model Meaning When Merging Graphical Models

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About