Mixed-Initiative Approaches to Global Editing in Slideware

Abstract

Good alignment and repetition of objects across presentation slides can facilitate visual processing and contribute to audience understanding. However, creating and maintaining such consistency during slide design is difficult. In order to solve this problem, we present two complementary tools: (1) StyleSnap, which increases the alignment and repetition of objects by adaptively clustering object edge positions and allowing parallel editing of all objects snapped to the same spatial extent; and (2) FlashFormat, which infers the leastgeneral generalization of editing examples and applies it throughout the selected range. In user studies of repetitive styling task performance, StyleSnap and FlashFormat were 4-5 times and 2-3 times faster than conventional editing, respectively. Both use a mixed-initiative approach to improve the consistency of slide decks and generalize to any situations involving editing across disjoint visual spaces.

Beyond Snapping

“…Snap-dragging [6], based on a ruler and compass metaphor, creates transient 'alignment objects' (points, circles and lines) inferred from the elements in the document. Since then, snap-dragging has been extended by manipulating the motor space [1] or the user's velocity profile [11], and new techniques have been introduced, such as keeping objects aligned across slides [10].…”

Beyond Grids

“…For more focused tasks, Edge et al [9] propose automatic alignment and systematic restyling of related objects to maintain consistency across slides. Piccoli et al [26] propose an interactive system based on principles from physics to guide content organization on the page.…”

SlideSpace

“…The first, HyperSlides , supports the generation of hyperlinked slides from hierarchical text specifications. The second two systemsStyleSnap and FlashFormat [Edge et al 2015]-support mixed-initiative approaches to slide editing that maintains visual consistency while creating and modifying the slides of a deck. Our present work takes this notion of design automation even further, exploring what forms presentation authoring and delivery could take if they were not constrained by existing physical metaphors.…”