Control Panels: Methods for Optimizing the Interface Layout

Abstract

The paper considers existing methods to enhance the ergonomic quality of the control panel user interface by optimizing the interface layout, and also propose and describe a new one. The methods use the linear programming approach, which entails a target function of time spent to reach the functional groups of the controls presented in the user interface, and depends on the usage frequency of the functional groups, and minimizing the target function. The authors used the proposed new method, along with the already existing to optimize the interface layout of the Roland MC-909 synthesizer, used as a research object. The authors further compare the efficiency of different linear programming methods for positioning functional groups of controls and the original interface layout.