User-tailorable systems: pressing the issues with buttons

Abstract

It is impossible to design systems which are appropriate for all users and all situations. We believe that a useful technique is to have end users tailor their systems to match their personal work practices. This requires not only systems which can be tailored, but a culture within which users feel in control of the system and in which tailoring is the norm. In a two-pronged research project we have worked closely with a group of users to develop a system to support tailoring and to help the users evolve a "tailoring culture". This has resulted in a flexible system based around the use of distributed on-screen Buttons to support a range of tailoring techniques.