Beyond WYSIWYG: Display of Hidden Information in Graphics Editors

Abstract

Graphics editors such as computer aided design systems are complex and difficult to use. We attribute this to the fact that only a small part of the information is visible and therefore accessible and understandable. Only the graphics objects themselves are visible, but the relations between these objects remain hidden. We propose an effective way to visualise this information in the form of trees and graphs in so-called structure browsers. A prototype implements this proposal based on an object-oriented application framework for graphics editors.