End-user programming for the Web

On the desktop, an application can specify its user interface down to the last pixel, but on the World Wide Web, a content provider has little control over how the client will view the page once it has been delivered to the browser. This creates an opportunity for end-users who want to automate and customize their web experiences, but the growing complexity of web pages and standards prevents most users from realizing this opportunity. This thesis describes a programming system named Chickenfoot that enables end-users to automate, customize, and integrate web applications without examining their source code. It accomplishes this by embedding a programming environment directly into the Firefox web browser, where end-users can interactively develop programs that manipulate the interfaces of web pages. The design and implementation of the system's language are described, as well as the results of a user study that influenced the design. A range of applications built using Chickenfoot are also presented.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2005

Author dc:creator

• Bolin, Michael (Michael Thomas)

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Robert C. Miller.

• Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/33110

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/33110