Generating user interfaces: principles and use of it style rules

Abstract

INTRODUCTIONAs application developers today we all face a problem of great complexity. Because of the diversity of our users, and the variety of their equipment, applications must run in many different configurations. They must support displays of varying size, resolution, and color depth. Different types of input devices are required, from keyboards to touch screens. Applications must run in different countries, being able to reformat messages in varying lengths in each language. Messages should be available in large font sizes for vision impaired users. Interface style should be consistent with other applications running on similar hardware. Style should at the same time conform to guidelines being developed by many organizations for presentation and interaction behaviors.Historically, two types of layered architectures have been developed in attempts to provide the required flexibility in applications: User Interface Management Systems (UIMS) and toolkits. UIMS separate the application and its interface. Back end computations are separated from dialog control and style. Style, however, is often treated in a single interface layer. Toolkits separate style from the application. Dialog control remains in the back end while the implementation of interaction techniques is hidden in a code library.ITS is a four Iayer architecture with separate tools for back end computation, dialog control, rule-based interface style, and the implementation of graphic primitives used in the style [Bennett 891. Recent work has focused particularly on the rule layer. We begin by reviewing previous work in UIMS and toolkits. Then we show how the rule layer in ITS combines the benefits of both UIMS and toolkits. ITS is being used to implement the visitor information system for EXPO 1992 in Seville. We conclude by describing what we have learned from EXPO 92 and from other applications. $1.50ers. An application layer implements the underlying computations while an interface layer implements the details of interface presentation and interaction. According to the traditional Sceheim [Pfaff 851 architecture, the interface layer defines the connection to the application, dialog flow of control, and presentation style, The application layer is structured as a set of callback routines executed in response to user actions or external interrupts.The goals of separating the application from its interface are well documented [Hayes 85, Hartson 891 and include reusing a given application in multiple interfaces, consistency among a family of interfaces that run using a common interface, and independent tools for application and interface developers. We believe previous UIMS have had limited success in meeting these goals because of two problems: they have not suffi-cientIy decomposed the interface layer, and they have provided inadequate tools for interface designers.The Seeheim model calls for separate dialog control and presentation components in the interface layer. Much of the previous work on UIMS has focused on the dialog component. Less atten...

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“…Indeed, this is the result of practical experiences with this technology, e.g. ITS was used by IBM to produce the UI of the visitor information system of EXPO'92 [50,51], and FUSE has been used by Siemens to simulate an ISDN telephone.…”

“…In general, these notations have been developed specifically for the MB-UIDE. They can be completely new as in ITS's Style rules [50,51], or they can be extensions of other notations, as in MASTERMIND's MDL that is an extension of CORBA IDL [41]. The use of a single notation can be useful to describe how the models collaborate with each other.…”

“…• They can provide a more abstract description of the UI than UI descriptions provided by the other UI development tools [51,35];…”

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“…Other systems require the designer to define, in a special language, the semantics of an application (e.g., ITS (Wiecha and Boies 1990) and IDL (Foley 1987». Typically, some sort of rulebased system is used to infer the layout based on the code or specification.…”

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“…사용성 평가의 결과는 시스템의 인터페이스 를 개선시키는데 이용되기도 하지만, 사용자에 관한 정보 를 제공하기 때문에 평가된 시스템 외에도 새로운 사용자 인터페이스를 구현하는데 이용된다 (Wiecha et al, 1990, Puerta et al, 1997.…”