Generating Abstract User Interfaces from an Informal Design

Generating Abstract User Interfaces from an Informal Design Adrien Coyette University of Louvain Information Systems Unit Louvain-la-Neuve BELGIUM

Presentation Agenda 1. Motivations / Related works 2. Sketchi. XML Requirements 3. Output: Usi. XML file 4. Presentation of the application 5. Conclusion / Future Works Generating Abstract User Interfaces from an Informal Design

Motivations / Related works Considerable importance of user interface in application development (50% to 70 % of the application code [Myers and Al, 2000] ) Apparition of many high fidelity graphical user interfaces editors on the market Generating Abstract User Interfaces from an Informal Design

Motivations / Related works ØBut designing the right User Interface (UI) the first time is very unlikely to occur instead, UI design is eminently open iterative and incomplete Generating Abstract User Interfaces from an Informal Design

Motivations / Related works Paper ( or whiteboard) used most of the time: 4 familiar and unconstrained approach 4 fast to learn and quick to produce 4 focus on basic structural issues instead of unimportant details 4 it is very appropriate to convey ongoing, unfinished designs, and it encourages creativity, 4 can be performed collaboratively between designers and end-users Generating Abstract User Interfaces from an Informal Design

Motivations / Related works 4 The idea of developing a computer-based tool for sketching UIs naturally emerged from these observations Such tools would extend the advantages provided by sketching techniques (easily creating, deleting, updating or moving UI elements). 4 Apparition of hybrid approaches, approaches combining the best of the hand-sketching and computer assisted user interface design Generating Abstract User Interfaces from an Informal Design

Motivations / Related works DENIM(James A. Landay, James Lin, Mark W. Newman, Jason I. Hong) Generating Abstract User Interfaces from an Informal Design

Motivations / Related works Java. Sketch. It (Joaquim A. Jorge, Manuel João Fonseca, Anabela Caetano, Néri Goulart ) Generating Abstract User Interfaces from an Informal Design

Sketchi. XML’s Requirements ØAvoidance of Effort loss ØLarge conceptual coverage ØLanguage neutrality ØEase of use (naturalness) ØFlexible processing ØRobust scenario editor Ø… Generating Abstract User Interfaces from an Informal Design

Usi. XML (USer Interface e. Xtensible Markup Language) • XML-compliant markup language that describes the UI for multiple contexts of use Character User Interfaces, Graphical User Interfaces, Multimodal User Interfaces, … • Language Supporting Multi-Path Development of User Interfaces Forward engineering, Reverse engineering, Middle-out approach, … Generating Abstract User Interfaces from an Informal Design

Usi. XML Transformation paths, steps, sub-steps Generating Abstract User Interfaces from an Informal Design

Presentation of the application Generating Abstract User Interfaces from an Informal Design

Conclusion üWe have introduced a new and innovative sketching tool that generates a user, platform, and environment independent output üWe have met most of the requirements that were identified as important shortcomings of existing tools üSketchi. XML extends a set of tools based on Usi. XML, allowing to initiate the design process from the early design phase to the final concrete user interface, with tools support for every stages Generating Abstract User Interfaces from an Informal Design

Future work ØExtends current functionalities ( i. e. a scenario editor allowing to represent transition between screen) ØDeveloping an evolutionary recognition engine as Sketchi. XML is currently restricted to vectorial shape recognition. To this aim, research in a biometric domain such as handwriting recognition is considered. Generating Abstract User Interfaces from an Informal Design

Questions ? Visit www. usixml. org Generating Abstract User Interfaces from an Informal Design