Constructing multi-device interfaces still presents major challenges, despite all eorts of the industry and several academic initiatives to develop usable solutions. One approach which is nding its way into general use, is XML-based User Interface descriptions to generate suitable User Interfaces for embedded systems and mobile computing devices. Another

We describe a system, implemented as a browser extension, that enables users to quickly and easily collect, view, and share personal Web content. Our system employs a novel interaction model, which allows a user to specify webpage extraction patterns by interactively selecting webpage elements and applying these patterns to automatically collect similar content. Further, we present a technique for creating visual summaries of the collected information by combining user labeling with predefined layout templates. These summaries are interactive in nature: depending on the behaviors encoded in their templates, they may respond to mouse events, in addition to providing a visual summary. Finally, the summaries can be saved or sent to others to continue the research at another place or time. Informal evaluation shows that our approach works well for popular websites, and that users can quickly learn this interaction model for collecting content from the Web.

Layout refers to the process of determining the size and position of the visual objects in an information presentation. We introduce the WeightMap, a bitmap representation of the visual weight of a presentation. In addition, we present algorithms that use WeightMaps to allow an automated layout system to evaluate the effectiveness of its layouts. Our approach is based on the concepts of visual weight and visual balance, which are fundamental to the visual arts. The objects in the layout are each assigned a visual weight, and a WeightMap is created that encodes the visual weight of the layout. Image-processing techniques, including pyramids and edge detection, are then used to efficiently analyze the WeightMap for balance. In addition, derivatives of the sums of the rows and columns are used to generate suggestions for how to improve the layout.

Many dependencies appear between the different stages of the creation of a hypermedia presentation. These dependencies have to be taken into account while designing a system for their automatic generation. In this work we study two of them and propose some techniques to treat them. During this process, we introduce the partial design of a hypermedia formatting model that we call Hypermedia Formatting Objects.

As the diversity of available computing devices increases it becomes more di#cult to adapt User Interface development to support the full range of available devices. One of the di#culties are the di#erent GUI libraries: to use an alternative library or device one is forced to redevelop the interface completely for the alternative GUI library. To overcome these problems the User Interface Markup Language (UIML) specification has been proposed, as a way of glueing the interface design to di#erent GUI libraries (in di#erent environments) without further e#orts. In contrast with other similar approaches UIML has matured and has some implementations proving its usefulness. We introduce the first UIML renderer for the .Net framework; a framework that can be accessed by di#erent kinds of programming languages and can use different kinds of widget sets. We show that its properties, among them its reflection mechanism, are suitable for the development of a reusable and portable UIML renderer. Furthermore the suitability for multi-device rendering is discussed in comparison with our own multi-device User Interface framework Dygimes. The focus is on how layout management can be generalized in the specification to allow the GUI to adapt to di#erent screen sizes.

In this paper we describe how a component-based approach can be combined with a user interface (UI) description language to get more flexible and adaptable UIs for embedded systems and mobile computing devices. We envision a new approach for building adaptable user interfaces for embedded systems, which can migrate from one device to another. Adaptability to the device constraints is especially important for adding reusability and extensibility to UIs for embedded systems: this way they are ready to keep pace with new technologies.

We describe an automated layout system called AIL that generates the user interface for the PERSIVAL digital library project. AIL creates a layout based on a variety of content components and associated meta-data information provided by the PERSIVAL generation and retrieval modules. By leveraging semantic links between the content components, the layout that AIL provides is both context and user-model aware. In addition, AIL is capable of interacting intelligently with the natural language generation components of PERSIVAL to tailor the length of the text content for a given layout.

Abstract. This paper introduces a new method to determine appealing placements of textual annotations for complex-shaped geometric models. It employs dynamic potential fields, which consider attractive and repulsive forces between pictorial elements and their textual labels. Several label candidates are computed and evaluated according to weighted penalty functions. The individual weights can be adjusted according to global design decisions or user preferences. Moreover, the user can re-arrange individual labels whereas the system re-adjusts the remaining labels. The method is demonstrated by the FLOATING LABEL system. 1

As the computing market is evolving toward mobile computing systems and embedded or ubiquitous systems, developing user interfaces becomes a tedious job. Taking into account all possible combinations of device constraints has become rather complex, and UIs are still developed toward specific devices. This paper discusses some techniques for multi-device interface development. In particular we describe how abstract UI descriptions and constraint-based layout management systems can be combined for developing adaptive UIs for a wide range of devices. We believe this kind of techniques will gain importance when the development techniques for Mobile User Interfaces become more mature. 1

This paper presents a smart algorithm for labeling column charts and their derivatives. To efficiently solve the problem, we separate it into two sub-problems. We first present a geometric algorithm to solve the problem of finding a good labeling for the labels of a single column, given that some other columns have already been labeled. We then present a strategy for finding a good order in which columns should be labeled, which repeatedly uses the first algorithm for some limited lookahead. The presented algorithm is being used in a commercial product to label charts, and has shown in practice to produce satisfactory results.