Interface builders only support the construction of the menus and dialogue boxes of an application. They do not support the construction of interfaces of many application classes (visualization, simulation, command and control, domain-specific editors) because of the dynamic and complex information that these applications process. HUMANOID is a model-based interface design and construction tool where interfaces are specified by building a declarative description (model) of their presentation and behavior. HUMANOID' s modeling language provides simple abstraction, iteration and conditional constructs to model the interface features of these application classes. HUMANOID provides an easy-touse designer's interface that lets designers build complex interfaces without programming.

Research on model-based user interface development tools is about 10 years old. Many approaches and prototype systems have been investigated in universities and research laboratories around the world. This paper proposes a generic architecture for these tools, reviews the different approaches in light of this architecture, and discusses their progress towards the goals of increasing the quality and reducing the cost of developing interfaces. The paper closes with a discussion of challenges for future model-based development tools. Keywords Model-based interface development, automatic user interface generation, user interface design.

ABSTRACT In this paper we discuss a notation to describe task models, which can specify a wide range of temporal relationships among tasks. It is a compact and graphical notation, immediate both to use and understand. Its logical structure and the related automatic tool make it suitable for designing even large sized applications.

Model-based interface development systems have not been able to progress beyond producing narrowly focused interface designs of restricted applicability. We identify a level-of-abstraction mismatch in interface models, which we call the mapping problem, as the cause of the limitations in the usefulness of model-based systems. We propose a general computational framework for solving the mapping problem in model-based systems. We show an implementation of the framework within the MOBI-D (Model-Based Interface Designer) interface development environment. The MOBI-D approach to solving the mapping problem enables for the first time with modelbased technology the design of a wide variety of types of user interfaces.

This paper describes an approach to the automatic presentation of multimedia documents based on parsing and syntax-directed translation using Relational Grammars. This translation is followed by a constraint solving mechanism to create the final layout. Grammatical rules provide the mechanism for mapping from a representation of the content of a presentation to forms that specify the media objects to be realized. These realization forms include sets of spatial and temporal constraints between elements of the presentation. Individual grammars encapsulate the "look and feel" of a presentation and can be used as generators of that style. By making the grammars sensitive to the requirements of the output medium, parsing can introduce flexibility into the information realization process. Keywords: Automatic design, grammar-directed design, visual languages, relational grammars, parsing, constraints 2: Introduction A fully functioning multimedia system requires a wide range of stages to achi...

Currently, building a user interface involves creating a large procedural program. Modelbased programming provides an alternative new paradigm. In the model-based paradigm, developers create a declarative model that describes the tasks that users are expected to accomplish with a system, the functional capabilities of a system, the style and requirements of the interface, the characteristics and preferences of the users, and the I/O techniques supported by the delivery platform. Based on the model, a much smaller procedural program then determines the behavior of the system. There are several advantages to this approach. The declarative model is a common representation that tools can reason about, enabling the construction of tools that automate various aspects of interface design, that assist system builders in the creation of the model, that automatically provide context sensitive help and other run-time assistance to users. The common model also allows the tools that operate on it t...

Model-based interface development works on the following central premise: given a declarative interface model that defines all the relevant characteristics of a user interface, then comprehensive, automated, user-interface development environments can be built around such model. Yet, the high potential of this technology has not been realised because all interface models built so far are partial representations of interfaces, cannot be readily modified by developers, are implicitly tied to their associated development environment, or, importantly, are not publicly available to the HCI community. The MECANO Project is a research effort that aims to overcome such limitations. It encompasses two phases: (1) The development of a comprehensive interface model available as a resource to the HCI community, and (2) the implementation of a open model-based development environment based on such an interface model. In this paper, we report on the first phase of the project. We present the MECANO Interface Model (MIM), and its associated interface modelling language (MIMIC). We describe a metalevel paradigm for interface modelling that overcomes problems of flexibility and completeness. The paradigm is also unique in that it not only models the user interface but also models explicitly the design process of the interface. This allows the construction of software tools that operate on the design process as well as on the interface elements. MIM has been validated via a variety of paper-based interfaces.

presentation model APM Provides a conceptual description of the structure and behaviour of the visual parts of the user interface. There the UI is described in terms abstract objects.

Building an interactive application requires, amongst other activities, the design of both a data model and a user interface. These two designs are often done separately, frequently by different individuals or groups. However, there are strong similarities between the objects, actions and attributes of the data model and those of the user interface. This means that considerable specification work has to be done twice. Our approach is to automatically generate user interface elements directly from the data model. This saves time and effort and at the same time style rules can be applied automatically to the design of the user interface. This relieves the designer of the need to be familiar with certain style rules, while at the same time creating the consistency embodied in the rules. Introduction An early step in the design of an interactive application is the definition of the application's data model. Assuming an object oriented design, the data model consists of an object class hie...

We describe MASTERMIND, a step toward our vision of a knowledge-based design-time and run-time environment where human-computer interfaces development is centered around an all-encompassing design model. The MASTERMIND approach is intended to provide integration and continuity across the entire life cycle of the user interface. In addition it facilitates higher quality work within each phase of the life cycle. MASTERMIND is an open framework, in which the design knowledge base allows multiple tools to come into play and makes knowledge created by each tool accessible to the others. KEYWORDS: models, collaboration, design, development INTRODUCTION The challenge facing the research community is to provide the bass for an effective, integrated suite of tools to support the entire lifecycle of an interface. This means that the tools must be given a great deal more knowledge than they currently have about the product they are intended to construct. It means that this knowledge must be pr...