Transformations on a formal specification of user-computer interfaces
James D. Foley · ACM SIGGRAPH Computer Graphics · 1987
Present software tools for designing and implementin g user-computer interfaces are too low-level : while they provide support to the designer at the presentation level o f screen layout, dialogue design, etc ., they provide no support at the conceptual and semantic design levels .Our present research project objective is to develop a formal representation for key aspects of the conceptual an d semantic design of a user-computer interface .Th e representation embodies information about the use r interface in terms of objects, actions, relations, attributes , and pre-and post-conditions associated with the actions .W e are building an interactive system, using a frame-base d expert system shell, which will help the designer create th e specification for an intended interface .Once the designe r has completed the user interface specification, our syste m will be able to : e Apply consistency and completeness checks to th e specification .• Transform the specification into a series of functionall y equivalent specifications, each of which has a slightl y different user interface to the same functionality .e Evaluate speed of use of the interfaces, based on tas k scenarios and using the keystroke-level model [2], o r formal grammar analyses [1,8] .e Input any or all of the specifications into an appropriat e UIMS, such as GWUIMS [9], to quickly implement an y of the user interfaces .