Dynamic multi-target user interface design for grid based M-Services
Device heterogeneity and the diversity in user preferences are challenges, which must be addressed in order to achieve effective information communication in a mobile computing environment. Many model based approaches for the generation of user interfaces have been proposed. These approaches were aimed at achieving effective information communication in a mobile computing environment. Unfortunately, current model based approaches do not support user participation in interface adaptation. Hence, user interfaces are adapted for and on behalf of users, leaving users with inappropriate interfaces. There is therefore a need for an approach that allows direct user participation in interface adaptation. Such an approach must be responsive to changes in user needs and preferences. This work therefore proposes a Polymorphic Logical Description (PLD) method for automatic generation of multi-target user interfaces. The PLD method consists of user preference aware models, which are created at design time. Interface artifacts are considered in the PLD as methods with polymorphic attributes in a bid to address the diversities experienced in a mobile computing environment. An interface artifact is dynamically selected for inclusion on an interface based on the context information of a requesting user and intrinsic characteristics of a device. Our approach is enabled by a support toolkit, named Custom-MADE (CoMADE) for automatic interface generation. The evaluation result of CoMADE shows that it achieves a high degree of user participation during interface generation, flexibility, dynamism, ease of application extensibility and user centeredness interfaces.
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