Generative Pattern-Based Design of User Interfaces

This paper introduces a knowledge-based method for developing user interfaces based on generative patterns instead of descriptive patterns. The knowledge base contains generative patterns from which portions of previously designed user interfaces could be identified and re-applied to a new design case study by generating code from its functional pecifications. The method introduced in this paper is relying on models that are typically involved in user interface development such as task, domain, abstract user interface, concrete user interface, final user interface, context model, and mappings between them. In this way, any type of model can virtually be the source of a pattern and can be described, searched, matched, retrieved, and assembled together so as to create a new user interface. The method is supported by IDEALXML, a software that can be used for pattern-based design of user interface based on the USIXML user interface description language. In order to support pattern-based design, the USIXML language has been expanded with concepts addressing problems raised by pattern description and matching related to models pertaining to user interface development. This extension could also be considered as an extension of PLML (Pattern Language Markup Language) that has been introduced to uniformly represent user interface patterns