Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
Does it consist of enabling an unplanned task as in section 11.4.2 or does it
extend to the full personal information space? In terms of remodeling, does
adaptation preserve the UI interaction style (command lines, direct manipulation
versus
post-WIMP)? If so, the adaptation is said to be intra-style. Inter-style refers
to a change in style (e.g. from post-WIMP to direct manipulation). More complexly,
styles can be combined (one post-WIMP part on the table; one command line part
on the PC). In terms of distribution, the state of the UI (centralized, distributed inter-
task versus intra-task) can be maintained (intra) or modified. The modification can
be the passage from one state to another (inter) or to the combination of states
(mixed). The state recovery refers to the eventual loss of physical actions during the
adaptation process. At the session grain, the user must repeat all of his past actions.
The action grain saves and restores any physical action whether the task is achieved
or not.
Control of the adaptation
: as a minimum, according to software ergonomic rules
the user must be able to observe the adaptation process. For example, in Ubiloop the
council staff member sees the photos move progressively from the PC to the
interactive table. A more subtle degree of control anticipates that the system will
propose adaptation (here, the moving of photos) to the user. The latter approves the
proposition or not. In a more controlled manner, as in Sedan-Bouillon, the user can
specify the adaptation and control the UI that is consequently fabricated or reused.
Whatever the degree of control, a UI (and a meta-UI if it exists) therefore makes the
adaptation process observable and possibly controllable by the user. The meta-UI,
which makes the domain-dependent UI observable and controllable, may be
external to this domain-dependent UI, with no interaction style constraint, as is the
case in Sedan-Bouillon: it is a window in its own right, heterogeneous in style.
Alternatively, the meta-UI may be external and consistent in interaction style with
the domain-dependent UI, or it can be woven into the domain-dependent UI, e.g.
integrated into the window (in the case of graphical UI) of the domain-dependent
UI, possibly requiring the plasticity of the domain-dependent UI!
If the dimensions described in this section are perceivable to the user, they all
translate into software requirements. These requirements are not necessarily
perceived by the user. These internal properties are discussed next.
11.5.2.
System viewpoint: internal properties
Internal properties are organized along four dimensions; see Figure 11.9. First is
the UI: is this subject to adaptation, reconfigured or is another UI generated or even
a hybrid configuration produced? In the latter case, the UI is the assembly of
components from the original UI and of generated parts. Second, are the adaptation
mechanisms embedded in the source code of the UI? If not, are they external to the
