Extending UsiXML to support User-aware Interfaces

Mobile and portable devices require the definition of new user interfaces (UI) capable of reducing the level of attention required by users to operate the applications they run to improve the calmness of them. To carry out this task, the next generation of UIs should be able to capture information from the context and act accordingly. This work defines an extension to the UsiXML methodology that specifies how the information on the user is modeled and used to customize the UI. The extension is defined vertically through the methodology, affecting all layers of the methodology. In the Tasks & Concepts layer, we define the user environment of the application, where roles and individuals are characterized to represent different user situations. In the Abstract UI layer, we relate groups of these individuals to abstract interaction objects. Thus, user situations are linked to the abstract model of the UI. In the Concrete UI layer, we specify how the information on the user is acquired and how it is related to the concrete components of the UI. This work also presents how to apply the proposed extensions to a case of study. Finally, it discusses the advantages of using this approach to model user-aware applications.