Model-based layout generation

Abstract

Offering user interfaces for interactive applications that are flexible enough to be adapted to various context-of-use scenarios such as supporting different display sizes or addressing various input styles requires an adaptive layout. We describe an approach for layout derivation that is embedded in a model-based user interface generation process. By an interactive and tool-supported process we can efficiently create a layout model that is composed of interpretations of the other design models and is consistent to the application design. By shifting the decision about which interpretations are relevant to support a specific context-of-use scenario from design-time to run-time, we can flexibly adapt the layout to consider new device capabilities, user demands and user interface distributions. We present our run-time environment that is able to evaluate the relevant model layout information to constraints as they are required and to reassemble the user interface parts regarding the updated containment, order, orientation and sizes information of the layout-model. Finally we present results of an evaluation we performed to test the design and run-time efficiency of our model-based layouting approach.