Model-with-Example: Model-Based Development of Polymorphic User Interfaces

Abstract

Polymorphic user interfaces are getting more and more interesting as they offer different modes of display and interaction for different devices or situations and especially for diverse user needs and personal preferences. Model-based user interface design and development is a widely known approach to reduce development efforts while maintaining the flexibility to produce diverse UIs. However, it is not much used in practice because existing approaches often do not offer an attractive balance of abstraction as required by generators and a concrete and vivid representation for developers. In this paper, we present the Model-with-Example (MwX) approach. It allows developers to work on a wireflow-like visualisation while they edit an abstract model of the UI and supports the communication within the project team by rendering specific storyboards from the abstract model. A first user study shows that the MwX approach can positively affect development efficiency and overall acceptance of model-based development.