User Interface as a Thinging Machine

TL;DR

This paper introduces a diagrammatic methodology for designing user interfaces by modeling them as 'thinging machines' with structured states, aiming to handle heterogeneity and variability in interaction design.

Contribution

It proposes a novel diagrammatic approach to specify UI systems as structured machines with defined states, enhancing design clarity and consistency.

Findings

Applicable to conceptualizing space as a machine

Suitable for designing UIs in specific environments

Provides a uniform structure for system behavior

Abstract

The availability of interaction devices has raised interest in techniques to support the user interface (UI). A UI specification describes the functions that a system provides to its users by capturing the interface details and includes possible actions through interaction elements. UI developers of interactive systems have to address multiple sources of heterogeneity, including end users heterogeneity and variability of the context of use. This paper contributes to the notion of interactivity and interfacing by proposing a methodology for producing engineering-type diagrams of (abstract) machine processes that can specify uniform structure and behavior of systems through a synchronic order of states (stages): creation, release, transfer, receive, and process. As an example, the diagrammatic methodology is applied to conceptualizing space as a machine. The resulting depiction seems suitable for use in designing UIs in certain environments.