A Pattern-Based Approach to Transformation of UI Design Models for Mobile Applications

Developing user interfaces for heterogeneous mobile devices is a challenge, which requires methods and technologies to support(semi-) automatic modeling and implementation. Although the model-based approach supports the automatic generation of interfaces, it is difficult to ensure the usability of interfaces. Interface design patterns can be used to provide the usability of interfaces, but it is an informal description of design experience. Therefore, a pattern-based approach to transformation of interface design models is proposed. It is characterized by introducing a pattern-based intermediate level between abstract interface model and concrete interface model of Cameleon reference framework to support usability modeling of interface;and simultaneously, an interface pattern markup language is designed to provide formal representation of interface usability features. To compare the effectiveness of the proposed approach with that of the other approaches, three different versions of an Android application are implemented, including model-based, pattern-based, and the proposed approaches. The evaluation data show that the usability of the approach is 44% higher than that of the model-based development approach, and the subjective satisfaction is improved by 18%. In terms of code generation ability, the approach is 66% higher than that of pattern-based development approach, and the interface development efficiency is improved by 50%. The experimental results show that this approach can greatly improve the usability of(semi-)auto generated interface.