The human-computer interaction (HCI) systems community is currently reexamining model-driven software pattern concepts, with the goal of more consistent usability and reusability. A new workshop on pattern-driven engineering of interactive computer systems (PEICS) is meant to help focus the various research and development efforts.
Although there have been previous user interface (UI) pattern efforts, Breiner et al., who are both authors and organizers of the PEICS workshop, identify some of the main obstacles to better acceptance that include lack of formalization, lack of organization, and lack of tool support.
Looking over some of the excellent workshop papers, other factors that affect current pattern languages include lack of expressivity, lack of separation of concerns, and lack of structure. For example, new systems that leverage super UI configurability through Extensible Markup Language (XML) files are seeing maintenance complexity push the “code” to tens or hundreds of thousands of lines long. In addition, state machines that can easily define and capture the tasks involved in various user actions are also being explored. With the exponential growth of mobile handsets such as iPhones and Android devices, usability and consistency across UI form factors become dimensionally more complex and should be considered by workshops such as PEICS.
Patterns have great potential, but they are not a panacea. The software community has shown that patterns are valuable in terms of understanding architecture, but most people in the community also recognize that embodying patterns in code hasn’t eased maintenance, as patterns can get lost once instantiated and then modified. Interestingly, Breiner et al. believe that HCI design reuse is more akin to physical building construction (where software patterns were initially derived) than broad software development. Therefore, they are optimistic about a successful reevaluation and application of patterns. In any event, their PEICS workshop provides a great vehicle for discussing these issues.
