Achieving usability through software architectural styles

Abstract

Design decisions at the architecture level can have farreaching effects on the qualities of a computer system. Recent developments in software engineering link architectural styles to quality attribute analysis techniques to predict the effects of architectural design decisions on the eventual manifestation of quality. An Attribute-Based Architecture Style (ABAS) is a structured description of a particular software quality attribute, a particular architectural style, and the relevant qualitative and quantitative analysis techniques. Thus, it is a description that is meaningful to software engineers as they design or analyze proposed software architectures. We are producing a collection of ABASs that speak to the usability quality attribute. These ABASs will enable software engineers make early architectural design decisions that achieve specific usability functions. Copyright © 2012 ACM, Inc.