Patterns for safer human-computer interfaces

Abstract

Design patterns have been widely touted as a potential solu- tion to the diffculty of expressing and sharing software design expertise. Patterns have also recently been suggested as a basis for capturing the characteristics of \usable" user-interfaces. We propose that patterns may also be useful for guiding development of human-machine interfaces for safety-critical systems. We consider usability in the context of system safety and present a pattern language for developing safe human-machine interfaces.