Modelling the mock-up: towards the automatic specification of the behaviour of early prototypes

Abstract

A shortcoming of current early prototyping tools is that although they permit the designer to construct a mock-up of the look and feel of the interface, they provide no model of the interaction. Such tools could be extended to produce such a model as a byproduct of the construction of the prototype. This research explores such an extension to HyperCard, and reviews its utility. The interaction model is specified in Lean Cuisine+, a semi-formal graphical notation for describing the behaviour of direct manipulation graphical user interfaces.