CanonSketch: A user-centered tool for Canonical Abstract Prototyping

Abstract

In this paper, we argue that current user interface modeling tools are developed using a formalism-centric approach that does not support the needs of modern software development. In order to solve this problem we need both usable and expressive notations and tools that enable the creation of user-interface specifications that leverage the design and thought process. In this paper we present the CanonSketch tool. CanonSketch supports a new UI specification language - Canonical Abstract Prototypes (CAP) - that bridges the gap between envisioned user behavior and the concrete user interface. The tool also supports two additional and synchronized views of the UI: the Wisdom UML presentation extension and concrete HTML user interfaces. In this way the tool seamlessly supports designers while switching from high level abstract views of the UI and low-level concrete realizations. © IFIP International Federation for Information Processing 2005.