Improving user interface usability using mobile agents

Abstract

Adapting graphical user interfaces (GUI) to meet higher level of usability for users is one of the most interesting questions of today's mobile computation. Users should have GUI constructed to meet their needs, habits and expectations. In this paper, we discuss existing solutions and present a solution based on mobile agents. Mobile agents 'learn' users' habits, cooperate with other agents and construct the GUI in order to meet the users' expectations. Mobile agents move from host to host and are able to 'learn' about GUI usability by observing multiple users using the GUI. In addition, mobile agents cooperate with Personal Agents in order to apply personalized changes to the GUI. The result is an adaptable GUI platform that strives to predict user behaviour and to be more usable. We show the application of this approach by implementing a simple business application. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2003.