Abstract | This paper discusses the design of a toolkit of user interface components (widgets) that change their interaction method based on the context. The types of change supported range from relatively simple "look & feel" transformations through radical alteration of interaction modality. These changes are made dynamically and are based on resource availability (e.g., display area), global demands on the resource (e.g., the set of all current feedback requests) and context of use (e.g., ambient noise). The importance of making these changes dynamically is highlighted when considering mobile application users whose context will continually change. The toolkit architecture is presented, focussing on the specification of widget behaviour and the mechanism for capturing and effecting context-sensitive changes to the interaction. An initial implementation of the system which offers multimodal, resource-sensitive output is described and the issues involved in extending the implementation are discussed. |
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