Usability and functionality, communicated through a software product interface, share a
synergistic relationship. Both contribute substantially to Quality-in-Use of the product.
While it’s important to ensure the User-Interface delivers necessary functionality, it’s
crucial that the interface is also usable. Software- Requirements engineering and Human
Computer Interaction (HCI) each offer their expertise in addressing such demands. But,
lack of design language or vocabulary impedes communication between the two
synergistic communities.
In order to share interaction design knowledge, HCI design community has proposed
User-interaction (UI) Patterns as a suitable boundary object or language, which could be
understood both by HCI and SE communities. It has been argued that UI patterns are
sufficiently richer than User-Interface guidelines conveying—what, how and when a
particular UI-Pattern is used.
In spite of a growing interest in UI-Patterns, questions about the usability and usefulness
of UI-Patterns are still unanswered. Our study empirically evaluates the suitability of UIPatterns
as a boundary object between HCI and SE by comparing:
- how UI Patterns are interpreted and applied by the two communities;
- what is the role played by UI-Patterns in communication;
- if UI-patterns help rationalize and resolve design decisions.
In doing so, we evaluate the usability—do other communities understand UI-patterns
well enough to use them, and usefulness—what are the benefits of using UI-Patterns in
design
