Design Space and Design Rules for User Interface Software Architecture, A

Lane, T.

Technical Report
CMU/SEI-90-TR-022

The architecture of a user interface software system can be described in terms of a fairly small number of key functional and structural choices. This report presents a "design space" that identifies these key choices and classifies the alternatives available for each choice. The design space is a useful framework for organizing and applying design knowledge. The report presents a set of design rules expressed in the terms of the design space. These rules can help a software designer to make good structural choices based on the functional requirements for a user interface system. Extension of this work might eventually provide automated assistance for structural design.