A Review of Adaptive User Interfaces in Mobile
and Web Applications
Aditya Kumar Shrivastava
Trinity College Dublin, Collee Green, Dublin 2, Ireland
ashrivas@tcd.ie
Abstract. The abstract should briefly summarize the contents of the
paper in 15–250 words.
Keywords: Adaptive User Interfaces · Second keyword · Another keyword.
1
Introduction
A User Interface (UI) is an essential part of a website or an application since
it is the means through which a human or a user can interact with the website
or application. A good user interface reduces the cognitive load on a user, helps
a user achieve their needs from the system and makes a user’s journey more
comfortable while using a system [1].
Present-day UIs are static. A static UI is a UI that presents the same interface
to each user. The problem with implementing static UIs is that they do not
consider a user’s needs, capabilities, and the context of use for a system.
Every human being or a user is unique and has different capabilities and skills.
For example, two users may have different capacities to handle different levels
of cognitive load. Each user’s purpose for using an application may also be
different. Hence user interfaces need to be aware of a user’s context of use, needs
and capabilities. However, most existing applications and websites implement
static user interfaces that render the same UI irrespective of user context, goals
and abilities.
The limitations of present-day user interfaces can be solved by implementing
adaptive user interfaces or AUIs. An Adaptive User Interface or AUI is a user
interface that improves its ability to interact with a user by constructing a user
model based on partial experience with that user [2]. Implementing an AUI
enables the user interface to dynamically adapt its layout and functionality based
on a user’s behaviour, needs and capabilities. Research shows that implementing
an AUI can also improve the usability of an application for its users [8, 12, 13].
There are various frameworks and mechanisms that have been designed and
developed to implement adaptive user interfaces. This paper aims to review and
compare frameworks and mechanisms that have been used to develop an AUI in
previous research projects.
2
2
A.Shrivastava
Adaptive User Interfaces
Applications (apps) and websites have become an integral part of human life.
Humans rely on services provided by apps and websites to complete various tasks
ranging from education to shopping. Users or humans interact with websites
and apps through a user interface. A user’s experience with a service can be
drastically improved if the interface of an application adapts to a user’s needs.
However, many applications and websites providing services do not capture a
user’s individuality and provide a tailored experience or service.
The purpose of implementing AUIs is to make a service more comfortable
and usable for a user by adapting the user interface based on a user’s needs. An
AUI can automatically change its appearance based on inferences drawn from
user data (including system context information) during runtime [14, 10].
There are various approaches to designing, developing and implementing an
AUI that have been explored by several projects. This paper reviews 5 papers
to explore and compare the approaches suggested or implemented by these 5
papers. A brief analysis of each of these five papers is as follows.
Paper 1 [3] was presented at the Moratuwa Engineering Research Conference
(MERCon) in 2019. This paper presents a software platform to generate AUIs
for websites based on user behaviour patterns automatically. Paper 1 focuses on
generating an AUI for each user of a website by analysing the user’s behaviour
and interaction patterns with the components of the website. The framework
implemented by Paper 1 focuses on learning user behaviour patterns using machine learning or ML(classification). The framework proposed then customises
the web user interface for each user based on their learnt behaviours.
Paper 1 evaluates its framework for website AUI generation by evaluating
the usability of the generated AUIs and the accuracy of the ML models.
Paper 2 [4] was presented at the 13th International Conference on Ubiquitous
Computing and Ambient Intelligence UCAmI in 2019. Paper 2 highlights the
importance of AUIs when generating app interfaces and presents a framework
that combines ontology-based models with UI design pattern methods for the
generation of adaptive mobile applications [4]. The framework presented is called
AUDIP (Adaptive User Interface Design Patterns).
To test the framework, a mobile application was developed based on the
principles of ADUIP. The usability of this app was then evaluated using a questionnaire. The evaluation of the framework showed that AUDIP successfully
improved the usability of a mobile app by making the UI adaptive.
Paper 3 is an adjunct publication of the 26th Conference on User Modeling,
Adaptation and Personalization (UMAP) published in 2018. Paper 3 presents a
framework that facilitates the development of design principles for adaptive user
interfaces [10]. Paper 3 focuses on developing design principles that can improve
the qualities of AUIs and looks at the influence of human factors in AUI design.
Paper 3 majorly focuses on design principles for AUIs that consider the human
perception of spatial changes.
Paper 3 is still in development and has not been completed. However, paper
3 is reviewed since it provides insights into human factors influencing AUIs and
A Review of Adaptive User Interfaces in Mobile and Web Applications
3
should be considered while designing & implementing an AUI for a website or
app.
3
Adaptive User Interface Approaches and their
Comparisons
Structure the paper first so you know what to look for in the research papers
3.1
Paper 1 approach
3.2
Paper 2 approach
3.3
Paper 3 approach
3.4
Paper 4 approach
3.5
Paper 5 approach
4
Conclusions
References
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