Abstract

Although user interfaces represent an essential part of software systems, the Unified Modeling Language seems to have been developed with little specific attention given to user interface issues. You can use standard UML to model important aspects of user interfaces, but this often results in unwieldy and unnatural representations. Modeling user interfaces is a well-established discipline in its own right. For example, modeling techniques can describe interaction objects, tasks, and lower-level dialogs in user interfaces. Using models as part of user interface development can help capture user requirements, avoid premature commitment to specific layouts and widgets, and make the relationships between an interface?s different parts and their roles explicit. UMLi extends UML with facilities that support direct representation of commonly occurring user interface functionalities.