Usability of Interaction Patterns Katarina Segerståhl 1,2, * & Timo Jokela 1 1) Department of Information Processing Sciences, P.O.Box 3000, FIN University of Oulu, Finland 2) Polar Electro, Professorintie 5, FIN Kempele, Finland * Corresponding author: Introduction Interaction patterns are becoming an important method for bridging the gap between analysis and design in user-centered design. Recent studies, however, have indicated problems in their usability. Our overall research goal is to improve the usability of interaction patterns. An empirical study was conducted in the context of a user interface design project. This qualitative case study presents evaluation and critique of the structure and the organization of interaction patterns and suggestions for improvements. 4. Further Research Our next tasks are to describe the patterns with the new format and conduct experiments using the proposed improvements. An empirical user-centered approach and iterative development are needed in order to actively improve the usability and development of design patterns in user interface design activities. 2. Problems Encountered 1)Solutions to different problem cases are currently distributed to various pattern collections. It is difficult to obtain full coverage of the existing solutions because collections differ in organization and structure and many solutions can only be found in a single collection. 2)Different collections focus on different problem domains. For example, van Welie's collection focuses on web related patterns such as search and navigation, whereas Common Ground offers more information layout and management patterns (figure 2.1). 3)Naming of patterns varies depending on collection causing unnecessary confusion. 4)There is no standard way of documenting or organizing patterns. It is difficult to combine patterns from various collections within a project. 5)Figure 2.2 shows how patterns from different UI platform categories were used in a GUI project context. It can be seen that UI platform categories did not provide a useful higher-level hierarchy. 1. The Case The aim of the design project was to develop a new user interface concept for a sports oriented software product used by athletes in managing their training. Interaction patterns were studied in the context of this project. Interaction patterns mainly from Martijn van Welie's collection and Jenifer Tidwell's Common Ground were applied as they were the most generally recognized pattern collections at the time of the study. 3. Implications 1)Problem based grouping (figure 3.1)could be used to combine overlapping patterns and advance the systematic use of patterns in relation to other design methods. It could also enable presenting pattern variations to different UI environments in a unified context, which could support convergence of user interface design and designing distributed user interfaces. 2)Use of examples and graphics was found helpful and should be applied and developed further. 3)Systematic and standardized naming conventions could help identifying and learning patterns. International audience should also be considered when developing the content of an internationally valid design method. 4)Integrating pattern collections and compiling their documentation into a unified format could significantly enhance the development, testing and use of patterns. PROBLEM AREA Navigation, Layout, Guidance, Search, Task support etc. PROBLEM Specific problems related to a problem area SOLUTION A single problem can have multiple solutions CONTEXT AND IDEA A solution is always related to the context A single solution can be applied differently depending on context Special restrictions or possibilities that shall be recognized in design Figure 3.1. An alternative suggestion for organizing interaction patterns BRIDGING THE GAP DESIGNANALYSIS Figure 2.2. Pattern usage from WEB and GUI categories in GUI design context Figure 2.1. Pattern coverage of different problem areas Application for webApplication for GUIApplication for mobile