KIISS: a system for visual specification of model-based user interfaces

The appearance of model-based techniques for interface development has simplified the design of complex interactive applications, but this approach still requires from the designer a high knowledge level about the textual specification required. This paper presents a system, called KIISS (Knowledge-based Interactive Interface Surgery System), which allows the designer of an application to interactively define the model of its interface through visual specifications on an application example. Thus, the system enhances the model by allowing its use by designers who are not quite familiar with the textual specifications required for a user interface development. Moreover, reusability is preserved, since parts of existing applications can be both exchanged and modified interactively.