Domain Specific High-Level Constraints for User Interface Layout

We present the Auckland Layout Model (ALM), a constraint-based technique for specifying 2D layout as it is used for arranging the controls in a GUI. Most GUI frameworks offer layout managers that are basically adjustable tables; often adjacent table cells can be merged. In the ALM, the focus switches from the table cells to vertical and horizontal tabuetween the cells. On the lowest level of abstraction, the model applies linear constraints, and an optimal layout is calculated using linear programming. However, bare linear programming makes layout specification cumbersome and unintuitive, especially for GUI domain experts who are often not used to such mathematical formalisms. In order to improve the usability of the model, ALM offers several other layers of abstraction that make it possible to define common GUI layout more easily. In the domain of user interfaces it is important that specifications are not over-constrained, therefore ALM introduces soft constraints, which are automat...

• Type: Journal
• Year: 2008
• Where: CONSTRAINTS
• Authors: Christof Lutteroth, Robert Strandh, Gerald Weber
• Keywords: Abstraction, Auckland Layout Model, CONSTRAINTS 2008, Linear Constraints