joel laumans

Designers and developers are aware of the need for personalized experiences on the Internet. Designing a user interface (UI) for each individual user is not a realistic approach; therefore UIs are designed for the average user, an archetype used to represent a larger group of users. No matter how accurately this archetype represents the user group, the differences between the individual users’ (skill level, goals, preferences, et cetera) will always be evident. Therefore, a UI designed for the the average user will never provide an optimal user experience for individual users.

Many UIs have approached this problem by creating UI that users can customize to best match their individual preferences. By manually adjusting parameters in the UI, users can improve their interaction with the interface; however there are two main problems: First, it is a process that users are likely to find tedious; and secondly, some aspects of user preferences may only be reflected in their usage behavior and not subject to introspection.¹ Customizable UIs are a step towards creating a more personalized experience, but they is still much room for improvement.

An adaptive user interface (AUIs) attempts to improve interaction with a user by tailoring itself to better match that individual user. AUIs are designed to coexist with users; continually learning from past experiences with users in order to provide a more optimal experience for future dialogues. If a fully adaptable interfaces could become a reality, then the usefulness of computers could be dramatically improved.²

1. Langley, P. (1999). User Modeling in Adaptive Interfaces. Seventh International Conference on User Modeling, Springer. [↩]
2. Lennard, A., Parkes, A. (1995). An Architecture For Adaptive Interfaces. Lancaster, Lancaster University. [↩]