Abstract

Patterns are a medium created to capture and disseminate design knowledge and are used extensively in the software engineering community. Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) Patterns focus explicitly on (1) providing design solutions to any problems relating to interactive systems and their users, and (2) aim to help developers with the design of more usable systems. We will address pattern use from a practical standpoint, as a working part of design, and investigate their applicability in different contexts of use. First, the evolutionary use of patterns will be traced from single pattern use to Pattern-Oriented Design. Secondly, the applicability of patterns in redesigning existing systems will be discussed with a practical example of a Bioinformatics web-based system. We will focus on how usability issues in the existing system drove the choice of patterns used in redesigning the site. Finally, we will illustrate the use of patterns in redesigning the user interface of existing systems to different platforms, such as mobile phones and Pocket PCs. This design domain has a number of constraints, such as screen size and image resolution. Design strategies need to be rethought to accommodate the challenges associated with such devices, and we will suggest some new design ideas and patterns.