Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!bonnie.concordia.ca!thunder.mcrcim.mcgill.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!bloom-beacon!eru!hagbard!sunic!ugle.unit.no!ugle.unit.no!haltraet From: haltraet@gondle.idt.unit.no (Hallvard Traetteberg) Newsgroups: comp.human-factors Subject: Re: adaptive user interfaces Message-ID: Date: 19 Jun 91 09:51:17 GMT References: <1991Jun12.182221.10179@cs.sfu.ca> <1991Jun16.205355.12316@psych.toronto.edu> <1991Jun17.190956.11212@watdragon.waterloo.edu> <20689@crdgw1.crd.ge.com> Sender: news@ugle.unit.no Organization: /home/loke/b/haltraet/.organization Lines: 23 In-Reply-To: chalek@rosings.crd.ge.com's message of 18 Jun 91 15:00:04 GMT In article <20689@crdgw1.crd.ge.com> chalek@rosings.crd.ge.com (catherine chalek) writes: > In the discussions on adaptive user interfaces, there seems to be some > confusion between customizable interfaces and adaptive interfaces. > It seems to me that adaptive interfaces are interfaces that change > themselves based upon whatever rules the developers coded. The only > part that the user plays is to perhaps initiate the adaption and > accept/reject the adaption. In a customizable interface, the user > is responsible for initiating the changes and specifying the changes > (selecting from among the possible changes). What she/he can change > is of course limited to what the developers allow users to change. > In the first case, the user wouldn't have to have much proficiency with > the system. In the second case, she/he probably would. > catherine The distinction between user-modifyable and self-modifying programs, as suggested above, is important. Most people use "adaptive" for both. I'm used to saying "adaptable" for user-modifyable (customizable) and "adaptive" for self-modifying. (Actually, since I'm Norwegian, I'm not used to _saying_ it but rather making the distinction :-). -- - hal