Authoring Context-dependent Cross-device User Interfaces based on Trigger/Action Rules

Current authoring environments provide the possibility of developing user interfaces with limited adaptation capacities. The most widely adopted tools follow the responsive design approach and allow developers to obtain user interfaces that can adapt mainly to the screen size and orientation. We present a solution able to support development of user interfaces able to adapt to the various types of contextual events (that can be related to users, devices, environments, and social relationships), with the added possibility of distributing the user interface elements across multiple devices. The context-dependent behavior is modelled through trigger / action rules, and can even be applied to Web applications that were not originally designed to be context-aware. This paper describes the design and main features of the novel authoring environment and reports on a first user study.