Data-driven models work nicely for plotted
events. IOW, if you are feeding data to a model across a process, as long
as you understand the event space, you can control that model. The
problem of GUI-as-BoxesOnAScreen is most of the states are static or enumerated
and data driving it where the drivers are HUI inputs to machine interfaces even
if gesturally rich is objective impoverished. The model of finding
resources and acting on them is basic, thus REST. Almost all of the
richness comes from domain specific-events and conditions.
Data driving comes into its own when you
drive the model against a dynamic event framework that is outward facing, e.g.,
a mission environment with waypoints. Then everything is a sensor and
everything else is a data resource be it internal or environmental.
len
-----Original Message-----
From: David Lee
[mailto:dlee@c...]
Sent: Monday, August 12, 2013
10:25 AM
To: Peter Hunsberger; Bill Kearney
Cc: Costello, Roger L.; xml-dev
OASIS
Subject: RE: Topics of
keen interest to me ... how about you?
>
peter says
I find it interesting that "data driven" can
someone how be viewed as in opposition from giving the user a better UI. In
the end, the metadata that should be used to build user interfaces is still
data and exposing that as early and directly as possible and giving the users
ways to manipulate that data is the best way to build a powerful user
interface. Exposing it directly as XML is probably not part of that
scenario, but XSLT on top of XML can be directly below the layer that is
exposed to the user and is very flexible and powerful.
>
I
come from a long history of being pulled into doing UI when I wasnt really good
at it
(20+
years ... think X10, DOS ... and on through all incarnations of Windows, Mac,
Devices , Palm, PPC, BlackBerry, iOS .... )
"Data
Driven" GUI has always been a holy grail. In some closed systems it
succeed quite well ... especially when the expectations
of
the users were modest and the computer capabilities were equally modest.
But
as time advances I find the concept on less solid grounds then my liking.
I spent a day at Balisage Pre-conference hoping that
what
I didn't know about XForms would enlighten and endear me to the
concept. I am afraid it did not.
I
simply have not seen how a data driven UI ( unless that data is presentation
oriented + program code) can achieve what "ordinary users"
expect
out of a "normal UI". There are certainly a lot of
cases where the UI can meet the minimum standards, and balanced against the
problem of multi devices and variety of input is a good tradeoff. But
when you hit the bounds of "application" where users expect that it
was
actually
written for them ... and where the function and display (the whole UX) is
more than filling out form fields or showing some tables,
to
me, I have not seen a "Data Driven UI" that meets that expectation -
unless you constrain the space very tightly. That is you create a very
good UI framework then plug in the data driven stuff to fit it. But I
have used many such things and while they work well within their box, if you
push up against the edges they fail miserably.
I
would love to have someone show me the Holy Grail ... I still think it might be
out there, but have not found it myself.
----------------------------------------
David
A. Lee
dlee@c...
http://www.xmlsh.org
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