Implementing adaptive interfaces: a user model for the development of usability in interactive systems

The current user-centered software development approaches place special emphasis on the characteristics of the user and the tasks to be accomplished, because these greatly affect the way the user interacts with the system. To be sure, most researchers on the subject propose some user characteristics. However, there is still no model that integrates most, if not all, of these characteristics, such as psychological, cognitive, and physical. In this paper, we propose an initial user model integrating most of the user characteristics, while also taking into account some aspects of the characteristics of special needs users, in this case an autistic user, with the purpose of developing an adaptive software interface, improving the overall usability of any system. The model draws on different disciplines, such as medicine and sociology, and the experiences of their practitioners. In order to validate the model, we have tested the user interfaces for various real projects, taking into account the characteristics of the real users. We have also presented an example of how a user interface can be adapted for a specific set of user capabilities.