A Transformational Approach for Developing Multimodal Web Applications

The scope of the current thesis is outlined by the following statements:
-We focus on the development of multimodal web user interfaces of information systems. Multimodal web UIs are user interfaces that give endusers the flexibility to choose the interaction modality that is the most suitable for the task at the given moment when manipulating online devices. With respect to the interaction modality we consider three types of UIs:
*Graphical UI: the modality employed by the user to interact with the system is entirely graphical (monomodal UI)
*Vocal UI: the modality employed by the user to interact with the system is entirely vocal (monomodal UI)
*Multimodal UI: the graphical and the vocal modalities are employed in the interaction between the user and the system.
-We consider the conceptual and methodological aspects for developing multimodal web UIs based on a model-to-model transformational approach.
-We introduce in the development life cycle towards a final UI, a design space that will ease the development process in a structured way in terms of design options, thus requiring less design effort from the part of designers.
-We target this dissertation to all research organizations that dedicate their work to the methodological development of user interfaces for information systems.