The common interaction abstractions paradigm

Looks at the possibility of providing a clearer separation between the application and the user interface through an approach that identifies common interaction abstractions specified in terms of what the application is trying to get from the user interface or display to the user interface, rather than the messages for specific detailed interface device objects. From each common interaction abstraction, it is possible to build several user interfaces whose look and feel are very different, a term referred to as "aliasing". The look and feel of the user interfaces is determined by the hardware and software resources available at the node. For example, one system may support graphics and another may not. The "common interaction abstractions paradigm" is introduced, and certain common interactions that can occur in any interactive system are identified. Its use in aliasing is discussed and an illustrative example is described.