What Is An Adaptive User Interface?

Date First Published: 23rd July 2023

Topic: Computer Systems

Subtopic: Computer Software

Article Type: Computer Terms & Definitions

Difficulty: Medium

Difficulty Level: 5/10

CONTENTS

Types Of AUIs
Advantages and Disadvantages Of An AUI

Learn about what an adaptive user interface is in this article.

An adaptive user interface, also known as an adapted user interface or an AUI, is a type of user interface that adapts its layout, presentation, elements, and options to suit the needs of users and the technology it is running on. An AUI can automatically adapt or allow users to manually adapt the settings to suit their needs and the computer it is running on.

For example, Windows operating systems use a highly adaptive user interface as the colours, font sizes, images, cursor sizes, and screen resolution can be adapted using layout panels to better support the user and the computer they are using. This gives users some flexibility to use the web-based application, operating system, or software program the way they want to.

Note:

If there is no option to adjust the layout, presentation, or elements to suit the needs of users and the user interface changes nothing when users visit it, it is known as an unadaptive user interface.

Types Of AUIs

The two main types of AUIs are:

Adaptive presentation - This type of AUI displays certain information based on the user. For example, a user with advanced knowledge may have access to more detailed information and functions and only the basic information and functions could be present to an inexperienced user.
Adaptive navigation - This type of AUI guides a user towards their specific goal by changing the navigation of the interface. It may be based on the user's expertise level, their goal, and other relevant factors. For example, adaptive navigation may change the links to other options and menus to help them achieve a specific goal or change the resources available to the user.

Advantages and Disadvantages Of An AUI

The advantages of an AUI are:

It can easily fit different user needs and requirements. This makes the user interface easier and less confusing to use for inexperienced users. It also improves accessibility to users with visual impairments.
They provide high levels of personalisation for users, helping to make the user interface more visually appealing and useable by all.
It can also increase the stability of a system, depending on the task. For example, an AUI can adapt to meet the technical requirements of a computer to help avoid stability issues with older systems.

The disadvantages of an AUI are:

To effectively adapt, an AUI requires a good understanding of user needs and technical requirements, which can be a time-consuming task. Some user interfaces rely on rules to determine how the user interface changes when it meets specific conditions, so it needs to be designed with different levels of implementation and properly interpret the information to predict user needs.
It can become a problem when the device is used by multiple users who need the user interface adapted differently as it may not always adapt to specific user needs.
Because information about the user's needs and the technology the interface is running on is stored to adapt the user interface, there can be privacy issues. Some owners may sell user's data to third parties that will misuse it.