Bridging patterns: An approach to bridge gaps between SE and HCI

Adding usability improving solutions during late stage development is to some extent restricted by the software architecture. However, few software engineers and human–computer interaction engineers are aware of this important constraint and as a result avoidable rework is frequently necessary. In this paper we present a new type of pattern called a bridging pattern. Bridging patterns extend interaction design patterns by adding information on how to generally implement this pattern. Bridging patterns can be used for architectural analysis: when the generic implementation is known, software architects can assess what it means in their context and can decide whether they need to modify the software architecture to support these patterns. This may prevent part of the high costs incurred by adaptive maintenance activities once the system has been implemented and leads to architectures with better support for usability.