Glossary
Searchable terminology from accessibility, web standards, and related fields.
37 results found in User Interface Design.
- Abstract Widget (Abstract Interaction Object)
- A user interface component defined by its semantic purpose and interaction behavior rather than its visual appearance. Abstract widgets specify what a user can do (select from options, enter text, tri…
- Adaptive User Interface (AUI, Adaptive Interface, Self-Adapting Interface)
- A user interface that automatically adjusts its presentation, behavior, or content based on user characteristics, preferences, context, or interaction patterns. Unlike customizable interfaces where us…
- Auditory User Interface (AUI, Audio User Interface)
- A user interface that relies primarily on audio output — including synthesised speech, earcons, auditory icons, and sonification — to convey information and enable interaction. Auditory user interface…
- Bi-Directional Alignment (Two-Way Alignment, Mutual Alignment)
- An approach to human-AI interaction design that addresses alignment from both directions: not only adapting AI systems to match human values and preferences, but also helping humans understand, direct…
- Cross-Representation Highlighting (Synchronized Highlighting, Linked Highlighting)
- A user interface technique that synchronizes selections across multiple representations of the same data, so that selecting an element in one view automatically highlights the corresponding element in…
- Dark Mode (Dark Theme, Night Mode)
- A display setting that uses light-colored text and interface elements on a dark background, reversing the typical light-mode color scheme. Dark mode can benefit users with light sensitivity, photophob…
- Dual User Interface (Dual Interface, Concurrent Accessible Interface)
- An interface design approach in which two distinct, purpose-built user interfaces are provided simultaneously for different user groups — typically one visual interface for sighted users and one non-v…
- Dynamic Difficulty Adjustment (DDA, Adaptive Difficulty)
- A system design approach that automatically or manually adjusts the precision, complexity, or challenge level of feedback and interaction based on the user's skill level and progress over time. Origin…
- Floating Action Button (FAB)
- A circular button that floats above the user interface in Android apps, typically representing the primary action on a screen. Defined by Google's Material Design guidelines, FABs usually display a si…
- Focusable Element (Keyboard Focusable, Focus Target)
- A GUI element that can receive input focus, allowing users to interact with it via keyboard, switch device, or assistive technology. For screen reader users navigating mobile apps, an element without …
- GUI Widget (UI Widget, User Interface Widget, Control, UI Component)
- A graphical user interface element that users can interact with or that displays information, such as buttons, text fields, images, checkboxes, and sliders. In mobile accessibility, widget types deter…
- Hapget (Haptically-Enhanced Widget)
- A hapget (haptically-enhanced widget) is a user interface element that combines a 3D visual representation with haptic (touch) feedback, audio cues, and descriptive metadata to enable non-visual inter…
- Icon Size (Target Size, Touch Target Size)
- The physical or rendered dimensions of graphical interface elements such as icons, buttons, and interactive controls. Research consistently shows that larger icon sizes improve interaction performance…
- Iconography (Icon Design, Icon System)
- The design and systematic use of visual symbols to convey meaning in an interface. Good iconography balances recognisability, consistency, and cultural appropriateness so that users can interpret symb…
- Inter-Icon Spacing (Icon Spacing, Icon Gap)
- The amount of empty space between icons or interactive targets in a graphical user interface. Inter-icon spacing affects a user's ability to visually distinguish, locate, and accurately select individ…
- Interaction Shell
- A software component that renders user interface elements in a specific modality and handles direct interaction with the user. In the Fruit toolkit architecture, the interaction shell is separated fro…
- Logical Metaphor (Spatial Metaphor)
- A design technique for haptic feedback where the physical location of a vibration on the body is mapped to correspond with a spatial or conceptual dimension of the information being conveyed. For exam…
- Loosely Coupled Interaction (Loosely Coupled Dual Interaction)
- An interaction architecture in which two or more user interfaces share the same underlying content and data but operate independently through separate, non-overlapping input and output modalities. In …
- Modifier Tactile Pattern (Modifier Tacton, Compound Tacton)
- A vibrotactile design technique that combines two or more independent Tactons, each conveying a separate parameter, into a single composite pattern. Changing one component modifies one dimension of me…
- Occlusion (Hand Occlusion, Finger Occlusion, Visual Occlusion)
- In the context of touchscreen and pen-based interaction, occlusion refers to the user's hand or finger blocking their view of content on the screen while interacting with it. Occlusion is a significan…