research-article

Open access

Design guidelines for improving user experience in industrial domain-specific modelling languages

Authors:

Nikolaus Regnat,

Bernhard RumpeAuthors Info & Claims

MODELS '22: Proceedings of the 25th International Conference on Model Driven Engineering Languages and Systems: Companion Proceedings

Pages 737 - 748

https://doi.org/10.1145/3550356.3561595

Published: 09 November 2022 Publication History

Abstract

Domain-specific modelling languages (DSMLs) help practitioners solve modelling challenges specific to various domains. As domains grow more complex and heterogeneous in nature, industrial practitioners often face challenges in the usability of graphical DSMLs. There is still a lack of guidelines that industrial language engineers should consider for improving the user experience (UX) of these practitioners. The overall topic of UX is vast and subjective, and general guidelines and definitions of UX are often overly generic or tied to specific technological spaces. To solve this challenge, we leverage existing design principles and standards of human-centred design and UX in general and propose definitions and guidelines for UX and user experience design (UXD) aspects in graphical DSMLs. In this paper, we categorize the key UXD aspects, primarily based on our experience in developing industrial DSMLs, that language engineers should consider during graphical DSML development. Ultimately, these UXD guidelines help to improve the general usability of industrial DSMLs and support language engineers in developing better DSMLs that are independent of graphical modelling tools and more widely accepted by their users.

References

[1]

Silvia Abrahão, Francis Bourdeleau, Betty Cheng, Sahar Kokaly, Richard Paige, Harald Stöerrle, and Jon Whittle. 2017. User experience for model-driven engineering: Challenges and future directions. In 2017 ACM/IEEE 20th International Conference on Model Driven Engineering Languages and Systems (MODELS). IEEE, 229--236.

Digital Library

[2]

Ankica Barišić, Vasco Amaral, and Miguel Goulão. 2018. Usability driven DSL development with USE-ME. Computer Languages, Systems & Structures 51 (2018), 118--157.

Digital Library

[3]

M. Becker and J.L. Diaz-Herrera. 1994. Creating domain specific libraries: a methodology and design guidelines. In Proceedings of 1994 3rd International Conference on Software Reuse. 158--168.

[4]

Lorenzo Bettini. 2016. Implementing domain-specific languages with Xtext and Xtend. Packt Publishing Ltd.

Digital Library

[5]

Danilo Beuche. 2008. Modeling and building software product lines with pure:: variants. In Software Product Line Conference, International. IEEE Computer Society, 358--358.

Digital Library

[6]

Nigel Bevan, James Carter, and Susan Harker. 2015. ISO 9241-11 revised: What have we learnt about usability since 1998?. In International conference on human-computer interaction. Springer, 143--151.

[7]

Alan F Blackwell, Carol Britton, Anna Cox, Thomas RG Green, Corin Gurr, Gada Kadoda, Maria S Kutar, Martin Loomes, Chrystopher L Nehaniv, Marian Petre, et al. 2001. Cognitive dimensions of notations: Design tools for cognitive technology. In International conference on cognitive technology. Springer, 325--341.

[8]

Holger Stadel Borum, Henning Niss, and Peter Sestoft. 2021. On Designing Applied DSLs for Non-programming Experts in Evolving Domains. In 2021 ACM/IEEE 24th International Conference on Model Driven Engineering Languages and Systems (MODELS). IEEE, 227--238.

[9]

Marco Brambilla, Jordi Cabot, Javier Luis Cánovas Izquierdo, and Andrea Mauri. 2017. Better call the crowd: using crowdsourcing to shape the notation of domain-specific languages. In Proceedings of the 10th ACM SIGPLAN International Conference on Software Language Engineering. 129--138.

Digital Library

[10]

Scott Brave and Cliff Nass. 2007. Emotion in human-computer interaction. In The human-computer interaction handbook. CRC Press, 103--118.

[11]

Arvid Butting, Robert Eikermann, Oliver Kautz, Bernhard Rumpe, and Andreas Wortmann. 2019. Systematic Composition of Independent Language Features. Journal of Systems and Software 152 (June 2019), 50--69.

Digital Library

[12]

Fabien Campagne. 2014. The MPS language workbench: volume I. Vol. 1. Fabien Campagne.

[13]

María Victoria Cengarle, Hans Grönniger, and Bernhard Rumpe. 2009. Variability within Modeling Language Definitions. In Conference on Model Driven Engineering Languages and Systems (MODELS'09) (LNCS 5795). Springer, 670--684. http://www.se-rwth.de/publications/Variability-within-Modeling-Language-Definitions.pdf

[14]

Tony Clark, Mark van den Brand, Benoit Combemale, and Bernhard Rumpe. 2015. Conceptual Model of the Globalization for Domain-Specific Languages. In Globalizing Domain-Specific Languages (LNCS 9400). Springer, 7--20. http://www.se-rwth.de/publications/Conceptual-Model-of-the-Globalization-for-Domain-Specific-Languages.pdf

[15]

Gerald Czech, Michael Moser, and Josef Pichler. 2018. Best practices for domain-specific modeling. A systematic mapping study. In 2018 44th Euromicro Conference on Software Engineering and Advanced Applications (SEAA). IEEE, 137--145.

[16]

André de Lima Salgado, Fabrício Horácio Sales Pereira, and André Pimenta Freire. 2016. User-Centred Design and Evaluation of Information Architecture for Information Systems. In Handbook of Research on Information Architecture and Management in Modern Organizations. IGI Global, 219--236.

[17]

Thomas Degueule, Benoit Combemale, Arnaud Blouin, Olivier Barais, and Jean-Marc Jézéquel. 2015. Melange: A Meta-language for Modular and Reusable Development of DSLs. In 8th International Conference on Software Language Engineering (SLE). Pittsburgh, United States.

[18]

Enterprise Architect 2022. Retrieved May 10, 2022 from https://sparxsystems.com/

[19]

Jean-Marie Favre, Dragan Gasevic, Ralf Lämmel, and Ekaterina Pek. 2010. Empirical language analysis in software linguistics. In International Conference on Software Language Engineering. Springer, 316--326.

[20]

Martin Fowler. 2010. Domain-specific languages. Pearson Education.

[21]

Robert France and Bernhard Rumpe. 2007. Model-driven Development of Complex Software: A Research Roadmap. Future of Software Engineering (FOSE '07) (May 2007), 37--54. http://www.se-rwth.de/publications/Model-driven-Development-of-Complex-Software-A-Research-Roadmap.pdf

[22]

Ulrich Frank. 2013. Domain-specific modeling languages: requirements analysis and design guidelines. In Domain engineering. Springer, 133--157.

[23]

Jesse James Garrett. 2010. The elements of user experience: user-centered design for the web and beyond. Pearson Education.

[24]

Thomas RG Green. 1989. Cognitive dimensions of notations. People and computers V (1989), 443--460.

Digital Library

[25]

Rohit Gupta, Sieglinde Kranz, Nikolaus Regnat, Bernhard Rumpe, and Andreas Wortmann. 2021. Towards a Systematic Engineering of Industrial Domain-Specific Languages. In 2021 IEEE/ACM 8th International Workshop on Software Engineering Research and Industrial Practice (SE&IP). IEEE, 49--56. http://www.se-rwth.de/publications/Towards-a-Systematic-Engineering-of-Industrial-Domain-Specific-Languages.pdf

[26]

David Harel and Bernhard Rumpe. 2004. Meaningful Modeling: What's the Semantics of "Semantics"? IEEE Computer 37, 10 (October 2004), 64--72. http://www.se-rwth.de/~rumpe/publications20042008/Meaningful-Modeling-Whats-the-Semantics-of-Semantics.pdf

Digital Library

[27]

Marc Hassenzahl. 2008. User Experience (UX): Towards an Experiential Perspective on Product Quality. In Proceedings of the 20th Conference on l'Interaction Homme-Machine (Metz, France) (IHM '08). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, 11--15.

Digital Library

[28]

Katrin Hölldobler, Oliver Kautz, and Bernhard Rumpe. 2021. MontiCore Language Workbench and Library Handbook: Edition 2021. Shaker Verlag. http://www.monticore.de/handbook.pdf

[29]

IBM Rhapsody 2022. Retrieved May 10, 2022 from https://www.ibm.com/products/systems-design-rhapsody/

[30]

ISO 9241-161:2016(E) 2016. Ergonomics of human-system interaction --- Part 161: Guidance on visual user-interface elements. Standard. International Organization for Standardization, Geneva, Switzerland.

[31]

ISO 9241-210:2010(E) 2010. Ergonomics of human system interaction - part 210: Human-centred design for interactive systems. Standard. International Organization for Standardization, Geneva, Switzerland.

[32]

Javier Luis Cánovas Izquierdo and Jordi Cabot. 2016. Collaboro: a collaborative (meta) modeling tool. PeerJ Computer Science 2 (2016), e84.

[33]

Timo Jokela, Netta Iivari, Juha Matero, and Minna Karukka. 2003. The Standard of User-Centered Design and the Standard Definition of Usability: Analyzing ISO 13407 against ISO 9241-11. In Proceedings of the Latin American Conference on Human-Computer Interaction (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) (CLIHC '03). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, 53--60.

Digital Library

[34]

Juha Kärnä, Juha-Pekka Tolvanen, and Steven Kelly. 2009. Evaluating the use of domain-specific modeling in practice. In Proceedings of the 9th OOPSLA workshop on Domain-Specific Modeling.

[35]

Gabor Karsai, Holger Krahn, Claas Pinkernell, Bernhard Rumpe, Martin Schindler, and Steven Völkel. 2009. Design Guidelines for Domain Specific Languages. In Domain-Specific Modeling Workshop (DSM'09) (Techreport B-108). Helsinki School of Economics, 7--13. http://www.se-rwth.de/publications/Design-Guidelines-for-Domain-Specific-Languages.pdf

[36]

Thomas Kühne, Gergely Mezei, Eugene Syriani, Hans Vangheluwe, and Manuel Wimmer. 2009. Systematic transformation development. Electronic Communications of the EASST 21 (2009).

[37]

MagicDraw Enterprise 2022. Retrieved May 10, 2022 from https://www.3ds.com/products-services/catia/products/no-magic/magicdraw/

[38]

Daniel Moody. 2009. The "Physics" of Notations: Toward a Scientific Basis for Constructing Visual Notations in Software Engineering. IEEE Trans. Softw. Eng. 35, 6 (Nov. 2009), 756--779.

Digital Library

[39]

Eduardo Mosqueira-Rey and David Alonso-Ríos. 2020. Usability heuristics for domain-specific languages (DSLs). In Proceedings of the 35th Annual ACM Symposium on Applied Computing. 1340--1343.

Digital Library

[40]

Jakob Nielsen. 1994. Enhancing the explanatory power of usability heuristics. In Proceedings of the SIGCHI conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. 152--158.

Digital Library

[41]

Jakob Nielsen. 2000. Designing web usability. (2000).

[42]

Ildevana Poltronieri, Avelino Francisco Zorzo, Maicon Bernardino, and Marcia de Borba Campos. 2018. Usa-dsl: usability evaluation framework for domain-specific languages. In Proceedings of the 33rd Annual ACM Symposium on Applied Computing. 2013--2021.

Digital Library

[43]

Ildevana Poltronieri Rodrigues, Márcia de Borba Campos, and Avelino F Zorzo. 2017. Usability evaluation of domain-specific languages: a systematic literature review. In International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction. Springer, 522--534.

[44]

Henderik A. Proper and Marija Bjekovic. 2019. Fundamental challenges in systems modelling. EMISA Forum 39, 1 (2019), 13--28.

[45]

Nikolaus Regnat. 2018. Why SysML does often fail - and possible solutions. In Modellierung 2018, 21.-23. Februar 2018, Braunschweig, Germany. 17--20.

[46]

Nikolaus Regnat, Rohit Gupta, Nico Jansen, and Bernhard Rumpe. 2022. Implementation of the SpesML Workbench in MagicDraw. In Modellierung 2022 Satellite Events. Gesellschaft für Informatik e.V., Bonn, 61--76.

[47]

Bernhard Rumpe. 2016. Modeling with UML: Language, Concepts, Methods. Springer International. http://www.se-rwth.de/mbse/

[48]

Juha-Pekka Tolvanen. 2006. MetaEdit+ integrated modeling and metamodeling environment for domain-specific languages. In Companion to the 21st ACM SIGPLAN symposium on Object-oriented programming systems, languages, and applications. 690--691.

[49]

Markus Voelter. 2009. Best Practices for DSLs and Model-Driven Development. Journal of Object Technology 8, 6 (2009), 79--102.

[50]

Jon Whittle, John Hutchinson, Mark Rouncefield, Håkan Burden, and Rogardt Heldal. 2013. Industrial adoption of model-driven engineering: Are the tools really the problem?. In International Conference on Model Driven Engineering Languages and Systems. Springer, 1--17.

Digital Library

Cited By

Helmke SDoğan KScheffler RWrobel G(2024)Domain-Specific Rules Override Aesthetic Graph Drawing Criteria: An Exploration of User-Generated DiagramsDiagrammatic Representation and Inference10.1007/978-3-031-71291-3_4(44-60)Online publication date: 9-Sep-2024
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-71291-3_4
Gupta RBinder CJansen NCalà AVollmar JRegnat NSchmalzing DRumpe B(2024)Towards Enabling Domain-Specific Modeling Language Exchange Between Modeling ToolsAdvances in Model and Data Engineering in the Digitalization Era10.1007/978-3-031-55729-3_8(89-103)Online publication date: 21-Mar-2024
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-55729-3_8
Kannengiesser U(2023)Designing Socially and Organizationally Sustainable Industry 4.0 Systems: Requirements for Modeling ApproachesSustainability10.3390/su15201470615:20(14706)Online publication date: 10-Oct-2023
https://doi.org/10.3390/su152014706
Show More Cited By

Index Terms

Design guidelines for improving user experience in industrial domain-specific modelling languages
1. Software and its engineering
  1. Software notations and tools
    1. Context specific languages
      1. Domain specific languages
  2. Software organization and properties
    1. Software system structures
      1. Software system models
        Model-driven software engineering

Recommendations

Model-driven engineering with domain-specific meta-modelling languages

Domain-specific modelling languages are normally defined through general-purpose meta-modelling languages like the MOF. While this is satisfactory for many model-driven engineering (MDE) projects, several researchers have identified the need for domain-...
Creating visual domain-specific modeling languages from end-user demonstration
MiSE '12: Proceedings of the 4th International Workshop on Modeling in Software Engineering

Domain-Specific Modeling Languages (DSMLs) have received recent interest due to their conciseness and rich expressiveness for modeling a specific domain. However, DSML adoption has several challenges because development of a new DSML requires both ...
Participatory development of user experience design guidelines for a B2B company
AcademicMindtrek '16: Proceedings of the 20th International Academic Mindtrek Conference

As business success is increasingly dependent on an organization's ability to provide a pleasant user experiences (UX) for its products, companies need to find ways to harness every employee to think about UX in their daily work. To support this goal, ...

Comments

Information & Contributors

Information

Published In

cover image ACM Conferences

MODELS '22: Proceedings of the 25th International Conference on Model Driven Engineering Languages and Systems: Companion Proceedings

October 2022

1003 pages

ISBN:9781450394673

DOI:10.1145/3550356

Conference Chairs:
Thomas Kühn
Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Germany
,
Vasco Sousa
University of Montréal, Canada

Copyright © 2022 Owner/Author.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution International 4.0 License.

Sponsors

SIGSOFT: ACM Special Interest Group on Software Engineering

In-Cooperation

Univ. of Montreal: University of Montreal
IEEE CS

Publisher

Association for Computing Machinery

New York, NY, United States

Publication History

Published: 09 November 2022

Check for updates

Author Tags

Qualifiers

Research-article

Conference

MODELS '22

Sponsor:

SIGSOFT

MODELS '22: ACM/IEEE 25th International Conference on Model Driven Engineering Languages and Systems

October 23 - 28, 2022

Quebec, Montreal, Canada

Acceptance Rates

Overall Acceptance Rate 144 of 506 submissions, 28%

Contributors

Other Metrics

View Article Metrics

Bibliometrics & Citations

Bibliometrics

Article Metrics

5
Total Citations
View Citations
319
Total Downloads

Downloads (Last 12 months)148
Downloads (Last 6 weeks)32

Reflects downloads up to 23 Feb 2025

Other Metrics

View Author Metrics

Citations

Cited By

Helmke SDoğan KScheffler RWrobel G(2024)Domain-Specific Rules Override Aesthetic Graph Drawing Criteria: An Exploration of User-Generated DiagramsDiagrammatic Representation and Inference10.1007/978-3-031-71291-3_4(44-60)Online publication date: 9-Sep-2024
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-71291-3_4
Gupta RBinder CJansen NCalà AVollmar JRegnat NSchmalzing DRumpe B(2024)Towards Enabling Domain-Specific Modeling Language Exchange Between Modeling ToolsAdvances in Model and Data Engineering in the Digitalization Era10.1007/978-3-031-55729-3_8(89-103)Online publication date: 21-Mar-2024
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-55729-3_8
Kannengiesser U(2023)Designing Socially and Organizationally Sustainable Industry 4.0 Systems: Requirements for Modeling ApproachesSustainability10.3390/su15201470615:20(14706)Online publication date: 10-Oct-2023
https://doi.org/10.3390/su152014706
Gupta RJansen NRegnat NRumpe B(2023)User-Centric Model-Aware Recommendations for Industrial Domain-Specific Modelling Languages2023 ACM/IEEE International Conference on Model Driven Engineering Languages and Systems Companion (MODELS-C)10.1109/MODELS-C59198.2023.00064(330-341)Online publication date: 1-Oct-2023
https://doi.org/10.1109/MODELS-C59198.2023.00064
Wrobel GScheffler R(2023)Classification for the Concrete Syntax of Graph-Like Modeling LanguagesSN Computer Science10.1007/s42979-022-01574-34:2Online publication date: 2-Feb-2023
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1007/s42979-022-01574-3

View Options

View options

PDF

View or Download as a PDF file.

eReader

View online with eReader.

Login options

Check if you have access through your login credentials or your institution to get full access on this article.

Full Access

Get this Publication

Figures

Tables

Media

View Table of Conten