UIMS is an acronym for User-Interface Management System. This system supports the development and performance of user-interfaces.

Typical features of a UIMS include a graphics system, a widget library (tools that enable the user to construct graphs, trees, etc.), a layout editor (another construction aid), and various programming-language, and operating-system extensions. These components support the development of larger-scale projects such as constraint-maintenance systems (where the relationship between two objects is established and maintained).

UIMS is associated with older systems where an interface is specified in a formal language. Thus, most UIMSs are concerned with a special textual or graphical language for programming the user-interface. Also, a UIMS is a one-way process--it involves input from the user to the computer, not the reverse.

The development of user-interfaces can be complex, with contradictory goals present. For example, on one hand it is desirable...