Reactive user interface

{{short description |Category of user interface}} {{Use American English |date=February 2024}} {{Use mdy dates |date=February 2024}} {{More citations needed |date=February 2024}} {{About|user interfaces in general|UI libraries implementing Reactive programming principles|React (JavaScript library)|and|React Native}}

A human-to-computer user interface is said to be '''"reactive"''' if it has the following characteristics:

#The user is immediately aware of the effect of each "gesture". Gestures can be keystrokes, mouse clicks, menu selections, or more esoteric inputs. #The user is always aware of the state of their data.<ref name="cd23" /> Did I just save those changes? Did I just overwrite my backup by mistake? No data is hidden. In a figure-drawing program, the user can tell whether a line segment is composed of smaller segments. #The user always knows how to get help. Help may be context-sensitive or modal, but it is substantial. A program with a built-in ''help browser'' is not reactive if its content is just a collection of screen shots or menu item labels with no real explanation of what they do.

Reactivity was a major goal in the early user interface research at MIT and Xerox PARC. A computer program which was not reactive would not be considered ''user friendly'' no matter how elaborate its presentation.{{Citation needed|date=October 2022}}

Early word-processing programs whose on-screen representations look nothing like their printer output could be reactive. The common example was WordStar on CP/M. On-screen, it looked like a markup language in a character cell display, but it had deep built-in help which was always available from an on-screen menu bar, and the effect of each keystroke was obvious.

==References== <references>

<ref name="cd23">{{cite web |title=Reactive UI with Dart and Flutter: Building Dynamic User Interfaces |website=Cloud Devs |year=2023 |url=https://clouddevs.com/dart/reactive-ui/ |access-date=2024-02-15 }}</ref>

</references>

{{DEFAULTSORT:Reactive User Interface}} Category:User interfaces