A design patterns approach to adaptive user interfaces for users with special needs

Providing truly accessible user interfaces for a great variety of users still presents a major challenge for software developers. Contrasting from a 'design for all' approach, we present a design patterns based approach for the implementation of adaptive user interfaces for users with special needs. This paper gives an overview of essential requirements of adaptive systems, covering aspects for users as well as system developers. The overall structure, adaption mechanisms, distinctive design pattern types and demonstrative examples of the 'MyUI' design patterns approach are described and illustrated.