MARIA XML

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MARIA is an XML-based language for modeling interactive applications across different devices. It is declarative and supports multiple abstraction levels, letting you describe both what the UI does and how it works without choosing specific technologies. At the Abstract User Interface (AUI) level, MARIA defines things in terms of interaction semantics, not device capabilities. An AUI is made of Presentations, which group model elements: Interactors (individual user actions) and InteractorCompositions (groups with a shared relation). Interactors come in subtypes, and compositions in their own types.

MARIA can describe not only how the UI looks but also how it behaves. A Concrete User Interface (CUI) translates the abstract model into platform-specific but language-independent details. A platform is the set of devices and capabilities for a given environment, and MARIA provides platform meta-models that refine the AUI for that platform. For example, a Single Choice interactor could be a radio button, a dropdown, or a vocal list, depending on desktop or voice interfaces. Groupings on desktop might use colors or borders, while on vocal platforms they might use sounds.

The model can be used to generate final UI code in different languages. MARIAE is the tool that helps you create MARIA models, edit them, and generate the UI code.