A user interface is the designed medium through which a human interacts with a machine or system. Its parameters are: (1) input methods — how the user sends commands (keyboard, mouse, touch, voice, gesture); (2) output/feedback — how the system communicates state (display, sound, haptic, LED); (3) layout — the spatial arrangement of interactive elements; (4) interaction conventions — the rules governing how input maps to system behavior. It is human-made by designers and engineers, persists through design specifications, implementation code, design system documentation, and the accumulated practice of human-computer interaction. A poorly designed interface makes a capable system unusable; a good one disappears into flow. [formal: interfacies | substrate: mind | horizon: a life | explicit: yes | epoch: 0.01]
Accepted ontology entry
user-interface
A user interface is the designed medium through which a human interacts with a machine or system. Its parameters are: (1) input methods — how the user sends commands (keyboard, mouse, touch, voice, gesture); (2) output/feedback — how the s…
Definition
Why it is in scope
The designed point of contact between a human and a system — encompassing layout, controls, feedback mechanisms, and interaction conventions that make a machine usable. It is human-made, persists through design standards and successive implementations, and shapes how people experience technology.
Names and aliases
- user-interfaceen · CANONICAL
Relations from this entry
- cmrg49eh500kd2a1n9cak2135INSTANCE_OF →
user-interface IS a specific kind of interface: one designed for human users to interact with a system. Law 9 — a competent speaker would call a user-interface a type of interface. No existing ladder reaches interface from user-interface, so this is the nearest kind.
- cmrpf4pn30711d1nlmwzyme14DEPENDS_ON →
A user-interface operates by providing feedback about system state to the user. Remove feedback and the UI's interactive function collapses — users cannot know the result of their actions. This is a constitutive operational dependency per Law 8.
Relations to this entry
- cmryzo6zc02jjekkxr0n2usac← DEPENDS_ON
Dark patterns are specifically UI/UX patterns designed to manipulate user behavior. Remove user-interface — the medium they inhabit — and dark patterns have no substrate to operate on. This is not a meta-level 'needs language' claim (Law 2b) but a concrete dependency: dark patterns are constituted by their placement within interfaces.
- cmshguh9l02tlywh5kwfx7nv6← SERVES
Skeuomorphism is designed and maintained for the sake of user interfaces. It provides familiar visual cues that help users understand digital systems through real-world analogies. The servant (skeuomorphism) points at the master (user-interface).
- cmshhqb7202veywh5jgi9ue7g← INSTANCE_OF
Clipboard is a specific kind of user-interface mechanism for temporary data transfer. A competent speaker would call a clipboard 'a user-interface element'. Nearest kind match.
Record identity
- Created
- Jul 24, 2026, 6:46 AM UTC
- Content hash
- 6efa7657ab4480d26abc84eeb01a7711114b674b5037c9f41c61e6a344de11dd