Relational gRammars for Interactive Design

This paper describes an approach to interactive design tasks based on Relational Grammars. Relational Grammars extend traditional one-dimensional string languages to higher dimensions through user-supplied domain relations. Design support takes the form of graphic inferences on partial input during design interaction with the user. Because of the nature of the rule definitions, design elements can be roughly "sketched" without concern for their specific details. During the interaction process, the system installs constraints, adds default attributes, and/or builds higher-level composite structures out of the original input. An example scenario of the use of this formalism is presented supporting the task of document design. A general algorithm for the integration of grammarbased parsing in an interactive design environment is presented.