Glossary
Definitions for Aware Design, Visitor-Aware Design, User-Aware Design, and the supporting concepts used across the paradigm — behavioral journeys, signals, the cold start problem, intent inference, and the principles that distinguish awareness from surveillance.
On this page — choose a section
Plain definitions for terms used on this site. The guides and papers explain important words where they appear; this page is an optional lookup, not required reading.
The paradigm
Aware Design (AD)
An approach to making a website or application more useful for the person’s current task. It can use a clear choice and a simple rule; it does not require a profile or an AI model. See the practical principles.
The Ninth Paradigm
The historical framing used in the Aware Design position papers. It is the authors’ organizing argument, not a universally accepted chronology or evidence that earlier design traditions ignored people.
User-Aware Design (UAD)
The application of Aware Design to authenticated applications. Relevant account context may support continuity when its use is appropriate and explained; signing in is not blanket permission. See Foundations: VAD vs UAD.
Visitor-Aware Design (VAD)
The application of Aware Design to websites where a visitor may not be signed in. An explicit task choice can guide a useful change without a persistent profile. Any additional observation or memory needs its own justification and controls. See Foundations: VAD vs UAD.
Core concepts
Behavioral Journey
The purpose or task of a visit, such as learning, comparing or getting help. A person can have several needs or change their mind. A journey inferred from behavior is a guess, not a fact. See the journeys paper.
Cold Start
A lack of usable context. In an initial visit, the answer is a useful default. At a handoff, the question is whether the person wants to review and share relevant context instead of repeating it. These are related but different situations. See the default pattern and the handoff paper.
Continuity
The ability to resume a useful task or preference. For example, a person chooses to save a comparison and later sees “Resume” and “Start fresh.” Explain what is saved and let them clear it.
Signal
An explicit answer or an observation that may inform a decision. The observation and its interpretation are different: time on a page does not prove interest or expertise. Use only appropriate, permitted inputs. When papers place a possible need in quotation marks, it is an illustration—not something the visitor necessarily said.
Mechanisms
Composition
Selecting or arranging content blocks or steps to support a task. A simple rule may reorder a complete ordinary page; a larger system may assemble a workflow. Test both the decision rules and the rendered states, including the neutral default. See the working build guide.
Intent Inference
A tentative interpretation of what someone may be trying to do. It can be wrong. It is not a prerequisite for every useful adaptation: an explicit choice may supply a clearer input. Keep a way to correct or decline an assumption. See the pattern catalog.
Strategic concepts
Anti-Pattern
A recurring approach that creates a problem instead of solving it. Examples include an unexplained personal assumption or an old preference that cannot be cleared. See seven ways adaptation can go wrong.
Aware Design Score
A result from a defined assessment method. Its meaning depends on what was assessed, how the result was calculated and how it was checked against real outcomes. This educational site does not provide a tested score for your website.
Open Paradigm, Commercial Craft
The ideas are free to read and discuss; professional assessment, design and implementation are paid work. See shared ideas and professional services.
Pattern
A named design option, not a requirement or proof of effectiveness. The Patterns Library catalogs 11, including four marked Emerging that need particular care and validation.
Counter-concepts (what AD is not)
Context-Aware Design
Design that responds to circumstances such as device, language, time or task context. These can be useful inputs, but do not establish a person’s identity or intent. The Aware Design papers argue for connecting context to visitor needs; the boundary between approaches is not a claim that earlier work ignored people.
Personalization (traditional)
A broad term for tailoring an experience. It can be based on explicit preferences, permitted history or inferred information; it is not inherently surveillance or manipulation. Aware Design emphasizes usefulness, understandable decisions, visitor control and appropriate data boundaries. See the respect paper.
Useful building terms
Context
Information relevant to a task, such as the answer someone selected or a saved draft they are allowed to access. Available information is not automatically appropriate to use.
Default and Fallback
The default is the ordinary experience before an extra choice is made. A fallback is the useful alternative when a feature or input is unavailable. They may be the same complete page.
Component
A reusable piece of interface, such as a price card or course-date list. Composition means selecting or arranging these pieces.
Rule
A defined connection between an input and a result: “When the visitor chooses dates, put dates first.” A simple rule can be inspected without a language model.
Handoff
The move from a website to a person or another system. Show what will be shared and with whom, and let the visitor review it before sending. See the handoff paper.
CMS, API, LLM and RAG
A CMS is a content management system used to edit and publish material. An API is a defined way for software systems to exchange requests and responses. An LLM is a large language model that generates responses. RAG means retrieval-augmented generation: looking up source material to help a model answer. The assistant paper explains the last three in context.