User Interfaces
User Interface What do we mean by a user interface? The user is the person who is using the computer. A user interface is what he or she sees (or hears) when software is running on the computer. It controls how they operate and interact with the computer
Types of User Interface What methods can people use to input data or operate computers? Graphical user interface / WIMP Command line interface Natural language Speech recognition Hand-writing recognition
Command Line The computer is operated using a limited number of specialised commands, e.g. DOS
Menu Driven Applications have menus, but they are part of the program – unlike menus in Windows
Graphical User Interface There are no commands to learn! Also known as WIMP (windows, icon, mouse, pointer)
WYSIWYG What you see is what you get:
WYSIWYG Applications haven’t always been like that – this is WordStar, a popular word processor from the 1980s:
Natural Language Talking to the computer as though it were a person… Open the pod bay doors, HAL
Voice Recognition For control or dictation