2. Generations of User Interfaces Chapter 3

3. Generations of User Interfaces n A designer needs to learn past User Interface techniques. n User Interface generations parallels hardware generations

4. Batch Systems ( 0-Dimension) n little need for interaction n Examples: Payroll systems, Email servers, file backup n Or, user needs to watch progress of batch jobs. - - the last command may fail.

5. Line-Oriented interfaces ( 1-D) –S–Start the Compiler ncncmp start –S–Stop the Compiler ncncmp stop

6. n Time-sharing -many users share computer resources “at the same time” n Teletypewriter (TTY) display “glass TTYs” n Question and Answer n Menu driven -- Telephone menu n Command lines - airplane reservation system n Exact format is needed E.g. “Enter City” n Today’s use: walk-up-and-use systems

7. Forms -(2D) n Can use the whole screen with the Tab or arrow keys. n Form-filling dialogues (still in use today) n Function keys (accelerations)

8. Full-Screen Interfaces (2-D) n Menu Hierarchies (a menu is a list of items) n Broad and deep menu hierarchies n Avoid (or rarely use) hierarchy menus -- hide options, extra set of interactions to navigate. n Adaptive menus-- the favored item available at top to speed up the system n Should a menu item have only 1 item?

9. Graphical User Interfaces (2.5 D) n WIMP (windows, icons, menus, point device) n 2 or 3 dimensional ( overlapping windows with obscured windows n Direct manipulation -user directly moves screen object around. –Example: word processor margin indentation n Which are better: GUI or character-based interfaces? n Abductive nature of GUIs- E.g., a GUI calculator, can you use both keyboard and mouse? n Disabled users of GUIs

10. Next-Generation Interfaces VR - (3D)

11. VR

12. Next-Generation Interfaces n Sound, time, VR n next generation will be easy to carry around and will be able to network n Shared environments, office net talks n The data (object) knows how to use the available functions