Table of contents.
Content
page
1.0 introduction……...................................................................................................................1
2.0 Definition of terms………………………………………………………………………………..…………………..……1
3.0 Discussion………………………………………………………………………………………………..…………………..…1
4.0 Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………………………..……………………....4
References
1.0Introduction
This essay is looking at the various types of computer user interface ls provided by the
operating systems.
1.0 Definition of terms.
2.1User interface.
According to Rinaldo (1993), the user interface is the point of human to computer
interaction and communication in device.
2.0 Discussion.
Communication between a user and a computer is two way. One of the jobs of the
operating system is to provide a user interface, so that a human can communicate with
hardware that makes up a computer. When one buys a software, it too will have a user
interface so that they can access and use the software. A user will give data and
instructions to a computer and a computer will give information back to the user. This
way, it is known as the interface.
There are different types of interfaces that might come with an operating system and
these will be as follows.
3.1Graphical User interface (GUI).
Rinaldo(1993), stated interfaces that are graphical in nature are know as graphical user
interface (GUI) or Windows, icons, menus and pointer (WIMP). These types would be
expected to be available in multitasking environments, where you can open and use
more than one piece of software at a time, or application softwares that involves a
considerable degree of complexity. We might have used graphical user interface or
word or even explorer and Firefox to surface the web and so on. Each of these windows
has its own window that opens up into and you can open up more than one window
and more than one application of any time. In windows, one can easily know which one
is active, because the active window has a bright blue bar at the top of the window and
opposed to a dinner blue bar.
She further added that there are also icons you can click on for fast access to tools in
application. There are also drop menus that ensure you do not have hundreds of
options constantly on display, taking up room on the screen. The pointer is usually a
mouse or a finger on touch screens although graphic designers and engineers often
prefer to use a tablet and stylus for pointing. A mouse and a tablet or stylus
combination ensures that you can make selection quickly rather than using a keyboard,
which is slower and prone to mistake.
3.2 Command line interface.
A command line interface requires a user to type in commands from a list of allowable
commands. Suppose you wanted to backup a file called donkey.doc to a folder
(directory) called animals on your sloppy disk. In GUI you would open your file
manager, click on the file you want to save and drag it in to the folder called animals on
the floppy disk. This is easy and anyone can do it, but if you want to do the equivalent
I’m DOS, for example which has a command line interface, you would have to know
how to construct the command to copy e-file from one place to another. You would
have to type : C:/> copy donkey.doc :a\ animals.
This type of interface can take a long time to learn and not intuitive. For inexperienced
users, it can be a frustrating type of interface whilst for experienced users it can be
very powerful. command line interface can provide commands that can get a user very
close to the working of the components of the computer system and this is because
there are commands that can manipulate hardware and software in a computer system
in a way that simply can not be done using a GUI. (Rouse, 2019)
3.4 Form based interface.
Some operating systems are designed for businesses where employees have to enter in
lots of information. Form based interfaces ate very suitable for any application that
involves entering predictable pieces of information onto a computer such as someone
taking a telephone order for a product such as a CD or someone entering details of
people who want to apply for a credit card or even someone who is trying to buy
something online.
All these activities might be done with the aid of a form based interface. This is because
the same predictable information will be used by the operator or by the web based
organization over and over again for each order or questionnaire and
application.(Laurel,1993).
3.5 Menu Driven interface.
According to Beth(2015), a menu driven interface is simply an easier way of navigating
the devices and program ls we interact with on a daily basis. It employs a series of
screens and or menus that allow users to make a choice about what to do next.
A menu driven can use a list of format or graphics with one selection leading to the
next menu screen until the user has completed the desired outcome.
She further added, that menu driven are preferred for their simplicity and user friendly
properties. They let you choose one step that leads to another until you have finished
to all the steps and found what you needed. This allows you to accomplish such tasks
such as getting money from an ATM and getting information from a kiosk or arriving a a
proper section of your smartphone to connect to a coffee shop's WI-FI.
However, menu driven differ from command line interface which uses prompts into
which a user must enter a response or command. Users then have to wait for the
system to respond to the Command entered and prompted to enter the next command.
This type of interface is particularly common among computer programmers who uses a
windows-based computers terminal all to tell the computer what to do
3.0 Conclusion.
In Conclusion, the goal of this human to computer interaction is to allow effective
operation and control at the machine from the human end, whilst machine
simultaneously feedbacks information that aids the operator's decision making process.
References.
Laurel, B.(1993). Computers as Theaters. Addison-Wesley, Longman, Reading Harlow.
Rinaldo, k.(1994). Computer Graphical Users. ACM, New York.
Wilson, S. (2002). Information Arts: intersection of Art, Science And Technology, MIT
Cambridge.
Cohen, Phillip, R. (1992). The Role of Natural Language in Multimodal Surface. ACM,
Cambridge.