What is a User Interface?
The user interface is the junction between a user and a computer program. An interface is a set of commands or menus through which a user communicates with a program. It is how you interact with the computer. The term ‘user interface’ refers t the standard procedures the user follows to interact with a particular computer. There are two common user interfaces:
A command-driven interface is one in which you type in commands to make the computer do something. You have to know the commands and what they do and they have to be typed correctly. DOS and Unix are examples of command-driven interfaces.
In fact only the experts used the computers so thee was no need for a user friendly interface.
A graphical user interface (GUI) is one in which you select command choices from various menus, buttons and icons using a mouse. It is a user-friendly interface. Macintosh computers- with a user interface based on graphics and intuitive tools-were designed with a single clear aim: to facilitate interaction with the computer. Their interface is called WIMP (Window, Icon, Mouse, Pointer) and software products for the Macintosh have been design to take full advantage of its features using the interface. In 1984, the Apple Company introduced the first GUI computer, the Macintosh. Windows 95/98, NT, ME, 2000 and XP are all GUI operating systems.
Today the most innovative GUIs are the Macintosh, Microsoft Windows and IBM OS\2 Warp. These three platforms include similar features: a desktop with icons, windows and folders, a printer selector, a file finder, a control panel, various disc accessories. The three platforms differ in other areas such as device installation, network connectivity or compatibility with application programs.
These interfaces have been so successful because they are extremely easy to use, It is well known that computers running under an attractive interface simulate users to be more creative and produce high quality results, which has a major impact on the general public.
Text user interfaces (TUI) share with GUIs their use of the entire screen area and exposure of available commands through widgets like form entry and menus. However, TUIs only use text and symbols available on a typical text terminal, while GUIs typically use high resolution graphics modes. This allows the GUI to present more detailed information and fine-grained direct manipulation.
Zooming user interface or zoomable user interface (ZUI, pronounced zoo-ee) is a graphical environment where users can change the scale of the viewed area in order to see more detail or less. A ZUI is a type of graphical user interface (GUI). Information elements appear directly on an infinite virtual desktop (usually created using vector graphics), instead of in windows. Users can pan across the virtual surface in two dimensions and zoom into objects of interest. For example, as you zoom into a text object it may be represented as a small dot, then a thumbnail of a page of text, then a full-sized page and finally a magnified view of the page.
Some experts consider the ZUI interface paradigm as a flexible and realistic successor to the traditional windowing GUI. But little effort is currently spent developing ZUIs, while there are ongoing efforts for developing GUIs.