Interaction Styles

Introduction

Interaction styles are referred to as the ways a user can interact with the computer. In this lesson, we will discuss some of the most commonly used styles.

Command-line interface

• This method is suitable for repetitive tasks due to the flexibility in command options and parameters, i.e. commands show different behaviors for different parameters. Here is an example of a copy command on Mac Terminal. The general syntax is cp source destination The first command down below will copy myFile.txt from Documents to Desktop. But the second command will rename the file to myFile_new.txt.

           cp ~/Documents/myFile.txt ~/Desktop
           cp ~/Documents/myFile.txt ~/Desktop/myFile_new.txt
  

• Commands must be remembered by the user, making them better for expert users than novices.
• Commands are platform-dependent, i.e. different commands are used on Windows and Mac to perform the same functions.

Menus

• The set of operations is visible on the screen as options.
• Some common menu styles are:
  • Simple menu: A simple list of options to choose from.
  • Full-screen menu: The menu is displayed on the entire screen. The menu itself is usually a list.
  • Menu bar: A set of options is in a bar at the top of the screen, usually with another submenu.
• Depending upon the menu style being used, the desired option can be selected in multiple ways such as:
  • Using number or alphabet keys
  • Mouse click or tap
  • Arrow keys
• A menu-driven interface is user friendly as the options are visible, thus offering more recognitionRecognizing displayed information based on familiarity. and less recallretrieving relevant information from memory..
• Options are grouped in a hierarchical manner; therefore, logical grouping is required while designing the interfaces.

Natural language

• Interaction takes place using natural language in the form of speech and text.
• The system processes verbs, clauses, and phrases in the language.
• One big drawback of this interface is the ambiguity of language. Sentence structure can be vague. One word can be used in multiple scenarios with different meanings. For example, the instruction, “List all my friends who live in Arizona and Alaska,” is ambiguous, as two different meanings can be derived from this, i.e. to list all those friends who live in both locations, Arizona and Alaska, and to list all those friends who live in either Arizona or Alaska.
• A famous application using a natural language processing interface is Siri.

Query interface

• Question/answer
  • Interaction is led through a series of questions, mainly yes/no response, multiple-choice questions, or code snippets.
  • Provides limited functions, thus being a good option for novice users.
  • Mainly used in online surveys and information systems.
• Query language
  • Used to define, modify, and retrieve information from databases.
  • Suitable for experts as an understanding of language syntax and database structure is required.
  • Widely used on the backend of web search engines.
  • A common example is SQL language.

              SELECT name FROM customers
              WHERE country="Mexico";

Form-fills and spreadsheets

• Form-filling interface
  • Mainly used for data insertion and retrieval.
  • The user is required to fill relevant data in appropriate fields.
  • Forms offer free movement from one field to another and correction facilities to alter the data anytime before submitting.
  • Forms also validate the data that has been submitted before forwarding the submit request to the system process.

• Spreadsheets
  • A tabular form used mainly for data analysis, storage, and organization.
  • Grid cells can either contain numeric and text data or a formula that calculates the value based on other cells’ values.
  • Altering the value in one cell will automatically update a formula’s result value if the cell value is being used in calculating it, thus resulting in consistent data.
  • Common example includes MS Excel and Google Sheets.

Point and click

• Interaction initiates by just pointing and clicking an element using a pointing device such as a mouse or finger.
• The elements are commonly icons, images, hypertext, etc.
• This is a user-friendly interface as less typing is required.

WIMP interfaces

• This is the type of Graphical User Interface (GUI) used on all personal and desktop computers.
• WIMP stands for Windows Icons Menus Pointers, which are the four things displayed on the interface that user can interact with.
• Windows and pointers differentiate WIMP style from other styles like “touchscreen,” which are commonly used in Android and IOS smartphones.
• This style is user-friendly, making it ideal for novice users.

Three-dimensional interfaces

The use of three-dimensional (3D) interfaces has gained enormous importance. An ordinary WIMP interface with 3D looking elements, buttons, etc. is an example of the simplest 3D interface. A more advanced 3D interface includes 3D workplaces where the displayed objects are flat but they are given a 3D appearance. Another example is 3D games. More advanced 3D interfaces include augmented reality and virtual reality where the user can interact with simulated 3D environments. Below on the left, you can see a comparison between two YouTube buttons. One is flat, and the other has a 3D appearance due to shading. On the right side, there is a snapshot of a 3D game.