Due to the influence of traditional concepts, the touch screen human-machine interface has not been valued by software developers for a long time, thinking that this is a low-level activity purely to please users and has no practical value. The only criterion for evaluating the quality of an application software is to see whether it has powerful functions and whether it can smoothly help users complete their tasks. In recent years, with the rapid development of computer hardware technology, technical performance indicators such as computer storage capacity, operating speed, and reliability have been significantly improved, while the production cost of computer hardware has fallen sharply, and personal computers have become increasingly popular. The new generation of computer users have put forward higher requirements on application software in terms of operability and comfort of software operation. In addition to expecting the software to have powerful functions, they also expect the application software to be as effective as possible. Provide them with a relaxed, pleasant, and feel-good operating environment. This shows that the quality of man-machine interface has become a big problem, and friendly man-machine interface design has become an important part of application software development.
(1) The style of man-machine interface
The style of man-machine interface refers to the method of controlling input on the user interface of a computer system. The style of touch-screen man-machine interface has undergone the following 4 generations of evolution:
1) Command language. Before the advent of graphics display, mouse, high-speed workstation and other technologies, the only feasible man-machine interface mode could only be command and query mode. Communication was completely in the form of text and completed through user commands and user responses to system queries. This method is flexible to use, convenient for users to display their creativity, and has high work efficiency for skilled users, but for general users, it is demanding, error-prone, difficult to learn, and has weak error handling capabilities.
2) Menu options. Compared with the command line method, this method is less error-prone, can greatly shorten the training time of the user, reduce the number of keystrokes of the user, can use the dialog management tool, and the error handling ability has been significantly improved. However, it is still tedious to use. There may be too many menu levels and complicated menu options. The selection must be made step by step, and the interaction speed is too slow.
3) Window-oriented click interface. This type of interface is also called WIMP interface, that is, windows (Windows), icons (I-cons), menus (Menus), and indicators (Pointing Device) form a desktop (Desktop). This method can display different types of information at the same time, so that users can switch between several work environments without losing the connection between several tasks. Users can easily perform control-type and dialog-type tasks through the drop-down menu, and introduce icons, Button and scroll bar technology greatly reduces keyboard input, and undoubtedly improves the interaction efficiency for users who are not proficient in typing.
4) Use of natural language. Natural language communicates with application software, and combines the third-generation interface technology with hypertext and multi-task concepts, allowing users to perform multiple tasks at the same time (from the user's point of view). With the further development of text, graphics, voice recognition and input technology, and the further development of multimedia technology in the field of human-machine interface development, natural language-style human-machine interfaces will develop rapidly and eventually become practical.
