User Interface

User Interface

The user interface is the screen guide to any application. The bar at the top of your browser window is one example. The button icons (pictures), their order and layout, and the other words, messages, and pictures you see on the screen are the responsibility of the interface designer for this browser.

For example, every time you click on a URL you will see some activity in the picture box in the upper right hand corner. That's because a user interface designer wanted to let you, the user, know that the program is working on the next operation, but it isn't done yet, and it isn't frozen. The idea of giving the user visual cues in this way is relatively new, part of the revolution brought on by more powerful machines.

Here are some other examples of interesting User Interfaces, and some historical examples of UI design.
DOS was the operating system of choice in the mid-1980's, but it was only a command line interface. This means that all instructions to the computer had to be typed in line by line. DOS still exists, on PC's, for some very simple applications, like the FTP session shown here.
Modern Applications often have interface redesign done in subsequent versions. For example, consider the differences between the menu and button bars for Netscape version 3 and Netscape version 4, shown below. Why do you think the designer made the changes?

Netscape version 3.0 Controls

Netscape version 4.0 Controls


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