When using a graphical interface, the user usually executes commands with graphical objects of the system (menus, icons, buttons, etc.) using the mouse pointer or touchpad for interaction.
Advantages
Disadvantages
+ Easy to use for beginners
- Uses a lot of memory and processing power
+ You do not have to learn complicated commands
- Difficult to develop
+ Allows you to easily share information between programs using "cut and paste" or "drag and drop"
- For advanced user, use is slower than command line interface
- May be annoying for power users when simple tasks require a series of operations
Examples, Windows, MacOS, etc.
Command Line Interface
User interaction with the command line interface occurs by entering commands designed to perform specific operations.
When working with such interfaces, the user needs to know the set of commands that he can use to perform certain actions.
To work with this type of interface, a keyboard must be connected.
The use of the command line interface does not require large computer resources, since complex graphical objects are not used.
Advantages
Disadvantages
+ Can run on simple hardware with limited resources.
- Requires learning commands
+ Advanced users execute some commands faster than in the graphical interface
- Some commands take longer to execute than other types of interfaces
+ Efficiently use on servers
- No possibility of native understanding
Example: MS-DOS
Natural Language Interface
To interact with the interface of a natural language, words, phrases of the languages of communication (English, Kazakh, Russian) are used, which are determined by the system as commands for execution.
Advantages
Disadvantages
+ The user does not need to be trained on how to use the interface
- The interface can only respond to programmed commands
Suitable for people with disabilities
Very difficult in programming, so it is used when other types of interface are not suitable
Allows interaction at a distance
The voice interface may need training as different users have different pronunciation.
Examples: Alisa, Siri, Alexa, Google Assistant or Cortana, etc
Gesture Recognition Interface
The gesture recognition interface includes the ability of the system to recognize hand gestures (movements) and even recognize emotions by face. In such systems, users can use simple gestures to control or interact with devices without physically touching them. Many approaches have been made using cameras and computer vision algorithms to interpret sign language.
Also Touch sensitive interface relates to GRI. They work by your finger touching the screen. The touching is detected and translated by the device into instructions. As well as tapping, the screen can sense swiping and pinching actions.
Advantages
Disadvantages
It is an intuitive and natural way of interaction.
Irrelevant objects with hand can mislead the recognition system.
Recognizes both static and dynamic hand movements.
The performance of this system drops as the distance between user and camera increases.
Easily to be implemented in real-time systems.
It still doesn’t produce an interface that can replace physical controllers.
It has minimal hardware requirements.
Examples: Wii, Microsoft's Kinect, Android, iOS
Questions:
Exercises:
Ex. 1
Exam questions:
Why do some system administrators prefer to use Telnet (a CLI) instead of a GUI to control remote computers? (Marks: 2)
Answer. Sending text commands over the internet is very fast as very little data needs to be sent and received (1). Using a GUI would take up a lot of bandwidth (1). Additionally, some commands might be faster to perform using a CLI than a GUI (1).
The gesture recognition interface includes the ability of the system to recognize hand gestures (movements) and even recognize emotions by face. In such systems, users can use simple gestures to control or interact with devices without physically touching them. Many approaches have been made using cameras and computer vision algorithms to interpret sign language.