Week 5 - Issues of Interface

Why has user interface become easier to use?

User interface is a means by which people interact with a particular machine, device or computer. User interface has developed and become a lot easier to use in the past 15 years. Punch tape, command lines and Ivan Sutherland’s sketchpad seem almost caveman like compared to what’s available now such as touch screen computers. Other key features were the introduction of the keyboard and mouse making usability easier.

Small features such as being able to tilt computer screens and adjusting chairs for comfort, has allowed tasks to be completed much quicker and more efficiently. This has become important as computer related work has increased more than ever before. Products like mouse’s, keyboards, computer desks and chairs are used for a extended period of time so its important they become more ‘human friendly’.

The more ‘human friendly’ products become the more goals can be achieved allowing the interaction between human and computers more effective making it more enjoyable for people. Making interfaces more interesting has also become more important such as colours on a website or the format of it. This has lead to websites having a generic format that they stick to in order to make it seem interesting. Personally, I think that user interface has become easier to use as there has been more of an emphasis to use them for longer periods of time thus causing simplicity to keep on developing both with software and hardware.