Strategies for Making Menu Driven Interface Visually Appealing In Modern Computer Environment - Assignment Example

? Menu Selection Introduction Menu is often regarded as an omnipresent component in modern computer technology. Although the word menu usually raisespsychological image in terms of list of words, the scope of menu driven technology is much extensive. In menu driven technology, every application demonstrates user selectable information. Menu driven technology is quite common in designing user interface. Menu driven technology include several screens that are navigated by selecting options from lists (Blair-Early & Zender, 2008). Evaluation of User Dialogue Strategies Used by a Menu Driven Interface User dialogue system is regarded as a computer system which aims to converse especially with the humans in a comprehensible structure. In menu driven interface, dialogue systems often comprise employed text, language, pictures, signs and other mode of communication for input as well as for output channels. There are several strategies that are used in user dialogue system. A typical dialogue system process comprises technologies and tools such as input recognizer, language understanding, conversation manager and output renderer. Input recognizer unit consists of speech recognition, motion recognition and script recognition. On the other hand, language-understanding unit comprises appropriate name identification, speech classification and semantic parser. With respect to the conversation manager, the task of this unit is to maintain proper records of discussion and to manage the usual flow of information exchange. Usually in menu driven interface, the conversation manager tends to perform multiple tasks relating to specific fields. The conversation manager generates output by applying output originator. This output is extracted by implying output renderer which comprise text to speech engine (Blair-Early & Zender, 2008). Determination of Popularity of Menu Driven Interfaces Menu driven interfaces are still popular in modern computing age. Basically, this system possesses several advantages that assist in gaining the popularity of menu driven technology. For instance, in menu driven system, there is less requirement for remembering commands. As a result, it makes the computer operations much simpler for inexperienced users. In menu driven system, users can use menu for discovering different choices and as a consequence, can achieve better understanding of the program. Furthermore, menu driven system is visually attractive and provides the users a better graphical interface to work with. Menu driven system is also affordable and hence appropriate for beginner user model (Lee & Raymond, n.d.). Menu driven system also permits novice users to execute information seeking activities without having proper knowledge on command language. Menu system completely narrows down the activities of information seeker and therefore do not permit articulacy of command styles. Additionally, direct management style of menu driven system provides information seeker with clear plotting between physical functions and system responses. As a result, it is still popular in modern computer system (Marchionini, 1997). Strategies for Making Menu Driven Interface Visually Appealing In Modern Computer Environment There are several strategies that can help to make the menu driven interface visually appealing. The first strategy is the use of answer dialogue. Answer dialogue strategy is basically used in order to supplement different dialogues under menu driven system. This strategy necessitates consideration of possible answers to manage the actions in case of incorrect answers (Savage & et. al., 1982). The second strategy is direct manipulation. Direct manipulation strategy permits the operation of graphical objects which appear in the monitor screen. This strategy mainly concentrates on utilization of icons and images in order to suggest effective functions to the users (Savage & et. al., 1982). The third strategy for making menu driven interface more visually appealing is the use of instruction sets. However, this strategy can only be used when users have proper understanding about the composition of instructions (Savage & et. al., 1982). Alternatives for Menu Driven Interface Design There are several alternatives that are readily accessible for menu-driven interface design. The user of the system can select the desired alternatives which can enhance the design of interface by a greater degree. For instance, the present sophisticated computer technology allows menu driven interface to be designed with compatible tools such as pen, mouse, touch screen and other pointing devices. The first alternative for menu driven interface is menu bars. Menu bars is used in order to demonstrate the menu in a horizontal manner. It provides sequence of choices from which the users can select menu. The choices usually resemble to the commands or properties which can be swapped by users. Menu bars are typically organized from left to right of the screen and applied for recognizing common and frequently used activities which occur in extensive diversity of different windows. The second alternative of menu driven interface design is pull down menu. Unlike menu bars, pull down menu provides vertical list of selections to the users. This alternative menu interface design is used once user picks a choice from menu bar. In pull down menu, the different choices are basically organized from top to bottom based on frequency of selection. The other alternative of menu driven interface design is cascading menu. This type of menu design is regarded as high level design than other two alternatives. It is developed through visual clue of pointing arrow. Pop-up menu is the other alternative for menu interface design. It is a vertical record of choices which need to be demanded by the user. A pop- up menu can only appear on particular request of users. Unlike pull down menu and cascading menu, pop up menu appearance depends on whether the menu has been demanded by the users or not. Iconic menu can also be used as the other alternative design style for menu interface. It uses graphic symbols for different menu options. This type of menu design is basically used in order to represent users with the options that can be performed within different software applications (Dittman, Whitten & Bentley, 1998). Conclusion From the overall analysis, it can be affirmed that menu driven interface can provide several benefits to the computer system. This interface permits the design team to obtain hand on experience provided to the users. There are several strategies that can help in designing a proper menu interface. Menu interface is comprehensive in nature and comprise numerous alternatives that can be used to display different functions in diverse manners. On the basis of flexibility, users can use different choices for designing menu driven interface in the computer application effectively. References Blair-Early, A., & Zender, M. (2008). User interface design principles for interaction design. Massachusetts Institute of Technology 24(1), pp. 85-107. Dittman, K. C., Whitten, J. L., & Bentley, L. D. (1998). User interface design and prototyping. Retrieved from https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=5&cad=rja&ved=0CFAQFjAE&url=http%3A%2F%2Fclasses.soe.ucsc.edu%2Fism058%2FWinter99%2FCHAPTER14.ppt&ei=7R0KUovMKKu0iQfr9IDACg&usg=AFQjCNGII9z3UR5B8Igkv-PLygwCk0aIKA&sig2=44qFnGW1_gIPiAUNouvcBw&bvm=bv.50500085,d.dGI Lee, E. S., & Raymond, D. R. (n.d.). Menu-driven systems. University of Waterloo, pp. 1-21. Marchionini, G. (1997). Information seeking in electronic environments. United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press. Savage, R. E. & et. al., 1982. The design, simulation, and evaluation of a menu driven user interface. Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, pp. 36-40. Read More