Compare and Contrast Essay on Multi-Touch Screens vs. Mouse-Driven Screens

Differentiate between the interaction types and styles that apply to multi-touch screens and applications running on them.

Technological advancement has led to the rise of multi-touch screens that are continuously erasing the use of the traditional mouse-driven screens. The mouse-driven screen allows for many smaller icons to appear on a screen and the application shows an elevation in preciseness on an item. The technology only allows one point of interaction between the user and the computer that is controlled by a mouse. On the other hand, the multi-touch screen technology is more versatile than a mouse-driven screen because it allows for the generation of bigger objects. Furthermore, it allows the user to use multiple fingers to alter virtual objects on the screen (Nielsen, 2012). For instance, the Microsoft Surface facilitates users to rearrange and a group of digital photos on a table top like they were actual papers. The multi-touch screen offers more benefits than a mouse-driven screen because it is convenience by bypassing traditional interface of folders and menus that are too cumbersome. As compared to the traditional-mouse driven screen, a multi-touch screen allows for increased dexterity while handling digital content (Premaratne, 2016). The applications running in multi-touch screens are designed to enable the user to reach the graphical user interface. Commands input through multiple fingers are translated into readable digital data by these applications as the user wanted.

Determine the conceptual model that you would use when designing a product for your restaurant.

The conceptual model should be designed to envision the proposed products or items, while focusing on the needs of the user. Likewise, the conceptual model should be designed in a way that it is understandable in the intended method. It is significant to have a conceptual model that has various alternatives. While designing a conceptual model for my restaurant, I would create a model that is based on activity. A conceptual model based on activity emphasizes the user as the main factor of the design process. The activity will involve all aspects the user can require from the restaurant. Therefore, the design will incorporate a user menu that the user easy to use. The menu would include all the restaurants products and an ordering platform to enhance efficiency in order delivery. As a result, a drop-down menu would be more convenient for the user because it creates a list that the user can select based on the service needed. One of the challenges to computer systems is that they assume everybody is computer literate (Dearden, 2008). To avoid making this mistake, the activity model should easy to understand and user-friendly.

Describe the key analogies and concepts these monitors expose to users, including the task-domain objects users manipulate on the screen

The multi-touch screens promote multi-user applications that they can accomplish through single tap or double tap gestures. However, double tap gestures require user precision to achieve the desired output hence they are not as easy as they seem. According to Premaratne (2016), the commonly used analogies are touch, press, and rotate commands among many others. The tough gesture is used for the manipulations of objects on the screen. For example, a user can drag an item across the screen to delete or uninstall it if its an application. Similarly, swiping a finger can be used to select items from a given list or progress to a next page. However, the primary touch gestures such as zoom, pinch, swipe, and flick apply to most operations in use by the system and the user as well.

Determine one (1) utility / tool in an application for touch-based and mouse-drive screens that should be designed with memory retention / recall. Provide a rationale for your response.

In a computer system, there are certain operations that should be retained in the computer memory for future activities before switching off the computer. Therefore, in a mouse-driven and multi-touch screen, the copy and paste and the cut and paste utility should be designed to be retained in the memory. The object, file or document should be copied and the operation maintained until it is moved to a desired location. Likewise, the cut and paste operation follows the same principle but it allows for file to removed completely from one location to another.

References

Dearden, A. (2008). User-Centered Design Considered Harmful. Retrieved from

https://smartech.gatech.edu/bitstream/handle/1853/48573/User%20Centered%20Design%20Considered%20Harmful.pdf?sequence=1

Nielsen, J. (2012). Mouse vs. Fingers as Input Device. Nielsen Norman Group. Retrieved 8

February 2018, from https://www.nngroup.com/articles/mouse-vs-fingers-input-device/

Premaratne, P. (2016). Human Computer Interaction using Hand Gestures. [s.l.]: springer.