{"id":53498,"date":"2020-01-13T09:52:21","date_gmt":"2020-01-13T08:52:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.humanlevel.com\/diccionario-marketing-digital\/interfaz-de-usuario-ui"},"modified":"2020-01-13T13:48:00","modified_gmt":"2020-01-13T12:48:00","slug":"user-interface-ui","status":"publish","type":"dicmarketing","link":"https:\/\/www.humanlevel.com\/en\/digital-marketing-dictionary\/user-interface-ui","title":{"rendered":"User Interface (UI)"},"content":{"rendered":"

What is a user interface or UI?<\/h2>\n

In the field of information technologies, User Interface <\/em>(UI) is a visual medium that combines a series of controls and elements that allow a user to communicate and interact with an electronic device.<\/strong>The information is stored on a computer, cell phone or any other type of computer equipment, as well as on a software or website.<\/p>\n

A good user interface should be simple to use, easy to understand and easy to learn.<\/p>\n

Most common types of interfaces<\/h2>\n

Text Interfaces (TUI)<\/h3>\n

Text interfaces, as the name suggests, only display text and ASCII characters on a screen and are operated with the keyboard<\/strong>. It is practically limited to operating systems (nowadays in disuse) such as Norton Commander, MS DOS, Turbo Pascal… as well as BIOS management and configuration.<\/p>\n

\"Norton
Screenshot of Norton Commander operating system, taken by https:\/\/rakh.im\/<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Command Line Interfaces (CLI)<\/h3>\n

It is probably the oldest type of interface still in use today. It consists of the user entering commands and instructions to the computer in writing<\/strong> and getting feedback<\/em> based on the request. As it is a text interface, only ASCII characters are used for both input<\/em> and output<\/em>.<\/p>\n

One of the major shortcomings of command line interfaces is that the user needs to know and memorize a wide variety of commands to be able to interact with the device in an agile way, which makes them too complex. Nevertheless, this method continues to be considerably relevant in the software development and system administration sector for certain tasks, such as version control using the Git system.<\/p>\n

All major desktop operating systems have their command line applications: Terminal on MacOS and the Linux family, Command Prompt on Windows, Chrome Shell (CROSH) on Chrome OS…<\/p>\n

\"Command<\/p>\n

Graphical User Interfaces (GUI)<\/h3>\n

Graphical User Interfaces<\/em> (GUIs) revolutionized the world and came to (almost) replace text and command line interfaces by greatly simplifying user interaction.<\/p>\n

\"Graphical
The graphical interface of one of the first versions of Microsoft Windows, version 3.11.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

They are currently the most widely used type of interface<\/strong>. The software displayed on the screen is operated by means of the mouse or trackpad<\/em> and the keyboard, as well as the various graphic elements of the interface: buttons, toolbars, menus, icons, windows…<\/p>\n

GUIs are the type of platforms that today we also use on our mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets, although these, in part, also belong to the category of natural user interfaces (NUI) – which we will see next – due to their tactile properties.<\/p>\n

Natural User Interfaces (NUI)<\/h3>\n

Natural User Interfaces<\/em> are the most friendly and intuitive type of interfaces, allowing a very fluid interaction based on gestures, voice and\/or touch, all of these “natural” characteristics of a human being. They can have a physical support, but they can also be invisible to the user.<\/p>\n