Assignment 3: Direct Manipulation
Early computer systems relied on command line interfaces to perform all actions. Today, the majority of systems use direct manipulation rather than a command line interface. The goal of designing a direct manipulation interface is to make use of the system intuitive to the end user. One industry that has been extremely successful designing intuitive direct manipulation inputs is the video game industry. Most game players are able to learn controls as they play a game and then apply the same controls to similar games. Rarely do they need to read a user manual.
Write a four to five (4-5) page paper in which you:
1. Describe the three (3) principles of direct manipulation and give examples as to how they are used in video game controls.
2. Analyze video game-type interfaces and discuss three (3) reasons why video game-type interfaces would not be effective for real-world applications.
Describe at least three (3) advantages of direct manipulation versus command line interfaces.
Evaluate direct manipulation and describe three (3) problems with it.
Use at least three (3) quality resources in this assignment.