Interfaces questions and answers
Questions
Q1. Describe when form interfaces are typically used, giving an example.
Q2. State two places you might typically find a menu-driven interface.
Q3. What is a GUI interface and a WIMP interface?
Q4. Who might typically use a command line interface?
Q5. What is a dialogue box?
Q6. What is ‘tab order’ on a user interface?
Q7. Give two advantages of using a dropdown box for selecting an item.
Q8. What is a radio button?
Q9. Define validation.
Q10. Do some research. Verification is often confused with validation. What does verification mean?
Answers
Q1. Form interfaces are usually used where data has to be entered into a system e.g. a school secretary entering details about pupils, a librarian entering details about books, a company entering details about orders.
Q2. Menu-driven interfaces might be found in a tourist information office, a train station to buy tickets, a cinema to buy tickets and any other place where you cannot guarantee the ICT skills of the users.
Q3. GUI stands for Graphical User Interface. WIMP stands for Windows, Icons, Menus and Pointers.
Q4. Designers of drivers and network managers might typically use command line interfaces.
Q5. A dialogue box is any window that appears because you have to make selections from choices e.g. a print dialogue box.
Q6. Tab order is the order that you move from one field to another when filling in a form.
Q7. Saves space on the form, quicker to enter data than typing it in, can't make spelling mistakes, can't select an option that doesn't exist.
Q8. A type of selection facility where you can select one option from a choice. If you make a selection, other options are usually deselected.
Q9. Validation is the term used to ensure that only 'sensible' data is entered into a database. It is done automatically in the background by the computer using rules set up by the designer of the system.
Q10. Verification is the process of checking that the sensible data entered is actually the data you want. E.g. you entered 10, which passed all the validation rules, but unfortunately, you meant to enter 9. By double checking what you entered, (verifying your data), you can pick-up these errors.