The Gazette 1992

MARCH 1992

GAZETTE

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Towards the User Friendly PC?

upwards of 5 Mb and it is recommended that PCs operating GUI should have a 80386 chip with 60 + Mb of memory. GUI and windowing requires its own version of the relevant applications software. Hence the launch of new tailored versions of popular word processing systems. Similar tailored versions would be required of account systems, document management systems etc. to allow them to operate in this environment. While the traditional character driven commands may be initially difficult to master, once this is done they can easily be hidden in the background of the operating system and need not be as user unfriendly as they first appear. The rapid growth in power of the PC and reduction in its cost, will almost inevitably lead to further refinements over the coming years. It is not improbable that the GUIs will be overtaken by the Speech Driven Computer. There are already applications which can translate text on screen into voice and can accept voice driven commands. In the right environment, GUI saves time, reduces keyboard requirements and improves accessibility to a multiplicity of different applications. It may require upgrading of hardware; replacement of current applications software and return costs only where a number of different applications require to be accessed concurrently. There is an argument to be made that a solicitor running word processing and an accounts system on a single PC would be best to master the old before embarking on the new.

on a desk-top at the same time. Thus a letter to a client held in word processing can be viewed at the same time as the client account entry is displayed on the screen.

Towards the User Friendly PC?

By far the most prevalent operating systems used in personal computers will be a proprietary version of the Disk Operating System (DOS) and many practitioners will be familiar with the difficulties encountered with the terminology of Command Processing and Task Execution. DOS requires a knowledge of its own structures, syntax requirements and task acronyms in order to set up and run appropriate applications such as word processing, accounts systems etc. While it is not unduly complex, it is a cumbersome system which can require frustrating re- examination and testing of tasks and commands which fail to do what they are required to. Yet, what is called the Character User Interface ( CUI) of DOS remains the preference of most legal offices. A Graphical User Interface (GUI) as its name implies, allows for the execution of tasks and commands through a much more user-friendly environment of symbols and graphics. Thus, by using a hand-held device called a Mouse, it allows for the movement of a pointer around the screen and the execution of tasks by the press of a button. In turn, the screen itself identifies the tasks by means of graphical symbols. For example, a waste paper basket is frequently used to indicate a delete function; an hour glass is used to indicate a task executing in background. Allied to the use of GUIs, and a component part of many systems, is a windowing facility which allows for segmentation of the screen into a number of units and the calling down of screens from within the same application (or from other applications). This replicates the use of, or reference to, a number of different physical files or books

The benefits of GUIs are clear cut and may be summarized as:

the replacement of difficult to master command lines and character driven commands with a user friendly "point and execute" feature,

a reduction in the amount of keyboard activity that is required

to operate the system and applications running on it,

the use of a windowing feature which allows for display of multiple files or records at the same time. While Apple Mac launched its version of GUI technology back in 1984 it has not proven popular in law offices. However, a number of commercial forces are now operating to encourage the take up of this technology. Specifically, Microsoft the developers of MSDOS, have launched Windows 3.0 and products suitable to the legal markets are

now becoming available in a range of applications, notably word processing systems (see Technology Notes, December 1991).

Finally, a word of caution about Graphical User Interfaces. For all their benefits, there are a number of limitations and requirements which should be borne in mind: the display of information in graphical form and the use of windows to switch between different applications requires substantial PC capacity. Some windows applications may require

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