What is UI?

As mentioned above, UI is an abbreviation for User Interface.The word "user" means "customer" and the word "interface" means "boundary", so UI means the "boundary" between "user" and "thing" when they exchange information. Therefore, in computers, we can say that the UI is not only the software, but also the hardware (the body) such as the keyboard and monitor.By improving the UI, information can be exchanged more smoothly and the computer can be operated more intuitively.

In recent years, UI has become more and more important and is beginning to be recognized not only by system developers but also by users. In fact, in a survey of our students, around half said they had heard of UI or could explain it.

There are several types of software UIs.

CUI (Character User Interface) is a UI that can be operated only by entering text using the keyboard. It requires specialized knowledge to operate and is not intuitive, but those who can operate it can execute complex processes quickly. It is often favored by system developers.

GUI (Graphical User Interface) is a visually operated UI represented by images and icons. Most of the applications and websites we use in our daily lives are GUIs. Mainly, UI design means to improve the appearance and design of applications so that they can be operated more intuitively by humans.

VUI (Voice User Interface) is a UI that can be controlled by voice, for example, Google's voice search system and Amazon's Alexa. For example, Google's voice search system and smart speakers such as Amazon's Alexa are included in VUI.