What is a wizard

A wizard is a program with a use-interface developed to ask the user a series of questions and complete the task for them. It reduces the amount of input the user needs to put in or do themselves.

Advantages -
- Cuts down time in completion of the task  (usually the set up of a program)
- Allows inexperienced people to set up the software or complete the task without lots of background knowledge
- A corporate image or house style can be applied easily so it sticks with the businesses theme.
Disadvantages -
- Limits how customisation the user wants it to be, preset choices and there may not be many of them
- The wizard may offer options that are not wanted or required so it may not be too relevant
- May look similar to that of other companies

An example wizard is seen below, this is the function wizard within excel.

Another example is the Microsoft office set up wizard seen below.

When you open publisher it gives you several templates to choose from, it also gives you options to sift through business or personal templates. This enables the user to both use the program to create business format documents and personal for in home or informal letters. The reason why they do this is to save time for business when creating a publisher document they may want to mail merge it as a Christmas card, this would not be suitable for the business standard meaning it would be way to formal and would not look right. When creating a business document it may not look correct either because if it has the layout of the Christmas card it is not professional, they are all created preset by designers with your situation in mind. This aids the creation of documents massively as it allows the user to choose whatever theme they may need. As seen in the photo below:

This is also seen in Microsoft office, it gives several templates based on what is for, they have templates for letters, reports or even just text based documents each with different features such as page numbers or a front report page. This allows for both informal and formal writing for business matters or personal. This is seen in the picture below:

A house style is the preferred style the business tries to keep consistent in all of their documents. This is along all documents, emails and presentations. The reason being is it creates brand awareness and makes them look more professional when everything is consistent. An example of Microsoft house style is seen below:

This is the house style they use on letters, it has their logo with the address and contact information. It will also likely follow the same font and sizes with text and this creates a consistency they will use in all documents of this nature. The reason why they are hard to find is they were designed by their designers for use within the business world, presentations within the business will use this and it will not be spread around as it means they are easily forged and can be used to scam people.

 A macro is a single instruction that expands into several instructions in order to complete a task. It is automated and often done in excel. It is often done in the form of visual basic or recorded.

To research the following and develop an advantage and disadvantage list for all the items at least 3 of each.

- Command line interface
A command line interface also known as a CLI is a user interface to a computers OS, the user responds to a visual promot by typing in a command.
ADS
If the user knows the correct commands then this type of interface can be much faster than any other type of interface
This type of interface needs much less memory (RAM) in order to use compared to other types of user interfaces
A low resolution, cheaper monitor can be used with this type of interface
DISADS
Commands have to be typed precisely. If there is a spelling error the command will fail
If you mis-type an instruction, it is often necessary to start from scratch again
There are a large number of commands which need to be learned - in the case of Unix it can be hundreds

- Windows icons menus pointers
A WIMP stands for the above, it is a style of interaction using these elements to generate a UI.
ADS
This type of user interface is easy to use, especially for a beginner
It is easy to explore and find your way around the system using a WIMP/ GUI interface
You do not have to learn complicated commands
DISADS
GUIs take up a much larger amount of hard disk space than other interfaces
They need significantly more memory (RAM) to run than other interface types
They use more processing power than other types of interface

- Menu interface
Different to a CLI in the sense that on a menu interface you select options rather than type in commands. 

ADS
Extremely easy to use. Someone who has never seen the interface before can work out what to do
There are no commands to learn or remember
Step-by-step options are given so that the user doesn't have to remember anything
DISADS
A poorly designed menu interface may be slow to use
It can be irritating if there are too many menu screens to work through - users get annoyed or bored if it takes too long
You often can't go to the exact place you want right at the start. You have to work your way through the menu screens even if you know where you want to get to.

- Forms interface
A forms interface allows you to interact with an application and enter data into a system, eg a form on a database.
ADS
Easy to program
Easy for user to see the options available
Data validation can be used on data entry forms
DISADS
Only limited options presented
Visually impaired people might have trouble seeing the text or options
Not good for highly complex applications, for example, a tax form might have 20 pages of options that need to be completed

- Dialogue and natural interfaces
A natural interface is an invisible interface that cannot be seen, it learns based off of interactions by the user. 
ADS
The user does not need to be trained in how to use the interface
More flexibility than a dialogue interface
Suitable for physically handicapped people
DISADS
Reliability remains an issue - the interface can only respond to commands that have been programmed
Highly complex to program and so only warrants this kind of interface where other types of interface are unsuitable
Not widely available as other forms of interface are often superior

Bespoke -

One type of bespoke software is known as sage, this is tailor made for accountants allowing them to more efficiently and more easily keep track of figures unlike the standard excel software which is off the shelf. The difference is that one is tailored to the business so if they want certain functions or pre built options then they can be put in for them when with excel it is mass produced so is more general. Sage comes in various packages with various add ons. For the essentials package which is known as sage 50 it is around £15 per month on subscription so of course this is very expensive compared to Microsoft office which is around £70 for not only excel but lots of other software included. While it is more expensive for businesses that want something specific to them it is much better in the long run.

Secondly would be ATMs, cash points checkout services a supermarkets all have bespoke software as it needs to connect to a database with all of there products and prices for them. It needs to have a list of all codes per product so they can be scanned and have the ability to add up a total. This makes them very specific to there job and it is similar with ATMs as they need to be specific to the bank linking to a database with peoples bank details and how much they have. This means it has to be made per bank and of course have high security. This compared with software such as windows OS or MacOsx which is off the shelf software is very different. This is because this type of software is not tailor made nor specific but sold to the masses so is generic as to cover the needs of the many. This is not good for businesses as it means that they may struggle to complete tasks as there is nothing specific in helping them to do so.,

Research on devices for visually (partial or total blindness)

First of all for total blindness a braille keyboard could be used, this unlike a standard keyboard has bumps on the keys written in braille for each letter, this way someone  blind could feel the keyboard and feel which keys are which enabling them to write. This was created by Louis Braille in 1824.

 Software for someone completely blind could include siri or cortana, siri is made my apple and cortana Microsoft and they enable a hands free and vision free way of navigating a phone. For example if you say search CSGO memes it will search for it and then display it auditory for you to see.

For someone partially blind a magnifier on screen can be used, this is software to enhance certain areas on the screen for help in things such as reading small writing. This enables someone to see it enlarged.

Hardware for this would include augmented reality glasses, these can help the partially blind to see by creating a false replica of the reality around them. This enables them to see where they are going and what is happening and a big creator of this is google.

Research on devices for motor impaired

One device used for motor impairment would be a puff and suck switch. For people who do not have the ability to move and control things or even talk it enables them to via their breath. For example Steven Hawking who blows into a switch to select a letter or sucks to move to the next letter a long. This then is displayed through speakers to help him talk.

A piece of software that can help in motor impairment works through moving your eyes. There is a monitor that can read eye movements and when your eyes hover over a letter or word it tracks that movement and then selects that letter or word. These are called augmentative and alternate communication screens.

Research for those auditory impaired

An example of a device used for those with auditory impairment is ALDs, these amplify sounds so that people who are partially deaf can hear things as they are made much louder. This enables them to hear speech.

Another example would be alert devices, such as devices that flash or vibrate when a doorbell goes off or an alarm, when it vibrates of flashes it means they can still be alerted via the device and know someone is at the door or that they have to be up at a certain time.

1) The first device suitable for a graphics design company would be a touch screen computer, this is because it enables them to draw and complete projects on the device by hand which they would not be able to to do without the touch screen feature (or atleast as easily)

2) Secondly would be a laptop, this is because it is mobile and easy to use with enough memory to store things such as databases of cars or emails, it is much faster for processing data and can have necessary software within it.

3) A processor is used to process tasks and complete things set to it, for example a calculator is a processor as it processes the sums you place into it.

4) Fans and cooling is needed because motorised parts within the computer generate heat such as the processor or graphics card, fans blow cold air in and hot air out maintaining a lower temperature and water can also be circulated to draw heat out.

5) Ram is random access memory and is volatile, tasks that are done on the computer are temporarily stored in the RAM and then get erased when the computer is turned off. it keeps the data being processed within it.

Data codes in printing:

An example of data coding would be through print cartridges. Print cartridges are labelled by an abbreviation of their colour for example pink is PK and black is BK. This is a standard used within printing and is seen in an example of a picture below. This is useful for the business because it means that data can get entered and searched for much quicker than if it was the full word. An example scenario being someone going into a store and asking for pink ink, and the employee types in PK into the search and then can see if there are any in stock. It also helps in validation, in data validation if someone is trying to validate data for example checking each black cartridge before they are sold to make sure they are black, by typing in just BK if it is black or PK if its pink and the wrong colour it shortens the time it would have taken and make its much more efficient than if they were to enter the full word. 

Homework:
One example of data validation would be through logging into a website, it validates the password against the one on the account to make sure that you own it. If entered correctly you log in. Another method would be through setting up the account, when creating a password they have length checkers to ensure that the password is a minimum length to ensure it is safe. You can also get presence check which checks that information has been entered into a field for example your email when signing up to something. Next would be double entry which is when you have to enter the data twice such as a repeat email. If they are not the same then you know you have made a mistake and this ensure that you enter the right email. Finally would be proof reading which is when someone manually checks the data and proof reads it to see if anything is wrong such as a misspelling or two different emails.