In Contrast To WIMP/GUI Interfaces
Direct manipulation is closely associated with interfaces that use windows, icons, menus, and a pointing device (WIMP GUI) as these almost always incorporate direct manipulation to at least some degree. However, direct manipulation should not be confused with these other terms, as it does not imply the use of windows or even graphical output. For example, direct manipulation concepts can be applied to interfaces for blind or vision-impaired users, using a combination of tactile and sonic devices and software.
It is also possible to design a WIMP interface that intentionally does not make use of direct manipulation. For example, most versions of windowing interfaces (e.g. Microsoft Windows) allowed users to reposition a window by dragging it with the mouse, but would not continually redraw the complete window at intermediate positions during the drag. Instead, for example, a rectangular outline of the window might be drawn during the drag, with the complete window contents being redrawn only once the user had released the mouse button. This was necessary on older computers that lacked the memory and/or CPU power to quickly redraw data behind a window that was being dragged.
Read more about this topic: Direct Manipulation Interface
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