At your fingertips
We use touch screens everywhere： tourist kiosks， automatic teller machines， point-of-sale terminals， industrial controls. The interfaces are easy-to-use， durable and inexpensive.
On the basis of physics principles， touch screens canbe devided into three types： resistive screens which can be pressedwith a finger or other stylus raises a voltage. In “capacitive” models， a finger draws a minute current (this method is often used for cursor pads on notebook computers). In other designs， a finger or stylus① interrupts a standing pattern of acoustic waves or infrared② lights that blanket the surface.
Resistive screens are the oldest， most widely used and least expensive， and they work with any stylus， such as finger and pen and so on. Capacitive screens must be touched by a finger or an electrically grounded stylus to conduct current. Wave screens are the newest and most expensive. Surface acoustic wave screens must be touched by a finger or a soft stylus such as a pencil eraser to absorb energy； otherwise， infrared screens work with any stylus. People use them in prevalent combinations according to its pros and cons： resistive screens for industrial controls and Palm Pilots； capacitive screens for slot machines； wave screens for ATMs and indoor kisks③.
We can distinguish different screens like this： push the screen lightly with your fingernail (not your skin). If it responds， it could be resistive or infrared. In this case， place two separated fingers against the screen at the same time. If the cursor④ moves beneath one finger， the unit is infrared (software registers the first touch)； if the cursor moves between the fingers， it is resistive (the points are averaged). If the unit does not respond to your fingernail， again place two separated fingers against it. If the cursor moves beneath one finger， the unit is acoustic wave； if the cursor moves between the fingers， it is capacitive.
① stylusn. 描画针，铁笔，尖笔，唱针
② infraredadj. ［物］红外线的
③ kilskn.小亭
④ cursorn. ［英］有横线的滑动玻璃板，屏幕上的光标
触控荧幕
弹指之间
触控荧幕的应用非常广泛，如游客导览系统、自动柜员机、销售点终端机、工业控制系统等都会用到。这种介面使用方便、经久耐用，而且花费不高。
触控荧幕依其侦测触控点的物理原理，可分为三种：电阻式荧幕，用手指或其他触头轻按就会产生电压；电容式荧幕，手指会吸取微小的电流，（常用于笔记型电脑的触控板）。至于第三种——波动式荧幕，则是用声波或红外线覆盖整个表面，而手指或触头会阻断这些驻波图样。
电阻式荧幕历史最久、用途最广，价格也最低，而且任何触头（无论手指或笔尖）都可以使用。电容式荧幕必须使用手指或接有地线的触头来传导电流。波动式荧幕是最新也最昂贵的类型。表面声波荧幕必须用手指或软式触头（例如铅笔上的橡皮擦）轻触，以吸收表面能量；红外线触控荧幕则可使用任何触头。通常情况下，人们这样来组合：工业控制系统和掌上型电脑Palm Pilot使用电阻式，自动贩卖机使用电容式，自动柜员机及室内资讯站使用波动式。
可以这样来辨别属于哪一种荧幕：用指甲（而不是皮肤）轻压荧幕，假如荧幕有反应，就可能是电阻式或红外线式荧幕。果真如此的话，再同时用两根手指分别轻压荧幕上两点。假如游标移到其中一根手指下方，这装置使用的就是红外线（软体只记录第一个接触点）；假如游标移到两根手指之间，荧幕就是电阻式（两个接触点皆有影响力）。假如这个装置对指甲毫无反应，下一步还是用两根手指分别轻压荧幕上两点。这时候，如果游标移到其中一根手指下方，那么这荧幕使用的原理是声波；假如游标移到两根手指中间，它就是电容式触控荧幕。