What are touch screens? You’ll find that a touch screen is a display screen that is used to facilitate input. It includes a resistive, capacitive, infrared or static display, a stylus or a pen. One of the most widely used types of screen is the resistive type. It’s the most common and the one used on cell phones and personal digital assistants.

Here’s how it works. Your fingers register physical pressure from your fingertips or the stylus. If your finger is too heavy, you may have trouble pressing the screen. If you use your finger without letting it rest on the screen for a while – after several attempts, the finger becomes tired and even blurs the image. The screen will recognize this and allow you to resume pressing with a lighter touch.

Capacitive touchscreens are the easiest to understand. There’s not a liquid buffer between the screen and the finger. Instead, the screen is made up of a resistive layer. The screen uses this resistivity to sense physical pressure. There are actually different types of touch screen – text, video, document, audio, button and picture. Each has different purposes.

Touch screens can be used with many devices. Some of the most popular are: PDA, laptop computer, wireless mouse, touch pad, cellular phone and media player. You can use a finger to tap the screen or use the stylus. Some systems include a middle or index finger as a mode of input. If you want to double-tap, use your middle finger.

On some models, there’s an on screen keypad or menu system which allows you to select different types of input. This is great for typing text messages or finding directions on GPS systems. Most touch screens come standard with a hardware decoding device. There are different types of decoding hardware, but the most common is a resistive layer with capacitance.

How do the different types of touch screen to interact with each other? You move your finger over the screen, a push button or a pull down lever switches the screen off and on. You can use your finger or a stylus to slide a finger across the screen. The screen just mirrors your finger movements. There are also software programs to write code that runs on the screen to interact with it and display various visual data.

Why would you buy a touch screen monitor? You need a monitor if you’re interested in creating your own applications. A touch screen monitor enables you to create applications without the cost of developing the software yourself. It also enables you to see what your applications look like on your monitor. You may even have trouble viewing the applications on your monitor if your computer isn’t compatible with the system.

Are there any disadvantages? One disadvantage is that it can be difficult to see the text on the screen. In some cases it’s necessary to press the backlight to view the text. Other people find that they can get headaches from holding their phones too close to the screen. Also, the thinness of the monitor can make it harder for you to read.