How to choose the right touch panel and optimize HMI visualization design

Selecting the perfect touch panel and designing effective HMIs

As the user interface that enables a person to operate machinery or equipment, it is crucial to ensure the HMI touch panel works effectively within the operating environment and that its controls are simple for users to navigate.

HMI touch panel options mainly use either capacitive or resistive touch technologies. Each has advantages and drawbacks, so you need to consider the operating environment. Whether it is very industrial, located inside or outside, dusty or relatively clean can all have a bearing on touch panel selection.

Capacitive touch – considerations

Superior image quality
More robust than resistive screens, less sensitive to cleaning chemicals and environmental factors
Better electrostatic resistance than resistive screens
Supports multi-touch actions such as swipe, pan and zoom
Cannot be used with normal gloves

Resistive touch – considerations

Resistive touch – considerations
Greater accuracy, compared with capacitive screens
Can be operated with normal gloves or objects such as a stylus
Less robust than capacitive touch: outer plastic layer may be damaged by cleaning chemicals and sharp objects
Less expensive

Why you should consider GALILEO visualization software

GALILEO simplifies the implementation of intuitive user interfaces. This project planning tool for HMI touch panels and industrial PCs is easy to learn, both on-site and online. It includes ready-to-use graph blocks, numerous icons with customizable libraries, and uniform dialog boxes. The wizard function suggests frequently used tools, and custom modules can be added using scripts.

Don’t forget other important HMI selection criteria

Alarm handling, recipe management of customers’ product recipes and associated processes, energy metering remote access and cloud connectivity for servicing and maintenance, cybersecurity, and other factors are also important considerations.

Creating an easy-to-navigate and effective HMI visualization

Keep the visualization simple by creating a linear structure that makes it fast and easy to access content, with a minimum number of taps, swipes and screens, with “next/previous” navigation.

Make navigation intuitive by locating the navigation controls at the bottom of the screen ideally, to reduce the likelihood of accidental activation or blocking the user’s view of other screen content, which supports left- and right-handed users equally.

Tips on enhancing navigation with paging, scrolling and overlays

Choose a navigation method that is tailored to the amount of content, display performance and hardware limitations
Create multiple pages with a simple “next/previous page” control than one long page, which is more practical, especially in industrial settings
Organize content into pages with pagination, helping users remember where entries are located
Use scrolling sparingly
Use keyboards, numeric keypads, and other overlays to display or gather new information

Download design guide for creating easy-to-use machines

Our Design guide for creating easy-to-use machines walks you through the key steps and considerations in order to create simple, user-friendly HMI interfaces that are applicable across different kinds of machines and sectors. From the importance of a user-centric design approach, to considerations for touch panel selection, to safety, to future-proofing HMIs, our design guide is a key resource.

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