Patent ID: 7786982

Claim:
An image forming apparatus comprising: display unit for displaying a plurality of manually operable keys on a display screen; input unit operable, in response to the operation of at least one of said keys displayed by said display unit, to allow an instruction corresponding to said operated key to be entered therethrough; print-job detection unit for detecting the execution of a print job in accordance with a content set by an instruction entered from said input unit through the operation of at least one of said keys displayed by said display unit; evaluation-value calculation unit operable, when the execution of said print job is detected by said print-job detection unit, to calculate an evaluation value representing the operational status of said operated key; and display control unit operable, based on said evaluation value of said key, to vary the respective display colors of the display areas for said plurality of keys in said display unit, in a stepwise manner using a color gradation from a color with high visibility to a color with low visibility in order of higher score of said evaluation value.