Method for operating field devices

A method to operate field devices using an operating device with a touch-sensitive input and/or display area via which, for the purpose of operation, a field-device-dependent main menu level is displayed with multiple segments and at least one first segmentation level, which is assigned to a specific segment. A zoom function is used to increase or reduce the size of a selected segment of the main menu level and change the transparency of the main menu level and the transparency of the first segmentation level so that the transparency of the main menu level increases and the transparency of the first segmentation level decreases when the user zooms in such that the first segmentation level becomes visible. The transparency of the main menu level decreases and the transparency of the first segmentation level increases when the user zooms out such that the main menu level becomes visible such that switching takes place between the main menu level and the first segmentation level assigned to the desired segment.