Graphical user interface: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 16:47, 19 December 2003

Revision as of 01:21, 20 December 2003

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[[de:GUI]] [[fr:GUI]] [[ja:グラフィカルユーザインターフェース]] [[nl:Grafische Gebruikersinterface]] [[pl:GUI]]

A '''graphical user interface''' (or '''GUI''', often pronounced "goo-ee") is a method of [[human-computer interaction|interacting with a computer]] thatthrough usesa metaphor of direct manipulation of graphical images and widgets in addition to text.

The graphical user interface was invented at [[Xerox PARC]] for the [[Xerox Alto]] [[computer]] and most modern general purpose GUIs are derived from it. (Some say GUIs were conceptualized by [[Douglas Engelbart|Doug Engelbart]] and first created by Xerox.) For this reason some people call this class of interface a PARC User Interface (PUI). The PUI consists of graphical [[widget]]s such as [[window (computing)|windows]], [[menu (computing)|menu]]s, [[button (computing)|button]]s, [[radio box]]es, and [[icon (computing)|icon]]s, and employs a [[pointing device]] (such as mouse, trackball, or touchscreen) in addition to a keyboard. For this reason, many people refer to PUIs as WIMPs (Windows, Icons, Mouse, Pointer). Widgets are often pre-implementedprovided in the form of [[widget toolkit]]s libraries.

Examples of systems that support PUIs are [[Mac OS]], [[Microsoft Windows]], [[NextStep]] and the [[X Window System]]. The latter is extended with toolkits such as [[Motif (widget toolkit)|Motif]] ([[CDE]]), [[Qt]] ([[KDE]]), [[GTK]]+ and ([[GNOME]]).

GUIs that are not PUIs are most notable in [[computer game]]s. Advanced GUIs based on [[virtual reality]] are frequent in research. A certain amount of insight can be obtained by comparing noun-verb to verb-noun metaphors. Noun-verb interaction begins by picking an object then telling the system what to do to it. Verb-noun systems tell the system what to do, then pick the object to do it to.

In academic and research circles a GUI is often referred to as a [[Direct manipulation interface]]. This term was invented and adopted in the late 80s because it was felt that the term "Graphic User Interface" did not reflect the actual physical or haptic reality of manipulating a mouse or using a touch screen and that it ignored completely the coordinated use of sound effects to support the manipulation of the graphic elements of this kind of user interface. Also, academic and research institutions often work on prototypes of future user interfaces which place an equal emphasis or even more emphasis on the tactile elements of the interface. The "direct manipulation interface" term is usually not presented as an acronym.

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Users with vision or motion [[disability]] often have trouble navigating in a GUI, and most commercial GUIs urequire at least an order of magnitude more computer power (CPU speed, RAM, disk space, display resolution and response, ...) than a CLI, making a GUI unwieldy on less expensive, smaller, or older hardware.

Most GUIs are implemented in terms of an [[event model]], although other models exist. These alternative models for creating GUIs are generally classed as [[user interface management systems]] or UIMS.

''See also'': [[History of the GUI]], [[UIML]], [[Fitts' law]], [[Anti-Mac]], [[Apple v. Microsoft]]