Graphical user interface

Computers use pictures to work.

These pictures are called icons. You can see them on a screen. You use a mouse to click them. You can also use a finger to tap a screen.

This helps you tell the computer what to do. It is easier than typing words. You can see windows and menus too. These tools make using a device very simple. It is a fun way to learn!

A graphical user interface, or GUI, helps us talk to computers.

Before GUIs, people had to type many words to use a machine. This was a command-line interface. It was hard to learn. GUIs changed this by using pictures. You can use icons, which are small pictures, to pick things. You can also use windows to hold information.

Most computers use the WIMP style. This stands for windows, icons, menus, and a pointing device. A mouse is a common pointing device. You move the mouse to move a pointer on the screen.

Some devices use touch screens. These are called post-WIMP interfaces. You can use your fingers to pinch or rotate things on the screen. GUIs are not just for computers. You can find them on smartphones and even in cars. They make technology easier for everyone to use. Designers work hard to make them simple. This goal is called usability.

This shows a text-only screen without any pictures.

A graphical user interface, or GUI, is a way for people to talk to electronic devices.

Instead of typing long lists of text commands, you use visual things like icons and buttons. These icons are small pictures that represent files or programs. You can also use windows, which are large frames that hold information like an email or a web page. This makes using a computer much easier for everyone. Many people find it simpler than a text-based system. This type of system is often called a desktop environment.

Most personal computers use a style called WIMP. This stands for windows, icons, menus, and a pointing device.

A pointing device is something like a mouse or a touchpad. You move the mouse to move a pointer on your screen. You can then click on menus to see a list of commands. Some modern devices use a different way called post-WIMP. This includes smartphones that use touchscreens. On these devices, you use your fingers to pinch or rotate things. This is a very different way to interact with a screen.

People have been working on these ideas for a long time. In 1963, Ivan Sutherland made a program called Sketchpad. It used a light pen to draw objects on a screen. Later, Douglas Engelbart helped create the mouse in the late 1960s. In the 1970s, researchers at Xerox PARC made huge progress. Alan Kay worked on a system called Smalltalk for the Xerox Alto computer. This computer was released in 1973 and had a GUI. It used windows, menus, and check boxes.

Many famous computers grew from these early ideas. The first computer with a GUI that people could actually buy was the PERQ workstation in 1979. In 1983, Apple released the Lisa, but it was very expensive. Apple later released the Macintosh in 1984, which became very popular. Other companies like Atari and Commodore also made machines with graphical screens in 1985. Microsoft later created Windows, which used ideas from IBM and Xerox. Today, we see these same ideas in macOS and Linux. Even Windows 95 became a huge success with its own big marketing campaign.

GUIs are part of many things you use every day. You can find them on handheld gaming devices and MP3 players. They are also on the touchscreens at restaurants or at self-service checkouts in stores. Some newer cars even use them for navigation and music. Designers work hard on a goal called usability. This means they try to make the interface easy and efficient to use. They use special tools to make sure the visual language fits the task. This helps technology feel like a natural part of our lives.

A graphical user interface, commonly known as a GUI, is a visual system for interacting with electronic devices.

Instead of typing text commands, users interact with graphical icons and visual indicators. This system allows for the direct manipulation of elements on a screen. GUIs are widely used in computers, smartphones, and handheld gaming devices. They are also found in industrial controls and even modern automobile navigation systems. The primary goal of a GUI is to improve usability. Usability is a design discipline focused on making software efficient and easy to use.

To understand how a GUI functions, one must look at its underlying layers. A windowing system acts as the foundation by handling hardware devices. It manages the graphics hardware and the positioning of the pointer. Above this, a window manager facilitates interactions between different applications and windows. This software creates a desktop environment, which is a digital simulation of a physical desk. In this environment, users can place documents and folders on a virtual desktop. Users interact with this system through various widgets. Widgets are visual tools, like buttons or sliders, that allow for specific types of data interaction. Large widgets, called windows, act as containers for content like web pages or emails. Smaller widgets serve as input tools for the user.

Most personal computers follow a specific interaction paradigm called WIMP. This acronym stands for Windows, Icons, Menus, and a Pointing device.

In a WIMP system, a user employs a virtual input device to represent a physical tool. This tool is most often a mouse, but it can also be a touchpad or a trackball. Users navigate by moving the pointer to select icons or by opening menus to see lists of commands. Some web layouts use specific structures like "shelf" or "waterfall" arrangements. A shelf layout, often seen in image searches, uses a fixed height for items. A waterfall layout, used by sites like Imgur, uses a fixed width with variable heights. As technology evolved, new styles emerged known as post-WIMP interfaces. These are common in mobile operating systems like iOS and Android. They support multi-touch gestures, such as pinching to zoom or rotating objects with multiple fingers.

The history of the GUI began with early research into computer-aided design. In 1963, Ivan Sutherland developed Sketchpad. This program allowed users to manipulate engineering drawings in real-time using a light pen. In the late 1960s, Douglas Engelbart and his team at the Stanford Research Institute developed the On-Line System, or NLS. This system used text-based hyperlinks and a then-new device called the mouse. This work was famously demonstrated in an event known as "The Mother of All Demos." In the 1970s, researchers at Xerox PARC further refined these concepts. Alan Kay used a GUI as the main interface for the Smalltalk programming language. This ran on the Xerox Alto, which was released in 1973. The Alto was the first computer to feature a GUI, though it was not a commercial product.

The Xerox PARC system introduced many elements we use today, such as radio buttons and check boxes. David Canfield Smith later introduced the concept of icons to this environment. The first commercially available computer with a GUI was the PERQ workstation in 1979. In 1981, Xerox released the Xerox Star, which was an enhanced version of the Alto ideas. These early systems inspired a wave of new computing products. Apple released the Lisa in 1983, which featured window controls and menu bars.

However, the Lisa was expensive and did not achieve commercial success. Apple later released the Macintosh in 1984, which helped popularize the GUI. Other companies joined this trend, such as Atari with the GEM interface in 1985. Commodore also released the Amiga in 1985, which featured a very responsive desktop called Workbench.

The development of modern operating systems was heavily influenced by these early pioneers. Companies like Apple, IBM, and Microsoft all utilized ideas originally developed at Xerox. IBM's Common User Access specifications helped shape the interfaces for Microsoft Windows and Unix Motif. While some early software like Visi On struggled due to high hardware demands, it influenced the development of Windows. The release of Windows 95 marked a major turning point with a massive marketing campaign. Today, most modern GUIs share common idioms and design languages. These include the interfaces found in macOS, Linux, and various mobile platforms.

GUIs are essential to many specialized applications known as application-specific GUIs. These are designed for vertical markets, which are specific industries or tasks. For example, Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) use a GUI to handle banking transactions. Point of Sale (POS) touchscreens are used in restaurants to process orders. Self-service checkouts in retail stores and airline check-in kiosks also rely on these interfaces. Even embedded industrial applications use GUIs through real-time operating systems. By using a model-view-controller architecture, designers can keep the interface independent from the application's functions. This allows users to easily change the "skin" or theme of their interface without changing how the program works.