Graphical user interface

A graphical user interface (or GUI, sometimes pronounced "gooey") is a method of interacting with a computer through a metaphor of direct manipulation of graphical images and widgets in addition to text.

GUIs and PUIs

GUIs displays visual element such as icons, windows, and other gadgets. The precursor to GUIs was invented by researchers at the Stanford Research Institute (led by Doug Engelbart) wih the development and use of text-based hyperlinks manipulated with a mouse for the On-Line System. The concept of hyperlinks was further refined and extended to graphics by researchers at Xerox PARC, who went beyond text-based hyperlinks and used GUIs as the primary interface for the Xerox Alto computer. Most modern general-purpose GUIs are derived from this system. For this reason some people call this class of interface a PARC User Interface (PUI) (note that PUI is also an acronym for perceptual user interface). The PUI consists of graphical widgets (often provided by widget toolkit libraries) such as windows, menus, radio buttons, check boxes, and icons, and employs a pointing device (such as a mouse, trackball, or touchscreen) in addition to a keyboard. For this reason, many supporters of command line interface operating systems once referred to PUIs as WIMPs, which stood for Windows, Icons, Menus, Pointer. The term GUI is used to describe the user interface of most modern operating systems, although occasionally other metaphors surface, such as Microsoft Bob, 3dwm or (partially) FSV.

Related Topics:
Stanford Research Institute - Doug Engelbart - Hyperlinks - Mouse - On-Line System - Xerox PARC - Xerox Alto - Computer - Widget toolkit - Windows - Menu - Radio button - Check box - Icon - Pointing device - Command line interface - WIMP - Microsoft Bob - 3dwm

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Examples of systems that support GUIs are Mac OS, Microsoft Windows, NEXTSTEP and the X Window System. The latter is extended with toolkits such as Motif (CDE), Qt (KDE) and GTK+ (GNOME).

Related Topics:
Mac OS - Microsoft Windows - NEXTSTEP - X Window System - Motif - CDE - Qt - KDE - GTK - GNOME

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