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{{short description|user interface allowing interaction through graphical icons and visual indicators}}
{{redirect|GUI|other uses|Gui (disambiguation)}}
[[File:Smalltalk-76.png|thumb|The interim Dynabook GUI (Smalltalk-76 running on the [[Xerox Alto]])]]
The '''graphical user interface''' ('''GUI''' {{IPAc-en|ˈ|g|uː|i}}) is a form of [[user interface]] that allows [[User (computing)|users]] to [[Human–computer interaction|interact with electronic devices]] through graphical [[Computer icon|icons]] and visual indicators such as secondary notation, instead of [[text-based user interface]]s, typed command labels or text navigation. GUIs were introduced in reaction to the perceived steep [[learning curve]] of [[command-line interface]]s (CLIs),<ref name="computerhope.com">[http://www.computerhope.com/issues/ch000619.htm Computerhope.com]</ref><ref name="blogs.technet.com">[http://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/mscom/archive/2007/03/12/the-gui-versus-the-command-line-which-is-better-part-1.aspx Technet.com]</ref><ref name="blogs.technet.com 2">[http://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/mscom/archive/2007/03/26/the-gui-versus-the-command-line-which-is-better-part-2.aspx Technet.com]</ref> which require commands to be typed on a [[computer keyboard]].
The actions in a GUI are usually performed through [[direct manipulation]] of the graphical elements.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.pcmag.com/encyclopedia_term/0,2542,t=window+manager&i=54598,00.asp |title=window manager Definition |accessdate=12 November 2008 |work=PC Magazine |publisher=Ziff Davis Publishing Holdings Inc. |date=}}</ref> Beyond computers, GUIs are used in many handheld [[mobile device]]s such as [[MP3]] players, portable media players, gaming devices, [[smartphone]]s and smaller household, office and [[Distributed control system|industrial controls]]. The term ''GUI'' tends not to be applied to other lower-[[display resolution]] [[User interface#Types|types of interfaces]], such as [[video game]]s (where ''head-up display'' ([[HUD (video gaming)|HUD]])<ref>{{cite web |author=Greg Wilson |year=2006 |title=Off with Their HUDs!: Rethinking the Heads-Up Display in Console Game Design |work=Gamasutra |publisher= |url=http://www.gamasutra.com/features/20060203/wilson_01.shtml |accessdate=February 14, 2006}}</ref> is preferred), or not including flat screens, like [[volumetric display]]s<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.linfo.org/gui.html |title=GUI definition |accessdate=12 November 2008 |work=Linux Information Project |publisher= |date=October 1, 2004}}</ref> because the term is restricted to the scope of two-dimensional display screens able to describe generic information, in the tradition of the [[computer science]] research at the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center.
== User interface and interaction design ==
[[File:Linux kernel INPUT OUPUT evdev gem USB framebuffer.svg|thumb|350px|The graphical user interface is presented (displayed) on the computer screen. It is the result of processed user input and usually the main interface for human-machine interaction. The [[touch user interface]]s popular on small mobile devices are an overlay of the visual output to the visual input.]]
Designing the visual composition and temporal behavior of a GUI is an important part of [[software application]] programming in the area of [[human–computer interaction]]. Its goal is to enhance the efficiency and ease of use for the underlying logical design of a stored [[computer program|program]], a design discipline named ''[[usability]]''. Methods of [[user-centered design]] are used to ensure that the visual language introduced in the design is well-tailored to the tasks.
The visible graphical interface features of an application are sometimes referred to as ''chrome'' or ''GUI'' (pronounced ''gooey'').<ref>[http://www.catb.org/~esr/jargon/html/C/chrome.html ''The Jargon Book'', "Chrome"]</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.useit.com/alertbox/ui-chrome.html |title=Browser and GUI Chrome |author=Jakob Nielsen}}</ref> Typically, users interact with information by manipulating visual [[GUI widget|widgets]] that allow for interactions appropriate to the kind of data they hold. The widgets of a well-designed interface are selected to support the actions necessary to achieve the goals of users. A [[model–view–controller]] allows flexible structures in which the interface is independent from and indirectly linked to application functions, so the GUI can be customized easily. This allows users to select or design a different ''[[skin (computing)|skin]]'' at will, and eases the designer's work to change the interface as user needs evolve. Good user interface design relates to users more, and to system architecture less.
Large widgets, such as [[Window (computing)|windows]], usually provide a frame or container for the main presentation content such as a web page, email message or drawing. Smaller ones usually act as a user-input tool.
A GUI may be designed for the requirements of a [[vertical market]] as application-specific graphical user interfaces. Examples include [[automated teller machine]]s (ATM), [[point of sale]] (POS) touchscreens at restaurants,<ref>[http://www.atarimagazines.com/startv2n6/gettingdowntobusiness.html The ViewTouch restaurant system] by Giselle Bisson</ref> [[Self checkout|self-service checkouts]] used in a retail store, airline self-ticketing and check-in, information kiosks in a public space, like a train station or a museum, and monitors or control screens in an embedded industrial application which employ a [[real-time operating system]] (RTOS).
By the 1980s, cell phones and handheld game systems also employed application specific touchscreen GUIs. Newer automobiles use GUIs in their navigation systems and multimedia centers, or navigation multimedia center combinations.
== Examples ==
<gallery width="180px" height="120" caption="Sample graphical desktop environments">
File:Shows Overview mode ("Activities") in GNOME 3.8.png|[[GNOME Shell]] (''Gnome‑3'')
File:KDE Plasma 5.png|[[KDE Plasma 5]]
File:Ubuntu 13.04 Desktop.png|[[Unity (user interface)|Unity]]
File:MATE 1.10.png|[[MATE (software)|MATE]]
File:Wayland demo 2.png|Windows on a [[Wayland (display server protocol)#Wayland compositors|Wayland compositor]]
File:XFCE-4.10-Desktop.png|[[Xfce]]
File:E17 bw screenshot.png|[[Enlightenment (software)|Enlightenment]]
File:Sugar-home-view-0.82.jpg|[[Sugar (software)|Sugar]]
File:X-Window-System.png|A [[twm]] [[X Window System]] environment
File:Dwm-shot.png|The [[dwm]] [[tiling window manager]]
File:Mint 18 cinnamon.png|[[Cinnamon (software)|Cinnamon]]
File:WikiDesktop008.png|"Wikipedia-themed" GUI
</gallery>
== Components ==
[[File:Schema of the layers of the graphical user interface.svg|thumb|300px|Layers of a GUI based on a [[windowing system]]]]
{{Main article|Elements of graphical user interfaces}}
{{further information|WIMP (computing)|Window manager|Desktop environment}}
A GUI uses a combination of technologies and devices to provide a platform that users can interact with, for the tasks of gathering and producing information.
A series of elements conforming a [[visual language]] have evolved to represent information stored in computers. This makes it easier for people with few computer skills to work with and use computer software. The most common combination of such elements in GUIs is the ''windows, icons, menus, pointer'' ([[WIMP (computing)|WIMP]]) paradigm, especially in [[personal computer]]s.
The WIMP style of interaction uses a virtual [[input device]] to represent the position of a [[pointing device]], most often a [[computer mouse|mouse]], and presents information organized in windows and represented with icons. Available commands are compiled together in menus, and actions are performed making gestures with the pointing device. A [[window manager]] facilitates the interactions between windows, applications, and the [[windowing system]]. The windowing system handles hardware devices such as pointing devices, graphics hardware, and positioning of the pointer.
In [[personal computer]]s, all these elements are modeled through a [[desktop metaphor]] to produce a simulation called a [[desktop environment]] in which the display represents a desktop, on which documents and folders of documents can be placed. Window managers and other software combine to simulate the desktop environment with varying degrees of realism.
== Post-WIMP interface ==
{{Main article|Post-WIMP}}
Smaller mobile devices such as [[personal digital assistant]]s (PDAs) and [[smartphone]]s typically use the WIMP elements with different unifying metaphors, due to constraints in space and available input devices. Applications for which WIMP is not well suited may use newer [[interaction technique]]s, collectively termed ''[[post-WIMP]]'' user interfaces.<ref>[http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/Xplore/login.jsp?url=/iel5/38/17635/00814559.pdf?isnumber=17635&prod=JNL&arnumber=814559&arSt=50&ared=51&arAuthor=van+Dam%2C+A IEEE.org.]</ref>
As of 2011, some touchscreen-based operating systems such as Apple's [[iOS]] ([[iPhone]]) and [[Android (operating system)|Android]] use the class of GUIs named post-WIMP. These support styles of interaction using more than one finger in contact with a display, which allows actions such as pinching and rotating, which are unsupported by one pointer and mouse.<ref>[http://www.cs.tufts.edu/~jacob/papers/chi08.pdf Reality-Based Interaction: A Framework for Post-WIMP Interfaces]</ref>
== Interaction ==
[[Human interface device]]s, for the efficient interaction with a GUI include a [[computer keyboard]], especially used together with [[keyboard shortcut]]s, [[pointing device]]s for the [[Cursor (computers)|cursor]] (or rather [[Pointer (user interface)|pointer]]) control: [[mouse (computing)|mouse]], [[pointing stick]], [[touchpad]], [[trackball]], [[joystick]], [[virtual keyboard]]s, and [[head-up display]]s (translucent information devices at the eye level).
There are also actions performed by programs that affect the GUI. For example, there are components like [[inotify]] or [[D-Bus]] to facilitate communication between computer programs.
== History ==
{{Main article|History of the graphical user interface}}
=== Early efforts ===
[[Ivan Sutherland]] developed [[Sketchpad]] in 1963, widely held as the first graphical [[computer-aided design]] program. It used a [[light pen]] to create and manipulate objects in engineering drawings in realtime with coordinated graphics. In the late 1960s, researchers at the [[Stanford Research Institute]], led by [[Douglas Engelbart]], developed the [[On-Line System]] (NLS), which used text-based [[hyperlink]]s manipulated with a then new device: the [[Computer mouse|mouse]]. In the 1970s, Engelbart's ideas were further refined and extended to graphics by researchers at [[Xerox PARC]] and specifically [[Alan Kay]], who went beyond text-based hyperlinks and used a GUI as the main interface for the [[Xerox Alto]] [[computer]], released in 1973. Most modern general-purpose GUIs are derived from this system.[[File:Xerox Star 8010 workstations.jpg|thumb|left|The [[Xerox Star 8010]] workstation introduced the first commercial GUI.]]
The Xerox PARC user interface consisted of graphical elements such as [[Window (computing)|windows]], [[menu (computing)|menus]], [[radio button (computing)|radio buttons]], and [[check box]]es. The concept of [[Icon (computing)|icons]] was later introduced by [[David Canfield Smith]], who had written a thesis on the subject under the guidance of Kay.<ref name="MIT">Lieberman, Henry. [http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.125.4685&rep=rep1&type=pdf "A Creative Programming Environment, Remixed"], MIT Media Lab, Cambridge.</ref><ref name="Nader">Salha, Nader. [http://www.sierke-verlag.de/shop/index.php/aesthetics-and-art-in-the-early-development-of-human-computer-interfaces-648.html "Aesthetics and Art in the Early Development of Human-Computer Interfaces"], October 2012.</ref><ref name="Pygmalion">Smith, David. [https://books.google.com/books/about/Pygmalion.html?id=mihHAAAAIAAJ "Pygmalion: A Creative Programming Environment"], 1975.</ref> The PARC user interface employs a [[pointing device]] along with a keyboard. These aspects can be emphasized by using the alternative term and acronym for ''windows, icons, menus, [[pointing device]]'' ([[WIMP (computing)|WIMP]]). This effort culminated in the 1973 [[Xerox Alto]], the first computer with a GUI, though the system never reached commercial production.
The first commercially available computer with a GUI was the 1979 [[PERQ|PERQ workstation]], manufactured by Three Rivers Computer Corporation. In 1981, Xerox eventually commercialized the Alto in the form of a new and enhanced system – the Xerox 8010 Information System – more commonly known as the [[Xerox Star]].<ref>[http://www.catb.org/~esr/writings/taouu/html/ch02s05.html The first GUIs<!--Bot-generated title-->]</ref><ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cn4vC80Pv6Q Xerox Star user interface demonstration, 1982]</ref> These early systems spurred many other GUI efforts, including Lisp machines by [[Symbolics]] and other manufacturers, the [[Apple Lisa]] (which presented the concept of [[menu bar]] and [[Window manager|window controls]]) in 1983, the [[Apple Inc.|Apple]] [[Macintosh 128K]] in 1984, and the [[Atari ST]] with [[Digital Research]]'s [[Graphics Environment Manager|GEM]], and Commodore [[Amiga]] in 1985. [[Visi On]] was released in 1983 for the [[IBM PC compatible]] computers, but was never popular due to its high hardware demands.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://toastytech.com/guis/vision.html|title=VisiCorp Visi On|quote=The Visi On product was apparently not intended for the home user. It was designed and priced for high end corporate workstations. The hardware it required was quite a bit for 1983. It required a minimum of 512k of ram and a hard drive (5 megs of space).}}</ref> Nevertheless, it was a crucial influence on the contemporary development of [[Microsoft Windows]].<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oaFAwSLi2GUC&lpg=PA52&ots=_FshzXcgEl&pg=PA52#v=onepage&q&f=false|title=A Windows Retrospective, PC Magazine Jan 2009}}</ref>
Apple, Digital Research, IBM and Microsoft used many of Xerox's ideas to develop products, and IBM's [[Common User Access]] specifications formed the basis of the user interfaces used in Microsoft Windows, [[IBM OS/2]] [[Presentation Manager]], and the Unix [[Motif (software)|Motif]] toolkit and [[window manager]]. These ideas evolved to create the interface found in current versions of Microsoft Windows, and in various [[desktop environment]]s for [[Unix-like]] [[operating system]]s, such as macOS and [[Linux]]. Thus most current GUIs have largely common idioms.
[[File:Macintosh 128k transparency.png|thumb|[[Macintosh 128K]], the first Macintosh (1984)]]
=== Popularization ===
GUIs were a hot topic in the early 1980s. The [[Apple Lisa]] was released in 1983, and various windowing systems existed for [[DOS]] operating systems (including [[PC GEM]] and [[PC/GEOS]]). Individual applications for many platforms presented their own GUI variants.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://toastytech.com/guis/magdesk.html|title=Magic Desk I for Commodore 64}}</ref> Despite the GUIs advantages, many reviewers questioned the value of the entire concept,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1984/12/25/science/value-of-windowing-is-questioned.html|title=Value of Windowing is Questioned}}</ref> citing hardware limits, and problems in finding compatible software.
In 1984, Apple [[1984 (advertisement)|released a television commercial]] which introduced the Apple Macintosh during the telecast of [[Super Bowl XVIII]] by [[CBS]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.duke.edu/~tlove/mac.htm |title=Apple's 1984: The Introduction of the Macintosh in the Cultural History of Personal Computers |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/19991005015117/http://www.duke.edu/~tlove/mac.htm |archivedate=October 5, 1999 |first=Ted |last=Friedman |date=October 1997 |deadurl=yes |df= }}</ref> with [[allusion]]s to [[George Orwell]]'s noted novel, ''[[Nineteen Eighty-Four]]''. The goal of the commercial was to make people think about computers, identifying the user-friendly interface as a personal computer which departed from prior business-oriented systems,<ref name=friedman>{{cite book |chapterurl= http://tedfriedman.com/electric-dreams/chapter-5-apples-1984/ |title=Electric Dreams: Computers in American Culture |chapter=Chapter 5: 1984 |accessdate=October 6, 2011 |last=Friedman |first= Ted |year=2005 |publisher= [[New York University Press]]|isbn=0-8147-2740-9}}</ref> and becoming a signature representation of Apple products.<ref>{{cite web |title= Review of ''Pirates of Silicon Valley'' Movie |url= http://www.dotjournal.com/review-pirates-silicon-valley-movie |archiveurl= https://web.archive.org/web/20061107170215/http://www.dotjournal.com/review-pirates-silicon-valley-movie |archivedate= November 7, 2006 |date= October 29, 2006 |publisher= DotJournal.com |first= Patrick |last= Grote |accessdate= January 24, 2014}}</ref>
Accompanied by [[Windows 95#Release|an extensive marketing campaign]],<ref name="WinHype">{{cite news |last=Washington Post |title=With Windows 95's Debut, Microsoft Scales Heights of Hype |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/business/longterm/microsoft/stories/1995/debut082495.htm |accessdate=November 8, 2013 |newspaper=Washington Post |date=August 24, 1995}}</ref> Windows 95 was a major success in the marketplace at launch and shortly became the most popular desktop operating system.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.computerhistory.org/timeline/computers/|title=Computers {{!}} Timeline of Computer History {{!}} Computer History Museum|website=www.computerhistory.org|language=en|access-date=2017-04-02}}</ref>{{Citation needed|date=March 2014}}
In 2007, with the [[iPhone]]<ref>Mather, John. [https://web.archive.org/web/20070303032701/http://www.rrj.ca/online/658/ iMania], ''[[Ryerson Review of Journalism]]'', (February 19, 2007) Retrieved February 19, 2007</ref> and later in 2010 with the introduction of the [[iPad]],<ref>"the iPad could finally spark demand for the hitherto unsuccessful tablet PC" --Eaton, Nick [http://blog.seattlepi.com/microsoft/archives/199045.asp The iPad/tablet PC market defined?], ''Seattle Post-Intelligencer'', 2010</ref> Apple popularized the post-WIMP style of interaction for [[multi-touch]] screens, and those devices were considered to be milestones in the development of [[mobile device]]s.<ref name='BallStillDoesnt2010'>Bright, Peter [https://arstechnica.com/microsoft/news/2010/07/ballmer-and-microsoft-still-doesnt-get-the-ipad.ars Ballmer (and Microsoft) still doesn't get the iPad], [[Ars Technica]], 2010</ref><ref name="infoworld">{{cite web|url=http://www.infoworld.com/d/mobile-technology/the-ipads-victory-in-defining-the-tablet-what-it-means-431|title=The iPad's victory in defining the tablet: What it means|publisher=[[Infoworld]]}}</ref>
The GUIs familiar to most people as of the mid-late 2010s are [[Microsoft Windows]], [[macOS]], and the [[X Window System]] interfaces for desktop and laptop computers, and [[Android (operating system)|Android]], Apple's [[iOS]], [[Symbian]], [[BlackBerry OS]], [[Windows Phone]]/[[Windows 10 Mobile]], [[Tizen]], [[Palm OS]]-[[WebOS]], and [[Firefox OS]] for handheld ([[smartphone]]) devices.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Hanson|first=Cody W.|date=2011-03-17|title=Chapter 2: Mobile Devices in 2011|url=https://journals.ala.org/index.php/ltr/article/view/4477|journal=Library Technology Reports|volume=47|issue=2|pages=11–23|issn=0024-2586}}</ref>{{Citation needed|date=March 2017}}
== Comparison to other interfaces ==
=== Command-line interfaces ===
[[File:Bash screenshot.png|thumb|A modern CLI]]
Since the commands available in command line interfaces can be many, complex operations can be performed using a short sequence of words and symbols. This allows greater efficiency and productivity once many commands are learned,<ref name="computerhope.com" /><ref name="blogs.technet.com" /><ref name="blogs.technet.com 2" /> but reaching this level takes some time because the command words may not be easily discoverable or [[mnemonic]]. Also, using the command line can become slow and error-prone when users must enter long commands comprising many parameters or several different filenames at once. However, ''windows, icons, menus, pointer'' ([[WIMP (computing)|WIMP]]) interfaces present users with many [[GUI widget|widgets]] that represent and can trigger some of the system's available commands.
GUIs can be made quite hard when dialogs are buried deep in a system, or moved about to different places during redesigns. Also, icons and dialog boxes are usually harder for users to script.
WIMPs extensively use [[mode (computer interface)|modes]], as the meaning of all keys and clicks on specific positions on the screen are redefined all the time. Command line interfaces use modes only in limited forms, such as for current directory and environment variables.
Most modern [[operating system]]s provide both a GUI and some level of a CLI, although the GUIs usually receive more attention. The GUI is usually WIMP-based, although occasionally other metaphors surface, such as those used in [[Microsoft Bob]], 3dwm, or [[File System Visualizer]].
=== GUI wrappers ===
Graphical user interface (GUI) wrappers circumvent the [[command-line interface]] versions (CLI) of (typically) [[Linux]] and [[Unix-like]] software applications and their [[text-based user interface]]s or typed command labels. While command-line or text-based application allow users to run a program non-interactively, GUI wrappers atop them avoid the steep [[learning curve]] of the command-line, which requires commands to be typed on the [[Computer keyboard|keyboard]]. By starting a GUI wrapper, [[User (computing)|users]] can intuitively [[Human–computer interaction|interact]] with, start, stop, and change its working parameters, through graphical [[Icon (computing)|icons]] and visual indicators of a [[desktop environment]], for example.
Applications may also provide both interfaces, and when they do the GUI is usually a WIMP wrapper around the command-line version. This is especially common with applications designed for [[Unix-like]] operating systems. The latter used to be implemented first because it allowed the developers to focus exclusively on their product's functionality without bothering about interface details such as designing icons and placing buttons. Designing programs this way also allows users to run the program in a [[shell script]].
== Three-dimensional user interfaces ==
{{About|3D user interfaces as software|physical 3D input/output devices|3D interaction#3D user interfaces|section=yes}}
For typical computer displays, ''three-dimensional'' is a misnomer—their displays are two-dimensional. Semantically, however, most graphical user interfaces use three dimensions. With height and width, they offer a third dimension of layering or stacking screen elements over one another. This may be represented visually on screen through an illusionary transparent effect, which offers the advantage that information in background windows may still be read, if not interacted with. Or the environment may simply hide the background information, possibly making the distinction apparent by drawing a [[drop shadow]] effect over it.
Some environments use the methods of [[3D graphics]] to project virtual three dimensional user interface objects onto the screen. These are often shown in use in [[science fiction film]]s (see below for examples). As the processing power of computer graphics hardware increases, this becomes less of an obstacle to a smooth user experience.
Three-dimensional graphics are currently mostly used in computer games, art, and [[computer-aided design]] (CAD). A three-dimensional computing environment can also be useful in other uses, like [[molecular graphics]], [[Aircraft design process|aircraft design]] and [[Non-random two-liquid model|Phase Equilibrium Calculations/Design of unit operations and chemical processes]]<ref>{{cite web|last1=Graphical User Interface|first1=(GUI)|title=Topological Analysis of the Gibbs Energy Function (Liquid-Liquid Equilibrium Correlation Data. Including a Thermodinamic Review and Surfaces/Tie-lines/Hessian matrix analysis)|url=http://hdl.handle.net/10045/51725|website=Institutional Repository (RUA)|publisher=University of Alicante (Reyes-Labarta et al. 2015-18)}}</ref>.
Several attempts have been made to create a multi-user three-dimensional environment, including the [[Croquet Project]] and Sun's [[Project Looking Glass]].
=== Technologies ===
{{one source|section|date=May 2012}}
The use of three-dimensional graphics has become increasingly common in mainstream operating systems, from creating attractive interfaces, termed [[Attractiveness|eye candy]], to functional purposes only possible using three dimensions. For example, user switching is represented by rotating a cube which faces are each user's workspace, and window management is represented via a [[Rolodex]]-style flipping mechanism in [[Windows Vista]] (see [[Windows Flip 3D]]). In both cases, the operating system transforms windows on-the-fly while continuing to update the content of those windows.
Interfaces for the [[X Window System]] have also implemented advanced three-dimensional user interfaces through [[compositing window manager]]s such as [[Beryl (window manager)|Beryl]], [[Compiz]] and [[KWin]] using the [[AIGLX]] or [[XGL]] architectures, allowing use of OpenGL to animate user interactions with the desktop.
Another branch in the three-dimensional desktop environment is the three-dimensional GUIs that take the desktop metaphor a step further, like the [[BumpTop]], where users can manipulate documents and windows as if they were physical documents, with realistic movement and physics.
The [[zooming user interface]] (ZUI) is a related technology that promises to deliver the representation benefits of 3D environments without their usability drawbacks of orientation problems and hidden objects. It is a logical advance on the GUI, blending some [[3D computer graphics|three-dimensional]] movement with [[2D computer graphics|two-dimensional]] or ''[[2.5D]]'' vector objects. In 2006, [[Hillcrest Labs]] introduced the first zooming user interface for television,<ref name="Moren">''Macworld.com'' November 11, 2006. Dan Moren. [http://gadgets.macworld.com/video/ces_unveiledny_07_point_and_cl.php CES Unveiled@NY ‘07: Point and click coming to set-top boxes?] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111108015801/http://gadgets.macworld.com/video/ces_unveiledny_07_point_and_cl.php |date=2011-11-08 }}</ref>
=== In science fiction ===
Three-dimensional GUIs appeared in [[science fiction]] literature and [[Science fiction film|films]] before they were technically feasible or in common use. For example; the 1993 American film ''[[Jurassic Park (film)|Jurassic Park]]'' features [[Silicon Graphics]]' three-dimensional file manager [[File System Navigator]], a real-life file manager for Unix operating systems. The film [[Minority Report (film)|Minority Report]] has scenes of police officers using specialized 3d data systems. In prose fiction, three-dimensional user interfaces have been portrayed as immersible environments like [[William Gibson]]'s [[Cyberspace]] or [[Neal Stephenson]]'s [[Metaverse]]. Many futuristic imaginings of user interfaces rely heavily on [[object-oriented user interface]] (OOUI) style and especially object-oriented graphical user interface (OOGUI) style.<ref>{{cite web|last=Dayton|first=Tom|title=Object-Oriented GUIs are the Future|url=http://openmct.blogspot.com/2012/08/object-oriented-guis-are-future.html|work=OpenMCT Blog|accessdate=23 August 2012|deadurl=yes|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140810170239/http://openmct.blogspot.com/2012/08/object-oriented-guis-are-future.html|archivedate=10 August 2014|df=}}</ref>
== See also ==
{{portal|Computer Science|Information technology}}
{{div col |colwidth=22em}}
* ''[[Apple Computer, Inc. v. Microsoft Corp.]]''
* [[Console user interface]]
* [[Computer icon]]
* [[Distinguishable interfaces]]
* [[Ergonomics]]
* [[General Graphics Interface]] (software project)
* [[Look and feel]]
* [[Natural user interface]]
* [[Ncurses]]
* [[Object-oriented user interface]]
* [[Organic user interface]]
* [[Rich Internet application]]
* [[Skeuomorph]]
* [[Skin (computing)]]
* [[Theme (computing)]]
* [[Text entry interface]]
* [[User interface design]]
* [[Vector-based graphical user interface]]
{{div col end}}
== References ==
{{reflist|30em}}
== External links ==
{{Wiktionary|graphical user interface}}
{{Commons category}}
* [http://www.slideshare.net/rajeshlal/evolution-of-user-interface-26414802 Evolution of Graphical User Interface in last 50 years] by Raj Lal
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20110816031619/http://www.computeractive.co.uk/pcw/pc-help/1925325/the-invented-gui The men who really invented the GUI] by Clive Akass
* [http://toastytech.com/guis/index.html Graphical User Interface Gallery], screenshots of various GUIs
* [http://www.guidebookgallery.org/ Marcin Wichary's GUIdebook], Graphical User Interface gallery: over 5500 screenshots of GUI, application and icon history
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20040309225129/http://www.sitepoint.com/article/real-history-gui The Real History of the GUI] by Mike Tuck
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20090605174302/http://www.nealstephenson.com/command/ In The Beginning Was The Command Line] by Neal Stephenson
* [http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.103.5038&rep=rep1&type=pdf 3D Graphical User Interfaces] (PDF) by Farid BenHajji and Erik Dybner, Department of Computer and Systems Sciences, Stockholm University
* [http://hdl.handle.net/10045/51725 Topological Analysis of the Gibbs Energy Function (Liquid-Liquid Equilibrium Correlation Data). Including a Thermodinamic Review and a Graphical User Interface (GUI) for Surfaces/Tie-lines/Hessian matrix analysis] - University of Alicante (Reyes-Labarta et al. 2015-18)
{{Operating system}}
{{Graphical control elements}}
[[Category:Graphical user interfaces| ]]
[[Category:Software architecture]]
[[Category:American inventions]]
{{redirect|GUI|other uses|Gui (disambiguation)}}
[[File:Smalltalk-76.png|thumb|The interim Dynabook GUI (Smalltalk-76 running on the [[Xerox Alto]])]]
The '''graphical user interface''' ('''GUI''' {{IPAc-en|ˈ|g|uː|i}}) is a form of [[user interface]] that allows [[User (computing)|users]] to [[Human–computer interaction|interact with electronic devices]] through graphical [[Computer icon|icons]] and visual indicators such as secondary notation, instead of [[text-based user interface]]s, typed command labels or text navigation. GUIs were introduced in reaction to the perceived steep [[learning curve]] of [[command-line interface]]s (CLIs),<ref name="computerhope.com">[http://www.computerhope.com/issues/ch000619.htm Computerhope.com]</ref><ref name="blogs.technet.com">[http://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/mscom/archive/2007/03/12/the-gui-versus-the-command-line-which-is-better-part-1.aspx Technet.com]</ref><ref name="blogs.technet.com 2">[http://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/mscom/archive/2007/03/26/the-gui-versus-the-command-line-which-is-better-part-2.aspx Technet.com]</ref> which require commands to be typed on a [[computer keyboard]].
The actions in a GUI are usually performed through [[direct manipulation]] of the graphical elements.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.pcmag.com/encyclopedia_term/0,2542,t=window+manager&i=54598,00.asp |title=window manager Definition |accessdate=12 November 2008 |work=PC Magazine |publisher=Ziff Davis Publishing Holdings Inc. |date=}}</ref> Beyond computers, GUIs are used in many handheld [[mobile device]]s such as [[MP3]] players, portable media players, gaming devices, [[smartphone]]s and smaller household, office and [[Distributed control system|industrial controls]]. The term ''GUI'' tends not to be applied to other lower-[[display resolution]] [[User interface#Types|types of interfaces]], such as [[video game]]s (where ''head-up display'' ([[HUD (video gaming)|HUD]])<ref>{{cite web |author=Greg Wilson |year=2006 |title=Off with Their HUDs!: Rethinking the Heads-Up Display in Console Game Design |work=Gamasutra |publisher= |url=http://www.gamasutra.com/features/20060203/wilson_01.shtml |accessdate=February 14, 2006}}</ref> is preferred), or not including flat screens, like [[volumetric display]]s<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.linfo.org/gui.html |title=GUI definition |accessdate=12 November 2008 |work=Linux Information Project |publisher= |date=October 1, 2004}}</ref> because the term is restricted to the scope of two-dimensional display screens able to describe generic information, in the tradition of the [[computer science]] research at the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center.
== User interface and interaction design ==
[[File:Linux kernel INPUT OUPUT evdev gem USB framebuffer.svg|thumb|350px|The graphical user interface is presented (displayed) on the computer screen. It is the result of processed user input and usually the main interface for human-machine interaction. The [[touch user interface]]s popular on small mobile devices are an overlay of the visual output to the visual input.]]
Designing the visual composition and temporal behavior of a GUI is an important part of [[software application]] programming in the area of [[human–computer interaction]]. Its goal is to enhance the efficiency and ease of use for the underlying logical design of a stored [[computer program|program]], a design discipline named ''[[usability]]''. Methods of [[user-centered design]] are used to ensure that the visual language introduced in the design is well-tailored to the tasks.
The visible graphical interface features of an application are sometimes referred to as ''chrome'' or ''GUI'' (pronounced ''gooey'').<ref>[http://www.catb.org/~esr/jargon/html/C/chrome.html ''The Jargon Book'', "Chrome"]</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.useit.com/alertbox/ui-chrome.html |title=Browser and GUI Chrome |author=Jakob Nielsen}}</ref> Typically, users interact with information by manipulating visual [[GUI widget|widgets]] that allow for interactions appropriate to the kind of data they hold. The widgets of a well-designed interface are selected to support the actions necessary to achieve the goals of users. A [[model–view–controller]] allows flexible structures in which the interface is independent from and indirectly linked to application functions, so the GUI can be customized easily. This allows users to select or design a different ''[[skin (computing)|skin]]'' at will, and eases the designer's work to change the interface as user needs evolve. Good user interface design relates to users more, and to system architecture less.
Large widgets, such as [[Window (computing)|windows]], usually provide a frame or container for the main presentation content such as a web page, email message or drawing. Smaller ones usually act as a user-input tool.
A GUI may be designed for the requirements of a [[vertical market]] as application-specific graphical user interfaces. Examples include [[automated teller machine]]s (ATM), [[point of sale]] (POS) touchscreens at restaurants,<ref>[http://www.atarimagazines.com/startv2n6/gettingdowntobusiness.html The ViewTouch restaurant system] by Giselle Bisson</ref> [[Self checkout|self-service checkouts]] used in a retail store, airline self-ticketing and check-in, information kiosks in a public space, like a train station or a museum, and monitors or control screens in an embedded industrial application which employ a [[real-time operating system]] (RTOS).
By the 1980s, cell phones and handheld game systems also employed application specific touchscreen GUIs. Newer automobiles use GUIs in their navigation systems and multimedia centers, or navigation multimedia center combinations.
== Examples ==
<gallery width="180px" height="120" caption="Sample graphical desktop environments">
File:Shows Overview mode ("Activities") in GNOME 3.8.png|[[GNOME Shell]] (''Gnome‑3'')
File:KDE Plasma 5.png|[[KDE Plasma 5]]
File:Ubuntu 13.04 Desktop.png|[[Unity (user interface)|Unity]]
File:MATE 1.10.png|[[MATE (software)|MATE]]
File:Wayland demo 2.png|Windows on a [[Wayland (display server protocol)#Wayland compositors|Wayland compositor]]
File:XFCE-4.10-Desktop.png|[[Xfce]]
File:E17 bw screenshot.png|[[Enlightenment (software)|Enlightenment]]
File:Sugar-home-view-0.82.jpg|[[Sugar (software)|Sugar]]
File:X-Window-System.png|A [[twm]] [[X Window System]] environment
File:Dwm-shot.png|The [[dwm]] [[tiling window manager]]
File:Mint 18 cinnamon.png|[[Cinnamon (software)|Cinnamon]]
File:WikiDesktop008.png|"Wikipedia-themed" GUI
</gallery>
== Components ==
[[File:Schema of the layers of the graphical user interface.svg|thumb|300px|Layers of a GUI based on a [[windowing system]]]]
{{Main article|Elements of graphical user interfaces}}
{{further information|WIMP (computing)|Window manager|Desktop environment}}
A GUI uses a combination of technologies and devices to provide a platform that users can interact with, for the tasks of gathering and producing information.
A series of elements conforming a [[visual language]] have evolved to represent information stored in computers. This makes it easier for people with few computer skills to work with and use computer software. The most common combination of such elements in GUIs is the ''windows, icons, menus, pointer'' ([[WIMP (computing)|WIMP]]) paradigm, especially in [[personal computer]]s.
The WIMP style of interaction uses a virtual [[input device]] to represent the position of a [[pointing device]], most often a [[computer mouse|mouse]], and presents information organized in windows and represented with icons. Available commands are compiled together in menus, and actions are performed making gestures with the pointing device. A [[window manager]] facilitates the interactions between windows, applications, and the [[windowing system]]. The windowing system handles hardware devices such as pointing devices, graphics hardware, and positioning of the pointer.
In [[personal computer]]s, all these elements are modeled through a [[desktop metaphor]] to produce a simulation called a [[desktop environment]] in which the display represents a desktop, on which documents and folders of documents can be placed. Window managers and other software combine to simulate the desktop environment with varying degrees of realism.
== Post-WIMP interface ==
{{Main article|Post-WIMP}}
Smaller mobile devices such as [[personal digital assistant]]s (PDAs) and [[smartphone]]s typically use the WIMP elements with different unifying metaphors, due to constraints in space and available input devices. Applications for which WIMP is not well suited may use newer [[interaction technique]]s, collectively termed ''[[post-WIMP]]'' user interfaces.<ref>[http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/Xplore/login.jsp?url=/iel5/38/17635/00814559.pdf?isnumber=17635&prod=JNL&arnumber=814559&arSt=50&ared=51&arAuthor=van+Dam%2C+A IEEE.org.]</ref>
As of 2011, some touchscreen-based operating systems such as Apple's [[iOS]] ([[iPhone]]) and [[Android (operating system)|Android]] use the class of GUIs named post-WIMP. These support styles of interaction using more than one finger in contact with a display, which allows actions such as pinching and rotating, which are unsupported by one pointer and mouse.<ref>[http://www.cs.tufts.edu/~jacob/papers/chi08.pdf Reality-Based Interaction: A Framework for Post-WIMP Interfaces]</ref>
== Interaction ==
[[Human interface device]]s, for the efficient interaction with a GUI include a [[computer keyboard]], especially used together with [[keyboard shortcut]]s, [[pointing device]]s for the [[Cursor (computers)|cursor]] (or rather [[Pointer (user interface)|pointer]]) control: [[mouse (computing)|mouse]], [[pointing stick]], [[touchpad]], [[trackball]], [[joystick]], [[virtual keyboard]]s, and [[head-up display]]s (translucent information devices at the eye level).
There are also actions performed by programs that affect the GUI. For example, there are components like [[inotify]] or [[D-Bus]] to facilitate communication between computer programs.
== History ==
{{Main article|History of the graphical user interface}}
=== Early efforts ===
[[Ivan Sutherland]] developed [[Sketchpad]] in 1963, widely held as the first graphical [[computer-aided design]] program. It used a [[light pen]] to create and manipulate objects in engineering drawings in realtime with coordinated graphics. In the late 1960s, researchers at the [[Stanford Research Institute]], led by [[Douglas Engelbart]], developed the [[On-Line System]] (NLS), which used text-based [[hyperlink]]s manipulated with a then new device: the [[Computer mouse|mouse]]. In the 1970s, Engelbart's ideas were further refined and extended to graphics by researchers at [[Xerox PARC]] and specifically [[Alan Kay]], who went beyond text-based hyperlinks and used a GUI as the main interface for the [[Xerox Alto]] [[computer]], released in 1973. Most modern general-purpose GUIs are derived from this system.[[File:Xerox Star 8010 workstations.jpg|thumb|left|The [[Xerox Star 8010]] workstation introduced the first commercial GUI.]]
The Xerox PARC user interface consisted of graphical elements such as [[Window (computing)|windows]], [[menu (computing)|menus]], [[radio button (computing)|radio buttons]], and [[check box]]es. The concept of [[Icon (computing)|icons]] was later introduced by [[David Canfield Smith]], who had written a thesis on the subject under the guidance of Kay.<ref name="MIT">Lieberman, Henry. [http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.125.4685&rep=rep1&type=pdf "A Creative Programming Environment, Remixed"], MIT Media Lab, Cambridge.</ref><ref name="Nader">Salha, Nader. [http://www.sierke-verlag.de/shop/index.php/aesthetics-and-art-in-the-early-development-of-human-computer-interfaces-648.html "Aesthetics and Art in the Early Development of Human-Computer Interfaces"], October 2012.</ref><ref name="Pygmalion">Smith, David. [https://books.google.com/books/about/Pygmalion.html?id=mihHAAAAIAAJ "Pygmalion: A Creative Programming Environment"], 1975.</ref> The PARC user interface employs a [[pointing device]] along with a keyboard. These aspects can be emphasized by using the alternative term and acronym for ''windows, icons, menus, [[pointing device]]'' ([[WIMP (computing)|WIMP]]). This effort culminated in the 1973 [[Xerox Alto]], the first computer with a GUI, though the system never reached commercial production.
The first commercially available computer with a GUI was the 1979 [[PERQ|PERQ workstation]], manufactured by Three Rivers Computer Corporation. In 1981, Xerox eventually commercialized the Alto in the form of a new and enhanced system – the Xerox 8010 Information System – more commonly known as the [[Xerox Star]].<ref>[http://www.catb.org/~esr/writings/taouu/html/ch02s05.html The first GUIs<!--Bot-generated title-->]</ref><ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cn4vC80Pv6Q Xerox Star user interface demonstration, 1982]</ref> These early systems spurred many other GUI efforts, including Lisp machines by [[Symbolics]] and other manufacturers, the [[Apple Lisa]] (which presented the concept of [[menu bar]] and [[Window manager|window controls]]) in 1983, the [[Apple Inc.|Apple]] [[Macintosh 128K]] in 1984, and the [[Atari ST]] with [[Digital Research]]'s [[Graphics Environment Manager|GEM]], and Commodore [[Amiga]] in 1985. [[Visi On]] was released in 1983 for the [[IBM PC compatible]] computers, but was never popular due to its high hardware demands.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://toastytech.com/guis/vision.html|title=VisiCorp Visi On|quote=The Visi On product was apparently not intended for the home user. It was designed and priced for high end corporate workstations. The hardware it required was quite a bit for 1983. It required a minimum of 512k of ram and a hard drive (5 megs of space).}}</ref> Nevertheless, it was a crucial influence on the contemporary development of [[Microsoft Windows]].<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oaFAwSLi2GUC&lpg=PA52&ots=_FshzXcgEl&pg=PA52#v=onepage&q&f=false|title=A Windows Retrospective, PC Magazine Jan 2009}}</ref>
Apple, Digital Research, IBM and Microsoft used many of Xerox's ideas to develop products, and IBM's [[Common User Access]] specifications formed the basis of the user interfaces used in Microsoft Windows, [[IBM OS/2]] [[Presentation Manager]], and the Unix [[Motif (software)|Motif]] toolkit and [[window manager]]. These ideas evolved to create the interface found in current versions of Microsoft Windows, and in various [[desktop environment]]s for [[Unix-like]] [[operating system]]s, such as macOS and [[Linux]]. Thus most current GUIs have largely common idioms.
[[File:Macintosh 128k transparency.png|thumb|[[Macintosh 128K]], the first Macintosh (1984)]]
=== Popularization ===
GUIs were a hot topic in the early 1980s. The [[Apple Lisa]] was released in 1983, and various windowing systems existed for [[DOS]] operating systems (including [[PC GEM]] and [[PC/GEOS]]). Individual applications for many platforms presented their own GUI variants.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://toastytech.com/guis/magdesk.html|title=Magic Desk I for Commodore 64}}</ref> Despite the GUIs advantages, many reviewers questioned the value of the entire concept,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1984/12/25/science/value-of-windowing-is-questioned.html|title=Value of Windowing is Questioned}}</ref> citing hardware limits, and problems in finding compatible software.
In 1984, Apple [[1984 (advertisement)|released a television commercial]] which introduced the Apple Macintosh during the telecast of [[Super Bowl XVIII]] by [[CBS]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.duke.edu/~tlove/mac.htm |title=Apple's 1984: The Introduction of the Macintosh in the Cultural History of Personal Computers |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/19991005015117/http://www.duke.edu/~tlove/mac.htm |archivedate=October 5, 1999 |first=Ted |last=Friedman |date=October 1997 |deadurl=yes |df= }}</ref> with [[allusion]]s to [[George Orwell]]'s noted novel, ''[[Nineteen Eighty-Four]]''. The goal of the commercial was to make people think about computers, identifying the user-friendly interface as a personal computer which departed from prior business-oriented systems,<ref name=friedman>{{cite book |chapterurl= http://tedfriedman.com/electric-dreams/chapter-5-apples-1984/ |title=Electric Dreams: Computers in American Culture |chapter=Chapter 5: 1984 |accessdate=October 6, 2011 |last=Friedman |first= Ted |year=2005 |publisher= [[New York University Press]]|isbn=0-8147-2740-9}}</ref> and becoming a signature representation of Apple products.<ref>{{cite web |title= Review of ''Pirates of Silicon Valley'' Movie |url= http://www.dotjournal.com/review-pirates-silicon-valley-movie |archiveurl= https://web.archive.org/web/20061107170215/http://www.dotjournal.com/review-pirates-silicon-valley-movie |archivedate= November 7, 2006 |date= October 29, 2006 |publisher= DotJournal.com |first= Patrick |last= Grote |accessdate= January 24, 2014}}</ref>
Accompanied by [[Windows 95#Release|an extensive marketing campaign]],<ref name="WinHype">{{cite news |last=Washington Post |title=With Windows 95's Debut, Microsoft Scales Heights of Hype |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/business/longterm/microsoft/stories/1995/debut082495.htm |accessdate=November 8, 2013 |newspaper=Washington Post |date=August 24, 1995}}</ref> Windows 95 was a major success in the marketplace at launch and shortly became the most popular desktop operating system.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.computerhistory.org/timeline/computers/|title=Computers {{!}} Timeline of Computer History {{!}} Computer History Museum|website=www.computerhistory.org|language=en|access-date=2017-04-02}}</ref>{{Citation needed|date=March 2014}}
In 2007, with the [[iPhone]]<ref>Mather, John. [https://web.archive.org/web/20070303032701/http://www.rrj.ca/online/658/ iMania], ''[[Ryerson Review of Journalism]]'', (February 19, 2007) Retrieved February 19, 2007</ref> and later in 2010 with the introduction of the [[iPad]],<ref>"the iPad could finally spark demand for the hitherto unsuccessful tablet PC" --Eaton, Nick [http://blog.seattlepi.com/microsoft/archives/199045.asp The iPad/tablet PC market defined?], ''Seattle Post-Intelligencer'', 2010</ref> Apple popularized the post-WIMP style of interaction for [[multi-touch]] screens, and those devices were considered to be milestones in the development of [[mobile device]]s.<ref name='BallStillDoesnt2010'>Bright, Peter [https://arstechnica.com/microsoft/news/2010/07/ballmer-and-microsoft-still-doesnt-get-the-ipad.ars Ballmer (and Microsoft) still doesn't get the iPad], [[Ars Technica]], 2010</ref><ref name="infoworld">{{cite web|url=http://www.infoworld.com/d/mobile-technology/the-ipads-victory-in-defining-the-tablet-what-it-means-431|title=The iPad's victory in defining the tablet: What it means|publisher=[[Infoworld]]}}</ref>
The GUIs familiar to most people as of the mid-late 2010s are [[Microsoft Windows]], [[macOS]], and the [[X Window System]] interfaces for desktop and laptop computers, and [[Android (operating system)|Android]], Apple's [[iOS]], [[Symbian]], [[BlackBerry OS]], [[Windows Phone]]/[[Windows 10 Mobile]], [[Tizen]], [[Palm OS]]-[[WebOS]], and [[Firefox OS]] for handheld ([[smartphone]]) devices.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Hanson|first=Cody W.|date=2011-03-17|title=Chapter 2: Mobile Devices in 2011|url=https://journals.ala.org/index.php/ltr/article/view/4477|journal=Library Technology Reports|volume=47|issue=2|pages=11–23|issn=0024-2586}}</ref>{{Citation needed|date=March 2017}}
== Comparison to other interfaces ==
=== Command-line interfaces ===
[[File:Bash screenshot.png|thumb|A modern CLI]]
Since the commands available in command line interfaces can be many, complex operations can be performed using a short sequence of words and symbols. This allows greater efficiency and productivity once many commands are learned,<ref name="computerhope.com" /><ref name="blogs.technet.com" /><ref name="blogs.technet.com 2" /> but reaching this level takes some time because the command words may not be easily discoverable or [[mnemonic]]. Also, using the command line can become slow and error-prone when users must enter long commands comprising many parameters or several different filenames at once. However, ''windows, icons, menus, pointer'' ([[WIMP (computing)|WIMP]]) interfaces present users with many [[GUI widget|widgets]] that represent and can trigger some of the system's available commands.
GUIs can be made quite hard when dialogs are buried deep in a system, or moved about to different places during redesigns. Also, icons and dialog boxes are usually harder for users to script.
WIMPs extensively use [[mode (computer interface)|modes]], as the meaning of all keys and clicks on specific positions on the screen are redefined all the time. Command line interfaces use modes only in limited forms, such as for current directory and environment variables.
Most modern [[operating system]]s provide both a GUI and some level of a CLI, although the GUIs usually receive more attention. The GUI is usually WIMP-based, although occasionally other metaphors surface, such as those used in [[Microsoft Bob]], 3dwm, or [[File System Visualizer]].
=== GUI wrappers ===
Graphical user interface (GUI) wrappers circumvent the [[command-line interface]] versions (CLI) of (typically) [[Linux]] and [[Unix-like]] software applications and their [[text-based user interface]]s or typed command labels. While command-line or text-based application allow users to run a program non-interactively, GUI wrappers atop them avoid the steep [[learning curve]] of the command-line, which requires commands to be typed on the [[Computer keyboard|keyboard]]. By starting a GUI wrapper, [[User (computing)|users]] can intuitively [[Human–computer interaction|interact]] with, start, stop, and change its working parameters, through graphical [[Icon (computing)|icons]] and visual indicators of a [[desktop environment]], for example.
Applications may also provide both interfaces, and when they do the GUI is usually a WIMP wrapper around the command-line version. This is especially common with applications designed for [[Unix-like]] operating systems. The latter used to be implemented first because it allowed the developers to focus exclusively on their product's functionality without bothering about interface details such as designing icons and placing buttons. Designing programs this way also allows users to run the program in a [[shell script]].
== Three-dimensional user interfaces ==
{{About|3D user interfaces as software|physical 3D input/output devices|3D interaction#3D user interfaces|section=yes}}
For typical computer displays, ''three-dimensional'' is a misnomer—their displays are two-dimensional. Semantically, however, most graphical user interfaces use three dimensions. With height and width, they offer a third dimension of layering or stacking screen elements over one another. This may be represented visually on screen through an illusionary transparent effect, which offers the advantage that information in background windows may still be read, if not interacted with. Or the environment may simply hide the background information, possibly making the distinction apparent by drawing a [[drop shadow]] effect over it.
Some environments use the methods of [[3D graphics]] to project virtual three dimensional user interface objects onto the screen. These are often shown in use in [[science fiction film]]s (see below for examples). As the processing power of computer graphics hardware increases, this becomes less of an obstacle to a smooth user experience.
Three-dimensional graphics are currently mostly used in computer games, art, and [[computer-aided design]] (CAD). A three-dimensional computing environment can also be useful in other uses, like [[molecular graphics]], [[Aircraft design process|aircraft design]] and [[Non-random two-liquid model|Phase Equilibrium Calculations/Design of unit operations and chemical processes]]<ref>{{cite web|last1=Graphical User Interface|first1=(GUI)|title=Topological Analysis of the Gibbs Energy Function (Liquid-Liquid Equilibrium Correlation Data. Including a Thermodinamic Review and Surfaces/Tie-lines/Hessian matrix analysis)|url=http://hdl.handle.net/10045/51725|website=Institutional Repository (RUA)|publisher=University of Alicante (Reyes-Labarta et al. 2015-18)}}</ref>.
Several attempts have been made to create a multi-user three-dimensional environment, including the [[Croquet Project]] and Sun's [[Project Looking Glass]].
=== Technologies ===
{{one source|section|date=May 2012}}
The use of three-dimensional graphics has become increasingly common in mainstream operating systems, from creating attractive interfaces, termed [[Attractiveness|eye candy]], to functional purposes only possible using three dimensions. For example, user switching is represented by rotating a cube which faces are each user's workspace, and window management is represented via a [[Rolodex]]-style flipping mechanism in [[Windows Vista]] (see [[Windows Flip 3D]]). In both cases, the operating system transforms windows on-the-fly while continuing to update the content of those windows.
Interfaces for the [[X Window System]] have also implemented advanced three-dimensional user interfaces through [[compositing window manager]]s such as [[Beryl (window manager)|Beryl]], [[Compiz]] and [[KWin]] using the [[AIGLX]] or [[XGL]] architectures, allowing use of OpenGL to animate user interactions with the desktop.
Another branch in the three-dimensional desktop environment is the three-dimensional GUIs that take the desktop metaphor a step further, like the [[BumpTop]], where users can manipulate documents and windows as if they were physical documents, with realistic movement and physics.
The [[zooming user interface]] (ZUI) is a related technology that promises to deliver the representation benefits of 3D environments without their usability drawbacks of orientation problems and hidden objects. It is a logical advance on the GUI, blending some [[3D computer graphics|three-dimensional]] movement with [[2D computer graphics|two-dimensional]] or ''[[2.5D]]'' vector objects. In 2006, [[Hillcrest Labs]] introduced the first zooming user interface for television,<ref name="Moren">''Macworld.com'' November 11, 2006. Dan Moren. [http://gadgets.macworld.com/video/ces_unveiledny_07_point_and_cl.php CES Unveiled@NY ‘07: Point and click coming to set-top boxes?] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111108015801/http://gadgets.macworld.com/video/ces_unveiledny_07_point_and_cl.php |date=2011-11-08 }}</ref>
=== In science fiction ===
Three-dimensional GUIs appeared in [[science fiction]] literature and [[Science fiction film|films]] before they were technically feasible or in common use. For example; the 1993 American film ''[[Jurassic Park (film)|Jurassic Park]]'' features [[Silicon Graphics]]' three-dimensional file manager [[File System Navigator]], a real-life file manager for Unix operating systems. The film [[Minority Report (film)|Minority Report]] has scenes of police officers using specialized 3d data systems. In prose fiction, three-dimensional user interfaces have been portrayed as immersible environments like [[William Gibson]]'s [[Cyberspace]] or [[Neal Stephenson]]'s [[Metaverse]]. Many futuristic imaginings of user interfaces rely heavily on [[object-oriented user interface]] (OOUI) style and especially object-oriented graphical user interface (OOGUI) style.<ref>{{cite web|last=Dayton|first=Tom|title=Object-Oriented GUIs are the Future|url=http://openmct.blogspot.com/2012/08/object-oriented-guis-are-future.html|work=OpenMCT Blog|accessdate=23 August 2012|deadurl=yes|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140810170239/http://openmct.blogspot.com/2012/08/object-oriented-guis-are-future.html|archivedate=10 August 2014|df=}}</ref>
== See also ==
{{portal|Computer Science|Information technology}}
{{div col |colwidth=22em}}
* ''[[Apple Computer, Inc. v. Microsoft Corp.]]''
* [[Console user interface]]
* [[Computer icon]]
* [[Distinguishable interfaces]]
* [[Ergonomics]]
* [[General Graphics Interface]] (software project)
* [[Look and feel]]
* [[Natural user interface]]
* [[Ncurses]]
* [[Object-oriented user interface]]
* [[Organic user interface]]
* [[Rich Internet application]]
* [[Skeuomorph]]
* [[Skin (computing)]]
* [[Theme (computing)]]
* [[Text entry interface]]
* [[User interface design]]
* [[Vector-based graphical user interface]]
{{div col end}}
== References ==
{{reflist|30em}}
== External links ==
{{Wiktionary|graphical user interface}}
{{Commons category}}
* [http://www.slideshare.net/rajeshlal/evolution-of-user-interface-26414802 Evolution of Graphical User Interface in last 50 years] by Raj Lal
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20110816031619/http://www.computeractive.co.uk/pcw/pc-help/1925325/the-invented-gui The men who really invented the GUI] by Clive Akass
* [http://toastytech.com/guis/index.html Graphical User Interface Gallery], screenshots of various GUIs
* [http://www.guidebookgallery.org/ Marcin Wichary's GUIdebook], Graphical User Interface gallery: over 5500 screenshots of GUI, application and icon history
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20040309225129/http://www.sitepoint.com/article/real-history-gui The Real History of the GUI] by Mike Tuck
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20090605174302/http://www.nealstephenson.com/command/ In The Beginning Was The Command Line] by Neal Stephenson
* [http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.103.5038&rep=rep1&type=pdf 3D Graphical User Interfaces] (PDF) by Farid BenHajji and Erik Dybner, Department of Computer and Systems Sciences, Stockholm University
* [http://hdl.handle.net/10045/51725 Topological Analysis of the Gibbs Energy Function (Liquid-Liquid Equilibrium Correlation Data). Including a Thermodinamic Review and a Graphical User Interface (GUI) for Surfaces/Tie-lines/Hessian matrix analysis] - University of Alicante (Reyes-Labarta et al. 2015-18)
{{Operating system}}
{{Graphical control elements}}
[[Category:Graphical user interfaces| ]]
[[Category:Software architecture]]
[[Category:American inventions]]
