The term GUI is historically restricted to the scope of two-dimensional display screens with display resolutions capable of describing generic information, in the tradition of the computer science research at Palo Alto Research Center (PARC). The term GUI earlier might have been applicable to other high-resolution types of interfaces that are non-generic, such as videogames, or not restricted to flat screens, like volumetric displays.

History

main: History of the graphical user interface

Precursors

Ivan Sutherland developed a pointer-based system called the Sketchpad in 1963. It used a light-pen to guide the creation and manipulation of objects in engineering drawings.

PARC User Interface

The PARC User Interface consisted of graphical elements such as windows, menus, radio buttons, check boxes and icons. The PARC User Interface employs a pointing device in addition to a keyboard. These aspects can be emphasized by using the alternative acronym WIMP, which stands for Windows, Icons, Menus and Pointing device.

Evolution

Following PARC the first GUI-centric computer operating model was the Xerox 8010 Star Information System in 1981 followed by the Apple Lisa (which presented concept of menu bar as well as window controls), in 1982 and the Atari ST and Commodore Amiga in 1985.

The GUIs familiar to most people today are Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, and the X Window System interfaces. Apple, IBM and Microsoft used many of Xerox's ideas to develop products, and IBMs Common User Access specifications formed the basis of the user interface found in Microsoft Windows, IBM OS/2 Presentation Manager, and the Unix Motif toolkit and window manager. These ideas evolved to create the interface found in current versions of Microsoft Windows, as well as in Mac OS X and various desktop environments for Unix-like operating systems, such as Linux. Thus most current GUIs have largely common idioms.

Components

main: Elements of graphical user interfaces

A GUI uses a combination of technologies and devices to provide a platform the user can interact with, for the tasks of gathering and producing information. The most common combination in GUIs is the WIMP paradigm, especially in personal computers.

see: WIMP (computing)

This style of interaction uses a physical input device to control the position of a cursor and presents information organized in windows and represented with icons. Available commands are compiled together in menus and actioned through 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 and graphics hardware, as well as the positioning of the cursor.