Knowra Graphical user interface Graphical user interface A computer interface that lets people interact with programs through visual elements such as windows, icons, menus, and pointers. It presents actions and information visually rather than relying only on typed commands.
WIMP interface : A graphical interface organized around windows, icons, menus, and a pointing device. This familiar design pattern supplies the core elements named in the definition.
Sketchpad : Ivan Sutherland’s 1963 computer program for drawing and editing objects directly on a screen. It demonstrated interactive graphical manipulation decades before consumer GUIs.
Ivan Sutherland : An American computer scientist whose interactive graphics research included the program Sketchpad. Sketchpad established an early model of manipulating graphical objects on screen.
Command-line interface : A text-based interface in which users enter commands at a prompt. It performs many of the same computing tasks through typed instructions instead of visual controls.
Desktop metaphor : A design metaphor that represents computer work through familiar objects such as files, folders, and a desktop. It made abstract data operations legible through everyday visual analogies.
Event-driven programming : A programming model in which software responds to events such as clicks, key presses, and messages. GUI controls trigger events that applications handle.
NLS (computer system) : Douglas Engelbart’s 1960s collaborative computing system, demonstrating windows, a mouse, and linked documents. Its 1968 demonstration revealed many interaction techniques later associated with GUIs.
Douglas Engelbart : An American engineer who developed interactive computing systems and helped invent the computer mouse. His work demonstrated how pointing could support graphical interaction.
Text user interface : A text-based interface that presents structured screens and menus without graphical imagery. It offers menu-driven navigation while omitting the graphics central to a GUI.
Direct manipulation : An interaction style in which visible objects can be acted on through continuous, reversible operations. It describes why dragging and selecting can feel more immediate than issuing commands.
Show all 29