Graphical User Interface (GUI)
- The name for one variety of “user interface” (UI).
- An interface in which the user interacts with objects on the screen (icons, buttons, scroll-bars, etc.) via mouse clicks or keyboard actions. (Expressed in the Seeheim model.)
- Popularized in 1980s by the Macintosh.
- Now state of the practice, and not final word in UI
- Replaced text-based “command line”
and “function key” interfaces.
- Despite similarities, GUIs are typically
platform-specific (Windows 95/98/NT,
MacOS, Xt, NeWS)