INFORMATION SYSTEM – SOFTWARE TOPIC: GRAPHICAL USER INTERFACE

Graphical User Interface A program interface that takes advantage of the computer’s graphics capabilities to make the program easier to use. Examples: Microsoft Windows Apple Macintosh X- Windows

Graphical user Interface’s are systems that allow creation and manipulation of user interfaces employing windows, menus, icons, dialog boxes, mouse and keyboard.

Common features of GUI’s Pointer Pointing device Icons Desktop Windows Menus Dialog boxes, buttons, sliders, checkboxes

Command based interface In the early systems this type of interface is used. In this type, user’s have to learn a large set of commands to get their jobs done.

Terminology related to GUI Pointer: A symbol that appears on the display screen and is moved to select objects and commands. It appears as a small angled arrow. Pointing Device: A device such as a mouse, that enables you to select the objects on the display screen.

Icons: Small pictures that represent files, folders, commands. Desktop: The area on the display screen where icons are grouped is often referred to as the desktop. Windows: When a screen is split into several regions, each one is called a Window. In each window, you can run a different program or display a different file.

Menus: Displays a list of commands available within an application. From this the user selects operations such as File, Edit, Insert or Search. Dialog boxes: These are used to collect information from the user or to present information to the user.

Functionality of GUI’s Windowing environment Imaging model Application program interface Set of tools and frame works for interfaces

Windowing environment An enclosed, rectangular area on a display screen. Within each window, you can run a different program or display different data. Windows are particularly valuable in multitasking environments, which allows to execute more than one program at once.

Imaging Model Defines how fonts and graphics are created on the screen. For example, imaging model in a word processor handles typeface, font size etc..

Application program interface (API) It is a set of programming language functions that allow the programmer to specify how the actual application will control the menus, scroll bars and icons that appear on the screen.

Set of Tools and Frameworks Most of these toolkits are based on object-oriented approach. In many cases these can be set up as options to be selected by the user when the computer boots up.