What Is A Graphical User Interface?

Date First Published: 25th June 2023

Topic: Computer Systems

Subtopic: Computer Software

Article Type: Computer Terms & Definitions

Difficulty Level: 5/10

Learn about what a graphical user interface is in this article.

A graphical user interface (GUI) is a type of user interface based on graphical icons, windows, buttons, dialogue boxes, menu bars, tabs, toolbars, and images. When interacting with graphical objects and elements, they usually change colour, size, or visibility and are sometimes enhanced with sounds or visual effects, like transparency and shadows. Nearly all operating systems, web-based applications, and software programs including Windows 10, Mac OS, Android, and iOS, use a GUI to make them easily useable by all.

How Does A GUI Work?

Instead of requiring users to enter commands, a GUI uses graphical elements to carry out the commands, like opening, moving, renaming, and deleting files. This can be done with a keyboard, mouse, or touchscreen. The GUI interprets and runs the commands behind the scenes. The main purpose of a GUI is to allow users to interact with an operating system or application by separating them from the technical details and displaying a simplified user interface. This process is called abstraction.

Advantages and Disadvantages Of A GUI

• It is more user-friendly, especially for beginner users. A GUI does not require users to learn complex commands to interact with the application, software, or operating system. Instead, navigation is more intuitive, allowing users to navigate by simply moving a pointer on the screen and clicking to indicate an action.
• It is more visually appealing to users than a command-line interface (CLI) in that users have more control over the visual customisation, look, and feel. This also makes it more accessible to users with disabilities or impairments.
• It is more efficient in that it allows most users to complete tasks more quickly. A task that would require users to enter multiple commands can be performed within a few clicks in a GUI.
• The process of moving data between different applications, programs, and operating systems by copying, pasting and dragging and dropping is simplified in a GUI.

• Due to all the graphical elements, it requires more processing power and memory to run. This can cause issues with older systems that have limited memory and processing power.
• It often lacks flexibility. Usually, a user can only work within the limitations of the GUI and cannot change its functionality or perform actions that are not present in the GUI.
• Experienced users often find it slower to perform tasks. In a GUI, most simple tasks require a few actions to perform, which could be performed by just entering one command in a CLI.
• They are complex and time-consuming for designers and developers to build. Even a simple GUI can take weeks to design and develop.

History

Before GUIs were available, users had to interact with computers using command-line interfaces (CLIs). In a CLI, users interact with operating systems, software programs, and applications by entering commands to perform actions in a simple text-based interface. At that time, computers were not powerful enough to display the graphics involved with other types of user interfaces and simple text-based interfaces were the only option.

Although these types of user interfaces were useful for experts, they were not very accessible and confusing to inexperienced users. In 1981, Xerox released the first GUI in the Xerox Star, a consumer product. It looks very different from the GUIs used now, but it contained images, buttons, and colours that could be easily understood by users with little knowledge of commands and programming languages.

A few years later, Apple released Macintosh, its first GUI operating system, in 1984. In 1985, Microsoft released the first version of Windows, named Windows 1.0. These two operating systems introduced icons to represent folders, files, start-up buttons, and applications, which was considered to be one of the greatest advances in personal computing.

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