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Graphical User Interface (GUI)
What is a graphical user interface (GUI)?
A graphical user interface (GUI) is an interface, or interactive system, that allows professionals to accomplish tasks on their computers through images and icons, rather than text command systems. Graphical user interfaces appear in computers, tablet devices and mobile devices. These graphical user interfaces can often be optimized to provide a more positive user experience.
GUI history
The idea for a graphical user interface stems from Vannevar Bush, at MIT (Massachussets Institute of Technology) during the second world war. However it was not until 1968 that the first mouse was created by Douglas Engelbert from Standford. This greatly increased usability in computer graphical user interfaces and dramatically shaped how they were designed. With a new device used to control navigation through a graphical user interface, more complex designs could be created.
Early and current GUIs
In 1984, Apple (then Apple Macintosh) produced the first GUI that was successful. This sparked the race and other companies began to also create graphical user interfaces for computers. Now, there are GUIs for multiple systems. Rather than using a text-based command system, users can now click on icons to carry out functions on various devices and systems.
Related terms
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