GUI is an acronym for the term graphical user interface. A graphical user interface allows you to interact with electronic devices through visual elements, including pictures, graphical icons, symbols and visual indicators.

The graphical user interface is in contrast to a text-based interface, which only allows interaction with an electronic device through the use of text based inputs and commands. GUIs can be found in a wide range of electronic devices, including computers, gaming devices, household appliances, MP3 players and digital office equipment.

History of the GUI

The first graphical user interface was developed in the 1960s at SRI. The project was called the On-Line System, and was developed by an inventor named Dr. Douglas Engelbart. The On-Line System allowed interaction with hypertext through the use of multiple windows and a mouse. During the 1970s, the foundation laid by Dr. Douglas Engelbart and the On-Line System was used by a team at Xerox PARC to create the WIMP paradigm. WIMP is an acronym that stands for windows, icons, menus and pointers. Although it is considered a synonym for the graphical user interface, it is not used as commonly as the term GUI.

The first commercial use of a GUI appeared in 1981 when Xerox implemented a GUI into their 8010 computing system. Although the 8010 used a GUI, the system was not a commercial success. The first successful commercial implementation of a GUI occurred in 1984, when Apple released the Macintosh computer.

As computer adoption grew during the 1990s, the Windows operating system became the most popular GUI among consumers. Currently, the latest trend in the development of GUIs is the incorporation of 3D elements, such as the Expose feature in Mac OS X.