What Is a GUI? Understanding the Parts of a GUI

The GUI is the most widely used user interface today. It is one of the improvements that made devices such as computers and phones accessible to more people. So What is a GUI? Find out with Mona Media let's look at the GUI and its components in the article below.

What is a GUI?

GUI is short for Graphical User Interface (Graphical User Interface). This interface was developed by Douglas Engelbart, Alan Kay and other researchers at Xerox PARC. Today almost every computer operating system uses a graphical interface.

A GUI makes it easier for people to communicate with smart electronic devices by using images or text instead of typing long text commands. GUIs are now extremely common, from online applications, operating systems and computer programsto handheld devices and more.

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Advantages and disadvantages of a GUI

Advantages

The GUI is regarded as a major invention and a big step forward for the computer industry. It has many advantages, including:

• The biggest advantage of a GUI is that it gives users an interface they can interact with without understanding the technology in depth. Almost anyone can use it without knowing how the commands run. Simple actions such as clicking, dragging and pressing buttons are enough to control the device.
• Easy to reach
• Users You can open several applications or programs at the same time..

Disadvantages

• Adding a graphical interface to an application means the computer needs more processing power. Imagine that to build a graphical interface, the programmer has to write extra code, so the application's source code must also include the GUI. As a result, the application runs somewhat slower than it would without the interface.
• Low flexibility: users can only use the commands that are provided.
• If the GUI is poorly designed, users spend a lot of time going through extra steps to control the program.

Components of a GUI

Windows

A window is a rectangular area of the GUI that displays information independently of the rest of the screen.

Example: When you click an icon and open an application or file, it opens in its own window.

Even users with no GUI experience can easily work with windows. For example, you can show or hide a window by clicking an icon or a button. Users can also move a window by clicking it and dragging it to a new position. You can also resize the window yourself and move around inside it using the toolbar and other functions.

Menu

A menu is a graphical list of available commands. Menus present commands graphically so users only need to click the right function.

The menu bar is a horizontal bar that holds all the menus available in an application, usually at the top of the application window. When the user selects an option in the menu bar, a drop-down menu appears containing all the functions under that option. A context menu stays hidden until the user right-clicks the mouse, and then it appears at the cursor position.

Icon

An icon is a visual representation of an application, folder, file or web browser as an image. All files you create in the same application show that application's icon and share the same file extension.

Widget

A widget, also called a control, is a graphical control element through which the user interacts with the GUI. Controls need direct input from the user so they can read or edit information in the application. Examples include buttons, scroll bars and dialog boxes.

See more: Everything you need to know about WordPress widgets

Tab

A tab is a small rectangular box showing a name or graphic icon linked to a specific window. When a user selects a tab, they see all the controls and information presented in that window. For example, when you open several pages in a web browser, you see different tabs along the top of the browser window.

What can a GUI do?

Some basic features of a GUI:

• Easy for beginners. Users get familiar quickly and can work with it even without reading the captions underneath.
• Lets users exchange information between programs easily with cut and paste or drag and drop.
• Uses a lot of memory at once and needs high processing power.

Interactive elements of a GUI

Besides the structural elements, a GUI also has interactive elements, including:

• Pointer: The pointer shows where the system will accept the next input. It can be a mouse pointer moving around the computer screen, or a text cursor marking the focus point in the current text box.
• Selection: These are the actions you can choose to perform. Example: Users select a piece of text for operations such as cut, copy and paste. Image editing applications let you select and modify certain areas of an image.
• Adjustment: You can use the mouse to drag and drop. When the user starts dragging, the pointer changes shape depending on where you drag.

How to interact with a GUI

You can interact with a GUI through peripheral devices, most commonly a mouse, keyboard and trackpad on computers and laptops. Another way is touch. As technology has advanced in recent years, touch has become common on smart devices such as tablets, phones and smartwatches, which makes them easy to use.

Examples of GUIs

• Gnome Shell: GNOME Shell was first released in 2011 with version 3 and is written in the C programming language and Javascript. The interface works on both desktop and mobile, and users can interact with it through a mouse, keyboard or touch.
• Microsoft: The Microsoft Office programs you often see, such as Word, Excel and PowerPoint, also have graphical interfaces so users can enter data or drag and drop images easily.
• Web browsers: GUIs are also used in web browsers such as Google Chrome, Cốc Cốc or Microsoft Edge, which makes searching the internet faster.

That was Mona Media's guide to what a GUI is. We hope the information above helps you with your studies and work. If you have any questions, leave a comment below this article or contact Mona Media directly for a detailed answer.