Essay on Graphical User Interfaces (GUI)

Graphical user interfaces (GUIs; e.g., Windows, MacOS, Linux) allow users to interact directly with files and applications within a computer system. In order to select a particular system component (e.g., an application), a user typically would move a mouse to position a cursor over an icon that is associated with the desired system component. Once the cursor has been correctly positioned, the user would press a button on the mouse to select the desired item.

The proliferation of GUIs is at least partially attributable to the intuitive nature of this selection process. However, this process is not always the most efficient. Moving a mouse cursor to a target object takes a finite amount of time. If this movement must be repeated many times to complete a task, then this selection process can substantially slow the work that the user is trying to complete.

Until software programmers from different firms agree on a common interface for their programs, the usage of GUI functions will remain something that has to be acquired. The problem is that icons used for similar functions are oftentimes dissimilar depending on the program. Even worse, sometimes the same icon, say a magnifying glass, is used for different purposes in different programs, making the user even more confused. One of the main reasons that people are willing to undergo the difficulties of learning the meanings of the icons is to enjoy the applications that exist on interfaces such as Microsoft Windows. But until a standard interface is available, users will have to 'painstakingly' learn their icons.

That attitude is no more fashionable in the art world than the admission in the computer world that pointing at funny pictures and clicking a little button does not come naturally. As a matter of fact, word-oriented people are considered weird and even heretical these days...................

ESSAYS ON TECHNOLOGY