Post-WIMP refers to work on user interfaces, mostly graphical user interfaces, which attempt to go beyond the paradigm of windows, icons, menus and a pointing device, i.e.
WIMPIn human–computer interaction, WIMP stands for "window, icon, menu, pointing device", denoting a style of interaction using these elements. It was coined by Merzouga Wilberts in 1980. Although its usage has fallen out of favor, it is often used as an approximate synonym of "GUI"...
interfaces.
The reason WIMP interfaces have become so prevalent since their conception at
Xerox PARCPARC , formerly Xerox PARC, is a research and development company in Palo Alto, California with a distinguished reputation for its contributions to information technology....
has been that they are very good at abstracting workspaces, documents, and their actions. Their analogous paradigm to documents as paper sheets or folders makes WIMP interfaces easy to introduce to novice users.
Post-WIMP refers to work on user interfaces, mostly graphical user interfaces, which attempt to go beyond the paradigm of windows, icons, menus and a pointing device, i.e.
WIMPIn human–computer interaction, WIMP stands for "window, icon, menu, pointing device", denoting a style of interaction using these elements. It was coined by Merzouga Wilberts in 1980. Although its usage has fallen out of favor, it is often used as an approximate synonym of "GUI"...
interfaces.
The reason WIMP interfaces have become so prevalent since their conception at
Xerox PARCPARC , formerly Xerox PARC, is a research and development company in Palo Alto, California with a distinguished reputation for its contributions to information technology....
has been that they are very good at abstracting workspaces, documents, and their actions. Their analogous paradigm to documents as paper sheets or folders makes WIMP interfaces easy to introduce to novice users. Furthermore their basic representations as rectangular regions on a 2D flat screen make them a good fit for system programmers, thus favouring the abundance of commercial
widget toolkitA widget toolkit, widget library, or GUI toolkit is a set of widgets for use in designing applications with graphical user interfaces...
s in this style. Generality makes them very suitable for multitasking work environments.
However WIMP interfaces are not optimal for working with complex tasks such as
computer-aided designComputer-aided design is the use of computer technology for the design of objects, real or virtual. CAD often involves more than just shapes...
or even interactive games. WIMPs are usually quite
pixelIn digital imaging, a pixel is the smallest item of information in an image. Pixels are normally arranged in a 2-dimensional grid, and are often represented using dots or squares. Each pixel is a sample of an original image, where more samples typically provide more-accurate representations of the...
-hungry, so given limited screen real estate they can become distracting from the main task trying to be performed. Thus, custom interfaces can do a much better job of encapsulating workspaces, actions, and objects for specific complex tasks. Applications for which WIMP is not well suited include those requiring devices that provides continuous input signals, showing 3D models, or simply portraying an interaction for which there is not defined any standard widget.
Post-WIMP interfaces have made their way to the general public. Examples of these include the interface of the classic
MP3MPEG-1 Audio Layer 3, more commonly referred to as MP3, is a patented digital audio encoding format using a form of lossy data compression. It is a common audio format for consumer audio storage, as well as a de facto standard of digital audio compression for the transfer and playback of music on...
player
iPodiPod is a brand of portable media players designed and marketed by Apple and launched on . The product line-up includes the hard drive-based iPod Classic, the touchscreen iPod Touch, the video-capable iPod Nano, and the compact iPod Shuffle. The iPhone can function as an iPod but is generally...
to a bank's
automated teller machineAn automated teller machine is a computerized telecommunications device that provides the clients of a financial institution with access to financial transactions in a public space without the need for a human clerk or bank teller...
screen.
Meanwhile, average desktop computers still use WIMP interfaces for their basic operation, and have started undergoing major operational improvements to surpass the hurdles inherent to the classic WIMP interface. These include the exploration of virtual 3D space, interaction techniques for window/icon sorting, focus, and embellishment.
The seminal paper for post-WIMP interfaces is "Non Command User Interfaces" by Jakob Nielsen 1993. Updated proposals are discussed in "Post-WIMP user interfaces" by Andries van Dam.
Michel Beaudouin-Lafon subsequently proposed a framework called instrumental interaction, that defines a design space for Post-WIMP interaction techniques and a set of properties for comparing them.
Examples of Post-WIMP interaction include
3D Interaction3D interaction occurs when users are able to move and perform interaction in 3D space. Human-machine interaction requires that both human and machine receive and process information, and then present the output of that processing to each other. Humans perform an action or give a command to the...
and Reality-Based Interaction .
Examples
Widgetless graphical user interfaces, including
computer games"Computer Games" is a single by New Zealand group, Mi-Sex released in 1979 in Australia and New Zealand and in 1981 throughout Europe. It was the single that launched the band, and was hugely popular, particularly in Australia and New Zealand...
,
virtual realityVirtual reality is a technology which allows a user to interact with a computer-simulated environment, whether that environment is a simulation of the real world or an imaginary world...
systems, and graphical user interfaces based on gestures,
speechA Voice User Interface makes human interaction with computers possible through a voice/speech platform in order to initiate an automated service or process....
, see-through tools, zooming and
physical controlsA tangible user interface is a user interface in which a person interacts with digital information through the physical environment. The initial name was Graspable User Interface, which no longer is used....
.