In
computingComputing is usually defined as the activity of using and developing computer technology, computer hardware and software. It is the computer-specific part of information technology...
, a
window is a visual area containing some kind of
user interfaceThe user interface is the aggregate of means by which people—the users—interact with the system—a particular machine, device, computer program or other complex tool...
. It usually has a rectangular shape. It displays the
output of and may allow
input to one or more
processesIn computing, a process is an instance of a computer program, consisting of one or more threads, that is being sequentially executed by a computer system that has the ability to run several computer programs concurrently....
.
Windows are primarily associated with graphical displays, where they can be manipulated with a
mouse cursorIn computing, a cursor is an indicator used to show the position on a computer monitor or other display device that will respond to input from a text input or pointing device. The text cursor may be referred to as a caret in some cases. This term came about from older Unix systems that used the...
.
A
graphical user interfaceA graphical user interface is a type of user interface item that allows people to interact with programs in more ways than typing such as computers; hand-held devices such as MP3 Players, Portable Media Players or Gaming devices; household appliances and office equipment with images rather than...
(GUI) using windows as one of its main "
metaphorsAn Interface metaphor is a set of user interface visuals, actions and procedures that exploit specific knowledge that users already have of other domains...
" is called a
windowing systemA windowing system is a component of a graphical user interface , and more specifically of a desktop environment, which supports the implementation of window managers, and provides basic support for graphics hardware, pointing devices such as mice, and keyboards...
.
Windows are two dimensional objects arranged on a plane called the
desktopThe desktop metaphor is an interface metaphor which is a set of unifying concepts used by graphical user interfaces to help users more easily interact with the computer. The desktop metaphor treats the monitor of a computer as if it is the user's desktop, upon which objects such as documents and...
.
In
computingComputing is usually defined as the activity of using and developing computer technology, computer hardware and software. It is the computer-specific part of information technology...
, a
window is a visual area containing some kind of
user interfaceThe user interface is the aggregate of means by which people—the users—interact with the system—a particular machine, device, computer program or other complex tool...
. It usually has a rectangular shape. It displays the
output of and may allow
input to one or more
processesIn computing, a process is an instance of a computer program, consisting of one or more threads, that is being sequentially executed by a computer system that has the ability to run several computer programs concurrently....
.
Windows are primarily associated with graphical displays, where they can be manipulated with a
mouse cursorIn computing, a cursor is an indicator used to show the position on a computer monitor or other display device that will respond to input from a text input or pointing device. The text cursor may be referred to as a caret in some cases. This term came about from older Unix systems that used the...
.
A
graphical user interfaceA graphical user interface is a type of user interface item that allows people to interact with programs in more ways than typing such as computers; hand-held devices such as MP3 Players, Portable Media Players or Gaming devices; household appliances and office equipment with images rather than...
(GUI) using windows as one of its main "
metaphorsAn Interface metaphor is a set of user interface visuals, actions and procedures that exploit specific knowledge that users already have of other domains...
" is called a
windowing systemA windowing system is a component of a graphical user interface , and more specifically of a desktop environment, which supports the implementation of window managers, and provides basic support for graphics hardware, pointing devices such as mice, and keyboards...
.
Properties
Windows are two dimensional objects arranged on a plane called the
desktopThe desktop metaphor is an interface metaphor which is a set of unifying concepts used by graphical user interfaces to help users more easily interact with the computer. The desktop metaphor treats the monitor of a computer as if it is the user's desktop, upon which objects such as documents and...
. In a modern full-featured windowing system they can be resized, moved, hidden, restored or closed.
Windows usually include other graphical objects, possibly including a menu-bar, toolbars, controls, icons and often a working area. In the working area, the document, image, folder contents or other main object is displayed. Around the working area within the bounding window, there may be other smaller window areas, sometimes called panes or panels, showing relevant information or options. The working area may be capable of holding only one (
single document interfaceIn graphical user interfaces, a single document interface or SDI is a method of organizing graphical user interface applications into individual windows that the operating system's window manager handles separately. A window does not have a "background" or "parent" window containing its menu or...
) or more than one main object in a
multiple document interfaceGraphical computer applications with a multiple document interface are those whose windows reside under a single parent window , as opposed to all windows being separate from each other . In the usability community, there has been much debate over which interface type is preferable...
.
A program may create more than one window on the desktop. Sometimes child windows or 'dialogs' appear in front of the main one such as when saving or opening a file. Some programs create separate windows for each open document or image, or when specific options are available.
When two windows overlap the front one is usually opaque, but some modern windowing systems can make all or part of their windows semi-transparent.
History
The idea was developed at the Stanford Research Institute (led by
Douglas EngelbartDr. Douglas C. Engelbart is an American inventor and early computer pioneer. He is best known for inventing the computer mouse, as a pioneer of human-computer interaction whose team developed hypertext, networked computers, and precursors to GUIs; and as a committed and vocal proponent of the...
). Their earliest systems supported multiple windows, but there was no obvious way to indicate boundaries between them (such as window borders, title bars, etc).
Research continued at
XeroxXerox Corporation is a fortune 500 global document management company which manufactures and sells a range of color and black-and-white printers, multifunction systems, photo copiers, digital production printing presses, and related consulting services and supplies...
Corporation's
Palo AltoPalo Alto is a California charter city located in the northwest corner of Santa Clara County, in the San Francisco Bay Area of California, USA. It is named after a tree called El Palo Alto...
Research Center / PARC (led by
Alan KayAlan Curtis Kay is an American computer scientist, known for his early pioneering work on object-oriented programming and windowing graphical user interface design....
). They used overlapping windows.
During the 1980's the term "
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"...
", which stands for window, icon, menu, pointer, was coined at PARC.
Apple had worked with PARC briefly at that time. Apple developed an interface based on PARC's interface. It was first used on
Apple's LisaThe Apple Lisa was a personal computer designed at Apple Computer, Inc. during the early 1980s.The Lisa project was started at Apple in 1978 and evolved into a project to design a powerful personal computer with a graphical user interface that would be targeted toward business customers.Around...
and later
MacintoshThe Macintosh, or Mac, is a series of several lines of personal computers designed, developed, and marketed by Apple Inc. The first Macintosh was introduced on January 24 1984; it was the first commercially successful personal computer to feature a mouse and a graphical user interface rather than a...
computers.
MicrosoftMicrosoft Corporation is a multinational computer technology corporation that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of software products for computing devices...
was developing office applications for the "Mac" at that time. They based their windowing system Windows on Apple's system.
Window managers
The part of a windowing system which manages window operations is called a
window managerA window manager is system software that controls the placement and appearance of windows within a windowing system in a graphical user interface. Most window managers are designed to help provide a desktop environment...
.
Examples of some current windowing systems:
- DEC Windows
The Common Desktop Environment is a desktop environment for Unix, based on the Motif widget toolkit. HP's OpenVMS uses CDE as its standard desktop environment.- Corporate history :...
(for VMSOpenVMS , previously known as VAX-11/VMS, VAX/VMS or VMS, is the name of a high-end computer server operating system that runs on VAX, Alpha and Itanium-based families of computers...
)
- X Window System
The X Window System is a computer software system and network protocol that provides a graphical user interface for networked computers, and was initially developed as part of Project Athena...
(for GNUGNU is a computer operating system composed entirely of free software. Its name is a recursive acronym for “GNU's not Unix!” This name was chosen because GNU's design is Unix-like, but differs from Unix by being free software and containing no Unix code...
& Unix-likeA Unix-like operating system is one that behaves in a manner similar to a Unix system, while not necessarily conforming to or being certified to any version of the Single UNIX Specification....
systems)
- Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of software operating systems and graphical user interfaces produced by Microsoft. Microsoft first introduced an operating environment named Windows in November 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces...
- Sun
Sun Microsystems, Inc. is a multinational vendor of computers, computer components, computer software, and information technology services, founded on February 24, 1982...
's OpenWindowsOpenWindows was a desktop environment for Sun Microsystems workstations which handled SunView, NeWS, and X Window System protocols. OpenWindows was included in later releases of the SunOS 4 operating system and the Solaris operating system until its removal in Solaris 9 in favor of CDE and GNOME...
See also
- Window manager
A window manager is system software that controls the placement and appearance of windows within a windowing system in a graphical user interface. Most window managers are designed to help provide a desktop environment...
- Graphical user interface
A graphical user interface is a type of user interface item that allows people to interact with programs in more ways than typing such as computers; hand-held devices such as MP3 Players, Portable Media Players or Gaming devices; household appliances and office equipment with images rather than...
- Human interface guidelines
Human interface guidelines are software development documents which offer application developers a set of recommendations. Their aim is to improve the experience for the users by making application interfaces more intuitive, learnable, and consistent. Most guides limit themselves to defining a...
- WIMP (computing)
In 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"...