Graphical User Interface (GUI)

A GUI is essentially a drawing of shapes (rectangles, lines, text, fills, etc.)

User interaction is essentially how these shapes change

• responding to user input, animation, or external data

A UI toolkit provides a level of abstraction for programmers.

• e.g. translates programmer’s concept of a “button” into shapes that represent a rendering of a button

What are two advantages of a graphical user interface (GUI)?

• Emphasizes recognition over recall for available actions (easier to discover options and experiment)
• Uses metaphor and analogy to make the interface more intuitive (usage is closer to how things are done in real works e.g., “desktop” “folder”, “drag”, “icons”)

What are two disadvantages of graphical user interface (GUI)? 1.