Window (computing)

An example of a windows in graphical user interface - GNOME. Two application windows are displayed. Note, that one partly overlaps the other.

In computing, a window is a visual area containing some kind of user interface. It has (usually) rectangular shape. It displays the output of and allows input of one or more processes.

Windows are primarily associated with graphical displays, where they can be manipulated with a pointer.

A graphical user interface (GUI) using windows as one of its main "metaphors" is called a windowing system.

Properties

Windows are (almost always - see 3d display) 2d objects (like papers or books) arranged on a plane called "desktop". They can be (usually) :

• resized
• moved
• hidden
• restored
• closed

Window can be composed of another windows. Those winodws are either arranged into mosaic (for example text editor Emacs) or they may overlap - (it is called "multiple document interface". When two window overlap (one is on top of the other) the upper is (usually) opaque.

One program can have multiple windows. For example in text-editing program user might benefit from working with several text files available at once. Those ("child") windows "containing" (in this example) text files can either be left separate from main window (see Metapad) or be encapsulated under main ("parent") window (see Nnotepad++).

History

The idea was developed at the Stanford Research Institute (led by Douglas Engelbart). They used non-overlapping tiled windows.

Research continued at Xerox Corporation's Palo Alto Research Center / PARC (led by Alan Kay). They used overlapping windows.

At 80's the term "WIMP", which stands for window, icon, menu, pointer, has been coined at PARC.

Apple had worked worked with PARC briefly at that time. Apple developed interface based on PARC's interface. It was first used at Apple's Lisa and later Macintosh computers. Microsoft (Bill Gates company) we're developing office applications for the "Mac" at that time. They based their windowing system Windows on Apple's system.

Overlapping systems have become far more common than non-overlapping systems since then.

Window managers

The part of a windowing system which manages these operations is called a window manager.

Most graphical user interfaces have windows (sometimes called widget...). Those interfaces are called WIMP. For example:

• DEC Windows (for VMS)
• X Window System (for GNU & Unix-like systems)
• Microsoft Windows and Sun's OpenWindows

See also

• Window manager
• Graphical user interface
• Human interface guidelines
• WIMP (computing)