Graphical user interfaces, such as Microsoft Windows and the one used by the Apple Macintosh, feature the following basic components:

The first graphical user interface was designed by Xerox Corporation's Palo Alto Research Center in the 1970s, but it was not until the 1980s and the emergence of the Apple Macintosh that graphical user interfaces became popular. One reason for their slow acceptance was the fact that they require considerable CPU power and a high-quality monitor, which until recently were prohibitively expensive.

In addition to their visual components, graphical user interfaces also make it easier to move data from one application to another. A true GUI includes standard formats for representing text and graphics. Because the formats are well-defined, different programs that run under a common GUI can share data. This makes it possible, for example, to copy a graph created by a spreadsheet program into a document created by a word processor.

Many DOS programs include some features of GUIs, such as menus, but are not graphics based. Such interfaces are sometimes called graphical character-based user interfaces to distinguish them from true GUIs.

Interface Interest and Research Group home page 
Home page of a group of instructional designers interested in the practical application of research to the design of better software interfaces.

The design of user interfaces
Information from a course that focuses on GUI design principles. Includes sections on: cognitive issues, graphic design, devices and response time, the design process, system architectures, event driven programs, and Windows implementations.

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