Much of the early research was based on how young children learn. Engelbart had been inspired, in part, by the memex desk-based information machine suggested by Vannevar Bush in 1945. This computer incorporated a mouse-driven cursor and multiple windows used to work on hypertext. In the 1960s, Douglas Engelbart's Augmentation of Human Intellect project at the Augmentation Research Center at SRI International in Menlo Park, California developed the oN-Line System (NLS). Augmentation of Human Intellect (NLS) Videoconferencing on NLS (1968) The concept of a multi-panel windowing system was introduced by the first real-time graphic display systems for computers: the SAGE Project and Ivan Sutherland's Sketchpad. Some early cathode-ray-tube (CRT) screens used a light pen, rather than a mouse, as the pointing device. The influence of game computers and joystick operation has been omitted.Įarly research and developments The first prototype of a computer mouse, as designed by Bill English from Engelbart's sketches Įarly dynamic information devices such as radar displays, where input devices were used for direct control of computer-created data, set the basis for later improvements of graphical interfaces. Desktop computers are often controlled by computer mice and/or keyboards while laptops often have a pointing stick or touchpad, and smartphones and tablet computers have a touchscreen.

There have been a few significant breakthroughs in terms of use, but the same organizational metaphors and interaction idioms are still in use. There have been important technological achievements, and enhancements to the general interaction in small steps over previous systems.

Several vendors have created their own windowing systems based on independent code, but with basic elements in common that define the WIMP 'window, icon, menu and pointing device' paradigm. The history of the graphical user interface, understood as the use of graphic icons and a pointing device to control a computer, covers a five-decade span of incremental refinements, built on some constant core principles. ( Learn how and when to remove this template message) Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information. This article's factual accuracy may be compromised due to out-of-date information.

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