Macintosh user interface

operating system The graphical user interface used by

Apple Computer's Macintosh family of personal computers,

based on graphical representations of familiar office objects

(sheets of paper, files, wastepaper bin, etc.) positioned on a

two-dimensional "desktop" workspace.

Programs and data files are represented on screen by small

pictures (icons). An object is selected by moving a mouse

over the real desktop which correspondingly moves the

pointer on screen. When the pointer is over an icon on

screen, the icon is selected by pressing the button on the

mouse.

A hierarchical file system is provided that lets a user

"drag" a document (a file) icon into and out of a folder

(directory) icon. Folders can also contain other folders and

so on. To delete a document, its icon is dragged into a

trash can icon. For people that are not computer

enthusiasts, managing files on the Macintosh is easier than

using the MS-DOS or Unix command-line interpreter.

The Macintosh always displays a row of menu titles at the top

of the screen. When a mouse button is pressed over a title, a

pull-down menu appears below it. With the mouse button held

down, the option within the menu is selected by pointing to it

and then releasing the button.

Unlike the IBM PC, which, prior to Microsoft Windows had

no standard graphical user interface, Macintosh developers

almost always conform to the Macintosh interface. As a

result, users are comfortable with the interface of a new

program from the start even if it takes a while to learn all

the rest of it. They know there will be a row of menu options

at the top of the screen, and basic tasks are always performed

in the same way. Apple also keeps technical jargon down to a

minimum.

Although the Macintosh user interface provides consistency; it

does not make up for an application program that is not

designed well. Not only must the application's menus be clear

and understandable, but the locations on screen that a user

points to must be considered. Since the mouse is the major

selecting method on a Macintosh, mouse movement should be kept

to a minimum. In addition, for experienced typists, the mouse

is a cumbersome substitute for well-designed keyboard

commands, especially for intensive text editing.

Urban legned has it that the Mac user interface was copied

from Xerox's Palo Alto Research Center. Although it is

true that Xerox's smalltalk had a GUI and Xerox introduced

some GUI concepts commercially on the Xerox Star computer in

1981, and that Steve Jobs and members of the Mac and Lisa

project teams visited PARC, Jef Raskin, who created the Mac

project, points out that many GUI concepts which are now

considered fundamental, such as dragging objects and pull-down

menus with the mouse, were actually invented at Apple.

Pull-down menus have become common on IBM, Commodore and

Amiga computers. Microsoft Windows and OS/2

Presentation Manager, Digital Research's GEM,

Hewlett-Packard's New Wave, the X Window System, RISCOS and many other programs and operating environments also

incorporate some or all of the desktop/mouse/icon features.

Apple Computer have tried to prevent other companies from

using some GUI concepts by taking legal action against them.

It is because of such restrictive practises that organisations

such as the Free Software Foundation previously refused to

support ports of their software to Apple machines, though this

ban has now been lifted. [Why? When?]

(1996-07-19)