The desktop metaphor is an interface metaphor which is a set of unifying concepts used by graphical user interfaces to help users more easily interact with the computer. An Interface metaphor is a set of User interface visuals actions and procedures that exploit specific knowledge that users already have of other domains The desktop metaphor treats the monitor of a computer as if it is the user's desktop, upon which documents and folders of documents can be placed. A visual display unit, often called simply a monitor or display, is a piece of Electrical equipment which displays images generated from the Video A document can be opened into a window, which represents a paper copy of the document placed on the desktop. In Computing, a window is a visual area usually rectangular in shape containing some kind of User interface, displaying the output of and allowing input for one Small applications called desk accessories are also available, such as a desk calculator, etc. In the operating system for the Apple Macintosh computer a Desk Accessory (DA was a piece of Software, originally written as a device driver conforming
The desktop metaphor itself has been extended and stretched with various implementations, since access to features and usability of the computer are usually more important than maintaining the ‘purity’ of the metaphor. Metaphor (from the Greek: μεταφορά - metaphora, meaning "transfer" is language that directly compares seemingly unrelated subjects Hence we find trash cans on the desktop, as well as disks and network volumes (which can be thought of as filing cabinets — not something normally found on a desktop). A filing cabinet (or file cabinet in the United States) is a piece of office equipment that is useful for temporary and permanent storage Other features such as menu bars, task bars, or docks have no counterpart on a real-world desktop. A menu bar is a region where computer menus are housed Its purpose is to house window- or application-specific menus which provide access to such functions as opening files In Computing, the taskbar is a term for an application desktop bar which is used to launch and monitor applications A dock is a User interface feature of a number of Operating systems that typically provides a user with a way of launching and switching
In recent times the filing cabinet and desktop metaphor has become less important, especially since the advent of very large storage media, which can make the easy navigation of large numbers of files and folders problematic. A more user-oriented approach is gaining favour, where the user can organise documents in a manner that facilitates his or her particular needs, rather than being forced to use a file-system view of the system. The addition of ‘smart folders’ and the like leads to a method of locating files that is based on search criteria important to the user, rather than its physical arrangement on disk, which, according to recent thought, is of no importance to the user.
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History
The Desktop/office Metaphor was first introduced by Tim Mott and Larry Tesler while working at the Xerox PARC in the 1970s. PARC (Palo Alto Research Center Inc formerly Xerox PARC, is a Research and development company in Palo Alto California that began as a division of The first commercial computer that adopted this kind of interface was the Xerox Star
One of the very first desktop-like interfaces on the market was a program called Magic Desk I built on cartridge for the Commodore 64 home computer in 1983. The Star Workstation, officially known as the Xerox 8010 Information System, was introduced A home computer was a class of Personal computer entering the market in 1977 and becoming common during the 1980s Year 1983 ( MCMLXXXIII) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link displays the 1983 Gregorian calendar) A very primitive GUI presented a rough sketch of a desktop, complete with telephone, drawers, calculator, etc. The user made his choices by moving a sprite of a hand pointing with the use of a joystick and choose options by pushing the firebutton of the joystick. In Computer graphics, a sprite (also known by other names see Synonyms below is a two-dimensional/three-dimensional Image or Animation that A joystick is an input device consisting of a stick that pivots on a base and reports its angle or direction to the device it is controlling The Magic Desk program featured a typewriter machine graphically emulated complete with audio effects, calculator, organiser, and the files could be archived into the drawers of the desktop, right into their folders. A typewriter is a mechanical or Electromechanical device with a set of "keys" that when pressed cause characters to be printed on a medium A trashcan was also present. 'Wastebin' redirects here For the temporary deletion of a computer file see Recycle bin (computing.
The first computer to popularise the desktop metaphor over the earlier command line interface was the Apple Macintosh in 1984. Macintosh, commonly nicknamed Mac is a Brand name which covers several lines of Personal computers designed developed and marketed by Apple Inc Year 1984 ( MCMLXXXIV) was a Leap year starting on Sunday (link displays the 1984 Gregorian calendar) The desktop metaphor is ubiquitous in modern-day personal computing; it is found in most desktop environments of modern operating systems: Linux, Windows, Mac OS X, and other Unix-like systems. In graphical computing a desktop environment ( DE) commonly refers to a style of Graphical user interface (GUI that is based on the Desktop metaphor which Linux (commonly pronounced ˈlɪnəks Microsoft Windows is a series of Software Operating systems and Graphical user interfaces produced by Microsoft. Mac OS X (mæk oʊ ɛs tɛn is a line of computer Operating systems developed marketed and sold by Apple Inc, the latest of which is pre-loaded on all currently A Unix-like (sometimes shortened to *nix) Operating system is one that behaves in a manner similar to a Unix system while not necessarily conforming
BeOS observed the desktop metaphor more strictly than many systems. BeOS is an Operating system for Personal computers which began development by Be Inc For example, external hard drives appeared on the ‘desktop’, while internal ones were within an icon for the computer itself. By comparison, the Mac OS places all drives on the desktop itself, while in Windows all are shown within the computer.
Amiga terminology for its desktop metaphor was taken directly from workshop jargon. The Amiga is a family of Personal computers originally developed by Amiga Corporation. The desktop was called Workbench, programs were called tools, small applications (applets) were utilities, directories were drawers, etc. Workbench Overview Amiga With the Amiga Computer, the name Workbench refers to the native graphical interface file manager and application A broader definition of a tool is an entity used to interface between two or more domains that facilitates more effective action of one domain upon the other An applet is a software component that runs in the context of another program for example a Web browser. Icons of objects were animated and the directories are shown as drawers which were represented either open or closed. As in the Mac OS desktop, an icon for a floppy disk or CD-ROM would appear on the desktop when the disk was inserted into the drive, as it was a virtual counterpart of a physical floppy disk or CD-ROM on the surface of a workbench. Mac OS is the trademarked name for a series of Graphical user interface -based Operating systems developed by Apple Inc A floppy disk is an increasingly Obsolete data storage medium that is composed of a disk of thin flexible ("floppy" Magnetic storage medium encased CD-ROM (an initialism of "Compact Disc Read-Only Memory " is a pre-pressed Compact Disc that contains data accessible to but not writable
Paper Paradigm
The paper paradigm refers to the paradigm used by most modern computers and operating systems. The word paradigm ( Greek:παράδειγμα (paradigmacomposite from para- and the verb δείχνυμι "to show" as a whole -roughly- meaning "example" The paper paradigm consists of, usually, black text on a white background, files within folders, and a "desktop. " The paper paradigm was created by many individuals and organisations, such as Douglas Engelbart, Xerox PARC, and Apple Computer, and was an attempt to make computers more user-friendly by making them resemble the common workplace of the time (with papers, folders, and a desktop). Dr Douglas C Engelbart (born January 30 1925 is an American Inventor. PARC (Palo Alto Research Center Inc formerly Xerox PARC, is a Research and development company in Palo Alto California that began as a division of Apple Inc, ( formerly Apple Computer Inc, is an American Multinational corporation with a focus on designing and manufacturing Consumer electronics It was first presented to the public by Engelbart in 1968, in what is now referred to as "The Mother of All Demos". The Mother of All Demos is a name given to Douglas Engelbart's December 9 1968 demonstration at the Convention Center in San Francisco.
From John Siracusa [1]:
- Back in 1984, explanations of the original Mac interface to users who had never seen a GUI before inevitably included an explanation of icons that went something like this: "This icon represents your file on disk. Macintosh, commonly nicknamed Mac is a Brand name which covers several lines of Personal computers designed developed and marketed by Apple Inc On Computer displays, a computer icon is a small Pictogram. Icons have been used to supplement the normal alphanumerics of the computer " But to the surprise of many, users very quickly discarded any semblance of indirection. This icon is my file. My file is this icon. One is not a "representation of" or an "interface to" the other. Such relationships were foreign to most people, and constituted unnecessary mental baggage when there was a much more simple and direct connection to what they knew of reality.
Since then, many aspects of computers have wandered away from the paper paradigm by implementing features such as "shortcuts" to files, hypertext, and non-spatial file browsing. A shortcut (a link to a file that acts as a redirecting proxy, not the actual file) and hypertext have no real-world equivalent. Non-spatial file browsing, as well, may confuse novice users, as they can often have more than one window representing the same folder open at the same time. These and other departures from real-world equivalents are violations of the pure paper paradigm.
Some schools of thought on interface design regard the paper paradigm as detrimental to productivity, taxing on the user's cognitive conscience, and responsible for a steep learning curve for novice users. Alternative interfaces have been developed, though few, if any, have yet reached notability or prominence.
See also
- Interface Metaphor
- History of the GUI
- Desktop environment
- WIMP (computing)
- Virtual desktop
- Tiling window manager
- Operating system
- File browser
Notes and references
External links
An Interface metaphor is a set of User interface visuals actions and procedures that exploit specific knowledge that users already have of other domains The Graphical user interface, understood as the use of graphic icons and a pointing device to control a computer has over the last four decades a steady history of incremental In graphical computing a desktop environment ( DE) commonly refers to a style of Graphical user interface (GUI that is based on the Desktop metaphor which In Human–computer interaction, WIMP stands for " window, icon, menu, Pointing device " denoting a style of interaction A virtual desktop is a term used usually within the WIMP paradigm to describe ways in which a Computer 's Desktop environment is expanded through the use In computing a tiling window manager is a Window manager with an organization of the screen into mutually non-overlapping frames as opposed to the more popular approach An operating system (commonly abbreviated OS and O/S) is the software component of a Computer system that is responsible for the management and coordination A file manager or file browser is a Computer program that provides a User interface to work with File systems The most common operations usedDapyx Software network: MP3 Explorer | Ebook Manager | Zenithic