WIMP (computing)

WIMP (computing)

In human–computer interaction, WIMP stands for "windows, icons, menus, pointer", denoting a style of interaction using these elements of the user interface. It was coined by Merzouga Wilberts in 1980. Other expansions are sometimes used, substituting "mouse" and "mice" or "pull-down menu" and "pointing", for menus and pointer, respectively.

Though the term has fallen into disuse, some use it incorrectly as an approximate synonym for graphical user interface (GUI). Any interface that uses graphics can be called a GUI, and WIMP systems derive from such systems. However, while all WIMP systems use graphics as a key element (the icon and pointer elements), and therefore are GUIs, the reverse is not true. Some GUIs are not based in windows, icons, menus, and pointers. For example, most mobile phones represent actions as icons, and some may have menus, but very few include a pointer or run programs in a window.

WIMP interaction was developed at Xerox PARC (see Xerox Alto, developed in 1973) and popularized with Apple's introduction of the Macintosh in 1984, which added the concepts of the "menu bar" and extended window management.

In a WIMP systems:

• A window runs a self-contained program, isolated from other programs that (if in a multi-program operating system) run at the same time in other windows . Developed by Gene McDaniel at PARC
• An icon acts as a shortcut to an action the computer performs (e.g., execute a program or task).
• A menu is a text or icon-based selection systems that selects and executes programs or tasks.
• The pointer is an onscreen symbol that represents movement of a physical device that the user controls to select icons, data elements, etc.

This style of system improves human–computer interaction (HCI) by emulating real-world interactions and providing better ease of use for non-technical people—both novice and power users. Users can carry skill at a standardized interface from one application to another.

Due to the nature of the WIMP system, simple commands can be chained together to undertake a group of commands that would have taken several lines of command line instructions. Due to this nature some technically proficient computer users deride WIMP systems as a barrier between the user and the computer system. However, for the average computer user the introduction of the WIMP system has allowed an expansion of users beyond the potential possible under the previous command line systems.