Macintosh user interface

    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, RISC
   OS 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)