Editing Graphical user interface (section)

== Comparison to other interfaces ==
{{quote|People said it's more of a right-brain machine and all that—I think there is some truth to that. I think there is something to dealing in a graphical interface and a more kinetic interface—you're really ''moving'' information around, you're seeing it move as though it had substance. And you don't see that on a PC. The PC is very much of a conceptual machine; you move information around the way you move formulas, elements on either side of an equation. I think there's a difference.|[[Andrew Fluegelman]] on the Macintosh, 1985<ref name="microtimes198505">{{Cite magazine |last=Erokan |first=Dennis |date=May 1985 |title=Andrew Fluegelman - PC-Talk and Beyond |url=https://archive.org/details/microtimes00donh/page/n17/mode/1up?view=theater |access-date=2025-03-12 |magazine=MicroTimes |pages=19–26}}</ref>}}

=== Command-line interfaces ===
[[File:Bash screenshot.png|thumb|A modern Command-Line Interface (CLI)]]
Since the commands available in command line interfaces can be many, complex operations can be performed using a short sequence of words and symbols. Custom functions may be used to facilitate access to frequent actions. 
Command-line interfaces are more [[minimalism (computing)|lightweight]], as they only recall information necessary for a task; for example, no preview thumbnails or graphical rendering of web pages. This allows greater efficiency and productivity once many commands are learned.<ref name="computerhope.com" />  But reaching this level takes some time because the command words may not be easily discoverable or [[mnemonic]]. Also, using the command line can become slow and error-prone when users must enter long commands comprising many parameters or several different filenames at once. However, ''windows, icons, menus, pointer'' ([[WIMP (computing)|WIMP]]) interfaces present users with many [[Widget (GUI)|widgets]] that represent and can trigger some of the system's available commands.

GUIs can be made quite hard when dialogs are buried deep in a system or moved about to different places during redesigns. Also, icons and dialog boxes are usually harder for users to script.

WIMPs extensively use [[mode (user interface)|modes]], as the meaning of all keys and clicks on specific positions on the screen are redefined all the time. Command-line interfaces use modes only in limited forms, such as for current directory and [[environment variable]]s.

Most modern [[operating system]]s provide both a GUI and some level of a CLI, although the GUIs usually receive more attention.

=== GUI wrappers ===
GUI wrappers find a way around the [[command-line interface]] versions (CLI) of (typically) [[Linux]] and [[Unix-like]] software applications and their [[text-based user interface|text-based UI]]s or typed command labels. While command-line or text-based applications allow users to run a program non-interactively, GUI wrappers atop them avoid the steep [[learning curve]] of the command-line, which requires commands to be typed on the [[Computer keyboard|keyboard]]. By starting a GUI wrapper, [[user (computing)|users]] can intuitively [[human–computer interaction|interact]] with, start, stop, and change its working parameters, through graphical [[icon (computing)|icons]] and visual indicators of a [[desktop environment]], for example. Applications may also provide both interfaces, and when they do the GUI is usually a WIMP wrapper around the command-line version. This is especially common with applications designed for [[Unix-like]] operating systems. The latter used to be implemented first because it allowed the developers to focus exclusively on their product's functionality without bothering about interface details such as designing icons and placing buttons. Designing programs this way also allows users to run the program in a [[shell script]].