Concept used on desktop computer graphical user interfaces
In
computing
, the
desktop metaphor
is an
interface metaphor
which is a set of unifying concepts used by
graphical user interfaces
to help users interact more easily with the computer.
[1]
The desktop metaphor treats the
computer monitor
as if it is the top of the user's
desk
, upon which
objects
such as
documents
and
folders
of documents can be placed. A document can be opened into a
window
, which represents a paper copy of the document placed on the desktop. Small applications called
desk accessories
are also available, such as a desk calculator or notepad, etc.
The desktop metaphor itself has been extended and stretched with various implementations of
desktop environments
, since access to features and
usability
of the computer are usually more important than maintaining the 'purity' of the
metaphor
. Hence one can 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). Other features such as
menu bars
or
taskbars
have no direct counterpart on a real-world desktop, though this may vary by environment and the function provided; for instance, a familiar
wall calendar
can sometimes be displayed or otherwise accessed via a taskbar or menu bar belonging to the desktop.
History
[
edit
]
The desktop metaphor was first introduced by
Alan Kay
, David C. Smith, and others at
Xerox PARC
in 1970 and elaborated in a series of innovative software applications developed by PARC scientists throughout the ensuing decade. The first computer to use an early version of the desktop metaphor was the experimental
Xerox Alto
,
[2]
[3]
and the first commercial computer that adopted this kind of interface was the
Xerox Star
. The use of
window controls
to contain related information predates the desktop metaphor, with a primitive version appearing in
Douglas Engelbart
's "
Mother of All Demos
",
[4]
though it was incorporated by PARC in the environment of the
Smalltalk
language.
[5]
One of the first desktop-like interfaces on the market was a program called
Magic Desk
I. Built as a cartridge for the
Commodore 64
home computer
in 1983, a very primitive GUI presented a
low resolution
sketch of a desktop, complete with telephone, drawers, calculator, etc. The user made their choices by moving a
sprite
depicting a hand pointing by using the same
joystick
the user may have used for
video gaming
. Onscreen options were chosen by pushing the fire button on the joystick. The Magic Desk I program featured a
typewriter
graphically emulated complete with audio effects. Other applications included a calculator,
rolodex
organiser, and a
terminal emulator
. Files could be archived into the drawers of the desktop. A
trashcan
was also present.
The first computer to popularise the desktop metaphor, using it as a standard feature over the earlier
command-line interface
was the
Apple Macintosh
in 1984. The desktop metaphor is ubiquitous in modern-day personal computing; it is found in most
desktop environments
of modern operating systems:
Windows
as well as
macOS
,
Linux
, and other
Unix-like
systems.
BeOS
observed the desktop metaphor more strictly than many other systems. For example, external hard drives appeared on the 'desktop', while internal ones were accessed clicking on an
icon
representing the computer itself. By comparison, the Mac OS places all drives on the desktop itself by default, while in Windows the user can access the drives through an icon labelled "Computer".
Amiga
terminology for its desktop metaphor was taken directly from workshop jargon. The desktop was called
Workbench
, programs were called
tools
, small applications (
applets
) were utilities, directories were drawers, etc.
Icons of objects were animated and the directories are shown as drawers which were represented as either open or closed.
As in the
classic Mac OS
and
macOS
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.
Paper paradigm
[
edit
]
The
paper paradigm
refers to the
paradigm
used by most modern computers and operating systems. 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).
[6]
It was first presented to the public by Engelbart in 1968, in what is now referred to as "
The Mother of All Demos
".
From John Siracusa:
[7]
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." 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, something that is impossible in reality. These and other departures from real-world equivalents are violations of the pure paper paradigm.
See also
[
edit
]
Notes and references
[
edit
]
External links
[
edit
]