look and feel
<operating system> The appearance and function of a program's user
interface. The term is most often applied to graphical user interfaces (GUI) but
might also be used by extension for a textual command language used to control a
program.
Look and feel includes such things as the icons used to represent certain
functions such as opening and closing files, directories and application
programs and changing the size and position of windows; conventions for the
meaning of different buttons on a mouse and keys on the keyboard; and the
appearance and operation of menus.
A user interface with a consistent look and feel is considered by many to be an
important factor in the ease of use of a computer system. The success of the
Macintosh user interface was partly due to its consistency.
Because of the perceived importance of look and feel, there have been several
legal actions claiming breech of copyright on the look and feel of user
interfaces, most notably by Apple Computer against Microsoft and Hewlett-Packard
(which Apple lost) and, later, by Xerox against Apple Computer. Such legal
action attempts to force suppliers to make their interfaces inconsistent with
those of other vendors' products. This can only be bad for users and the
industry as a whole.
(1995-03-03)
Nearby terms:
LOOK « Look Ahead Left-to-right parse,
Rightmost-derivation « Look ahead LR « look and
feel » Looking Glass » LOOKS » loop
|
