Window (computing)

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This article is about the graphical display of the functions of a computer in a viewport. For the data transmission period, see computer networking.

Image:Windows XP GUI.JPG In computing, a window is a visual area, usually rectangular in shape, containing some kind of user interface, displaying the output of and allowing input for one of a number of simultaneously running computer processes. Windows are primarily associated with graphical displays, where they can be manipulated with a pointer. However, many programs with text user interfaces, for example Emacs, allow their display to be divided into areas which may also be referred to as "windows".

A graphical user interface (GUI) which uses the window as one of its primary metaphors is called a windowing system. This idea was developed as a part of the WIMP paradigm at Xerox PARC.

Windows are depicted as two-dimensional objects (like papers or books) arranged on a desktop. Most windows can be resized, moved, hidden, restored, and closed at will. When two overlap, one is on top of the other, with the covered part of the lower window not visible. The part of a windowing system which manages these operations is called a window manager.

Windows are a popular feature (or widget) in several graphical user interfaces (especially WIMP ones). DEC Windows (for VMS), X Window System (for GNU & Unix-like systems), Microsoft Windows and IBM's Open Windows are named after this feature.

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Types of windows

Window managers often offer more than one type of window. In Mac OS X there are three types of windows:

  • Application/Document windows - the normal type of window that contain documents or the application's data
  • Utility windows, including dashboards - which float on top of all other windows and offer tools or information for the application
  • Dialogs - windows outside of the normal workflow that displays information or asks for information from the user
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Window properties

Depending on the window manager being used, windows have a wide range of properties that can often be manipulated by the user:

  • Their size.
  • Maximized state in the horizontal or vertical axes, or both.
  • Minimized state (which usually toggles their visibility and stores a link to them in a taskbar, Dock or iconbox.
  • Stickiness. If the window manager supports virtual desktops, this makes the window 'stick' to every desktop.
  • Shaded state, which 'rolls up' the main part of the window and just keeps the title bar.
  • The visibility of the toolbars that the window may have.
  • Transparency (if supported).
  • Always-on-top state, which stops the window from being obscured, even in part, by any others.

Many window managers also provide features for grouping windows so that they all act as one, and 3D window managers, such as Metisse and Project Looking Glass also allow the three-dimensional properties of a window to be changed (such as their rotation in the Y or Z axes).de:Fenster (Computer) fr:Fenêtre (informatique) nl:Venster (computer) ja:ウィンドウ pl:Okno (informatyka) wa:Purnea zh:視窗

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