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.
