Look and feel

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Picture showing 4 different types of look and feel applied in software Verto Look and Feel.jpg
Picture showing 4 different types of look and feel applied in software Verto

In software design, the look and feel of a graphical user interface comprises aspects of its design, including elements such as colors, shapes, layout, and typefaces (the "look"), as well as the behavior of dynamic elements such as buttons, boxes, and menus (the "feel"). The term can also refer to aspects of a non-graphical user interface (such as a command-line interface), as well as to aspects of an API – mostly to parts of an API that are not related to its functional properties. The term is used in reference to both software and websites. [1] [2]

Contents

Look and feel applies to other products. In documentation, for example, it refers to the graphical layout (document size, color, font, etc.) and the writing style. In the context of equipment, it refers to consistency in controls and displays across a product line.

Look and feel in operating system user interfaces serves two general purposes. First, it provides branding, helping to identify a set of products from one company. Second, it increases ease of use, since users will become familiar with how one product functions (looks, reads, etc.) and can translate their experience to other products with the same look and feel.

In widget toolkits

Contrary to operating system user interfaces, for which look and feel is a part of the product identification, widget toolkits often allow users to specialize their application look and feel, by deriving the default look and feel of the toolkit, or by completely defining their own. This specialization can go from skinning (that only deals with the look, or visual appearance of the graphical control elements) to completely specializing the way the user interacts with the software (that is, the feel).

The definition of the look and feel to associate with the application is often done at initialization, but some Widget toolkits, such as the Swing widget toolkit that is part of the Java API, allow users to change the look and feel at runtime (see Pluggable look and feel).

Some examples of Widget toolkits that support setting a specialized look and feel are:

Lawsuits

Some companies try to assert copyright of trade dress over their look and feel.

The Broderbund v. Unison (1986) case was an early software copyright case that attempted to apply U.S. copyright law to the look and feel presented by a software product.

In 1987 Lotus sued Paperback Software and Mosaic for copyright infringement, false and misleading advertising, and unfair competition over their low-cost clones of 1-2-3, VP Planner and Twin, and sued Borland over its Quattro spreadsheet. [3]

In December 1989, [4] Xerox sued Apple over the Macintosh copyright.

Apple Computer was notable for its use of the term look and feel in reference to their Mac OS operating system. The firm tried, with some success, to block other software developers from creating software that had a similar look and feel. Apple argued that they had a copyright claim on the look and feel of their software, and even went so far as to sue Microsoft, alleging that the Windows operating system was illegally copying their look and feel. [5]

Although provoking a vehement reaction from some in the software community, [6] and causing Richard Stallman to form the League for Programming Freedom, [7] the expected landmark ruling never happened, as most of the issues were resolved based on a license that Apple had granted Microsoft for Windows 1.0. See: Apple v. Microsoft . The First Circuit Court of Appeals rejected a copyright claim on the feel of a user interface in Lotus v. Borland .

More recent reactions

In 2012 and 2014, Apple Inc. has filed lawsuits against competing manufacturers of smartphones and tablet computers, claiming that those manufacturers copied the look and feel of Apple's popular iPhone and iPad products. [5] [8] [9]

In APIs

An API, which is an interface to software which provides some sort of functionality, can also have a certain look and feel. Different parts of an API (e.g. different classes or packages) are often linked by common syntactic and semantic conventions (e.g. by the same asynchronous execution model, or by the same way object attributes are accessed). These elements are rendered either explicitly (i.e. are part of the syntax of the API), or implicitly (i.e. are part of the semantics of the API).

See also

Related Research Articles

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Motif (software)</span>

In computing, Motif refers to both a graphical user interface (GUI) specification and the widget toolkit for building applications that follow that specification under the X Window System on Unix and Unix-like operating systems. The Motif look and feel is distinguished by its use of rudimentary square and chiseled three-dimensional effects for its various user interface elements.

A widget toolkit, widget library, GUI toolkit, or UX library is a library or a collection of libraries containing a set of graphical control elements used to construct the graphical user interface (GUI) of programs.

<i>Apple Computer, Inc. v. Microsoft Corp.</i> 1994 copyright infringement lawsuit

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Graphical widget Element of interaction in a graphical user interface

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A software widget is a relatively simple and easy-to-use software application or component made for one or more different software platforms.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Abstract Window Toolkit</span> Java-based GUI toolkit

The Abstract Window Toolkit (AWT) is Java's original platform-dependent windowing, graphics, and user-interface widget toolkit, preceding Swing. The AWT is part of the Java Foundation Classes (JFC) — the standard API for providing a graphical user interface (GUI) for a Java program. AWT is also the GUI toolkit for a number of Java ME profiles. For example, Connected Device Configuration profiles require Java runtimes on mobile telephones to support the Abstract Window Toolkit.

Structure, sequence and organization (SSO) is a term used in the United States to define a basis for comparing one software work to another in order to determine if copying has occurred that infringes on copyright, even when the second work is not a literal copy of the first. The term was introduced in the case of Whelan v. Jaslow in 1986. The method of comparing the SSO of two software products has since evolved in attempts to avoid the extremes of over-protection and under-protection, both of which are considered to discourage innovation. More recently, the concept has been used in Oracle America, Inc. v. Google, Inc.

References

  1. ↑ "What is the "Look and Feel" of a Website?". November 21, 2013.
  2. ↑ "Look and Feel in Computer Software". ComputerLaw.com.
  3. ↑ John Scwartz; Debra Rosenberg (August 27, 1990). "Computing the Cost of Copyright: Programmers fight "Look and Feel" lawsuits". Newsweek.
  4. ↑ Lawrence Fisher (December 15, 1989). "Xerox Sues Apple Computer Over Macintosh Copyright". The New York Times.
  5. 1 2 Timothy B. Lee (2011-10-25). "Yes, Google "Stole" From Apple, And That's A Good Thing". Forbes. Retrieved 2015-08-13.
  6. ↑ "Special Report: Apple's New Look and Feel".
  7. ↑ Richard Stallman. "Is Digital Inclusion a Good Thing? How Can We Make Sure It Is?". gnu.org. Retrieved 2015-08-13.
  8. ↑ Derek Broes (2011-09-24). "Samsung vs. Apple: And The Winner Is..." Forbes. Retrieved 2015-08-13.
  9. ↑ Josh Lowensohn (March 31, 2014). "Round two: Apple and Samsung suit up for another billion dollar patent war". The Verge. Retrieved 2015-08-13.
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