"Window interfaces" refers to the commonly used way to organize a computer monitor's screen space for interaction with a human user. Screen space is organized into regions called "windows." Each window utilizes some screen space for computer–human interaction. Typically, a computer system with window interfaces also supports the mouse and the keyboard as interactive devices for user input.

Two Styles of Window Interfaces

There are various styles of organizing the windows on a screen. One approach is to treat the screen as a desktop and the windows as documents on the desktop. The windows may overlap one another so that some windows partially or completely obscure other windows. Only those windows that stay on top are fully visible. Users can use the mouse to drag the windows around on the screen or to bring a certain window to the top. Figure 1 illustrates overlapping...