Graphical user interfaces are used for the interaction between the user and computer and as a communications interface therebetween. They represent a virtual control- and display panel which consists of individual control- and display objects and via which the user transmits commands or information to the computer, the computer in turn signaling back the receipt of these commands and information and/or the response thereto. In an attempt to design the operation of even more complex processes as intuitively as possible and thus to allow rapid navigation through the program, certain standardization procedures have become accepted. These standardization procedures essentially consist in the use of the same or similar control- and display objects, such as for example text boxes, drop-down menus, selection lists, buttons, icons, etc.
Almost all software programs have graphical control windows, software programs being in this sense software applications which run on the operating system of the computer, which require a higher level of interaction between the user and computer and which therefore require a more extensive graphical user interface. The software applications themselves generally run in such control windows, the program windows.