Chapter 4. Graphical User Interfaces
The graphical user interface (GUI) is one of the defining features of modern computers. No personal computer sold to consumers these days lacks a GUI, and the only time people work with a machine that doesn’t present information graphically is when they’re working with a server, supercomputer, or other specialized tool. Displaying a graphical interface to your user is fundamental to developing with Cocoa, and understanding both how to design an appealing and usable GUI and how to implement that GUI are critical skills for Cocoa developers.
This chapter covers the user interface system available in Cocoa and Cocoa Touch, in addition to implementing a UI. You’ll also learn about Core Animation, the animation system on both OS X and iOS. Designing a usable and pleasant UI is a huge topic that wouldn’t fit in this chapter (let alone in this book!), so if you’re interested in learning how to make a great user interface, take a look at Tapworthy by Josh Clark (O’Reilly).
Interfaces in OS X and iOS
While both iOS and OS X devices use a screen to present their interfaces, there are distinct differences in how they accept user input and in how they display output back to the user.
On OS X, the top-level object is the window. Windows contain controls, such as buttons, labels, and text fields, and can be moved around the screen to suit the user. More than one window is displayed on the screen at a time. Some windows can be resized, which means that windows ...
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