Editing Graphical widget (section)

{{short description|Element of interaction in a graphical user interface}}
{{About|reusable components for building user interfaces|small desktop/web applications|Software widget|other uses|Widget (disambiguation){{!}}Widget}}
{{more citations needed|date=March 2015}}
[[File:Gtk3-demo 3.11.8.png|thumb|300px|gtk3-demo, a program to demonstrate the '''widgets''' in [[GTK+]] version 3]]
A '''graphical widget''' (also '''graphical control element''' or '''control''') in a [[graphical user interface]] is an [[Human–machine interface|element of interaction]], such as a [[Button (computing)|button]] or a [[scrollbar|scroll bar]]. Controls are [[software component]]s that a computer user interacts with through [[direct manipulation]] to read or edit information about an application. User interface libraries such as [[Windows Presentation Foundation]], [[Qt (software)|Qt]], [[GTK]], and [[Cocoa (API)|Cocoa]], contain a collection of controls and the logic to render these.<ref name=Microsoft>{{cite web|title=Microsoft: Graphic elements|url=https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/dn742484%28v=vs.85%29.aspx|website=msdn.microsoft.com|publisher=Microsoft|access-date=27 April 2015}}</ref>

Each widget facilitates a specific type of user-computer interaction, and appears as a visible part of the application's GUI as defined by the theme and rendered by the rendering engine. The theme makes all widgets adhere to a unified aesthetic design and creates a sense of overall cohesion. Some widgets support interaction with the user, for example labels, [[Button (computing)|buttons]], and [[Checkbox|check boxes]]. Others act as [[Container (abstract data type)#Graphic containers|containers]] that group the widgets added to them, for example [[Window (computing)|windows]], [[Panel (computer software)|panels]], and tabs.

Structuring a user interface with [[widget toolkit]]s allows developers to reuse code for similar tasks, and provides users with a common language for interaction, maintaining consistency throughout the whole information system.

[[Graphical user interface builder]]s facilitate the authoring of GUIs in a [[What You See Is What You Get|WYSIWYG]] manner employing a [[user interface markup language]].  They automatically generate all the [[source code]] for a widget from general descriptions provided by the developer, usually through [[direct manipulation]].