Look and Feel

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Look and feel refers to design aspects such as colours, layout, font sizes, and the use of buttons, boxes, etc. in software which has a graphical user interface and in websites.

Apple Computer was notable for the use of the term with their MacOS operating system. Apple tried, with some success, to block other software developers from creating software which had a similar "look and feel" to their software. They argued that they had a copyright claim on the look and feel of their software, and even went so far as to take Microsoft to court, alleging that their Windows operating system was illegally copying their look and feel.

Despite arousing a large angry reaction from the software community, and causing Richard Stallman to form the League for Programming Freedom, the expected landmark ruling never happened as the case was settled.