Re: opening Gnome to multiple (windowing) systems

[Tom Tromey <tromey cygnus com>]

>>>>> "Jim" == Jim Pick <jim@jimpick.com> writes:

Jim> Using multiple toolkits does raise the issue of increased memory
Jim> requirements when you have all those libraries loaded in at once.

Jim> I'd personally be willing to trade some increased memory
Jim> requirements to run the Gnome environment in exchange for having
Jim> integration across all the pre-existing applications presently
Jim> written for KDE, Gnome/Gimp, mozilla, tcl/tk, emacs, etc.

I agree.  I see this as precisely analogous to
interface/implementation separation in code.

Once our style guide is fleshed out enough, we (or somebody) could use
it to "validate" other applications as "Gnome compliant".  This would
be a measure of how well the application fits into the Gnome desktop
environment, integrates with Gnome tools, etc.

Probably most toolkits won't be rewritten to have themes and so forth
just to gain Gnome compliance.  So one important level of compliance
would be compliance with the "standard" theme.

As a practical matter it will probably always be easier to write fully
Gnome-compliant applications using Gtk.  And I think all the default
applications should be written that way, just so we don't spend extra
time grinding on another toolkit.

But at the same time I don't think we should reject a useful
application just because it happens to be written using Tk, for
instance.


Another axis on the compliance scale (it is suddenly a plane, and not
a line...) is how well the tool integrates into our CORBA backplane.
E.g., an Emacs with CORBA hooks is still useful on the Gnome desktop,
and can said to be compliant in one sense, even though its GUI is
completely wrong.

Tom