Re: [gsl-dev] GTK+ v FLTK

[Havoc Pennington <hp redhat com>]

Hi,

On gtk-devel-list we have no context - is this a serious conversation
about changing OO.o toolkit, or just people speculating? ;-)

On Tue, Apr 22, 2003 at 08:51:23AM +0100, Michael Meeks wrote: 
> 	In a word - no. Gtk+ provides a graphics device abstraction just like
> any other toolkit; that runs fine, even well on Win32.
> 

It is an "emulating" toolkit rather than wrapping native widgets but
all full-featured toolkits are (Swing, Qt, VCL).
 
> > I'm not saying that FLTK is the way to go (I don't think so at all),
> > but only that in a contest between GTK+ and FLTK, I would give the nod
> > to FLTK for the future needs of OO.

Speaking as an expert in the domain of desktop development on UNIX, I
feel I can categorically state that using FLTK is Wrong (tm).  The big
win from changing toolkits for OO.o would be to sync up with the
look-and-feel and behaviors and UI work and a11y work and i18n work of
one of the three major toolkits (gtk, qt, swing).  If you're not going
to do that, why bother changing.

> 	When considering a new toolkit for OO.o, I would imagine that (for the
> team) things such as: support (Sun has to support gtk+ already),
> strategically encouraging fewer graphical toolkits by re-using commonly
> used ones, maturity, deployment, API/ABI stability, etc. etc. might be
> more telling than some speculative design advantage.

Yes, exactly.
 
> 	My feeling is that on most cost/benefit analysis charts, pragmatically,
> and in net developer cost switching to using gtk+ instead of VCL is the
> best move long term.

It would be a long slow migration, but yes each new toolkit in the OS
is significant extra work, and significantly damages user experience.

Havoc