Re: [gtk-list] Re: GTK+ Menu Styles...

[KC5TJA <kc5tja topaz axisinternet com>]

> >From the point of view of the applications programmer, I have just put
> everything in a handle box, the button bar, the menu bar, the lot. Each
> has its' own. It makes the application in it's essence very small indeed
> (one tiny menu bar along the top of the screen, a la` mac and one
> minimised icon) but for the windoze users, or those who like the style,
> they can reassemble the whole lump into a complete application GUI as they
> might prefer.

The problem is that your applications, and ONLY your applications, are
like this.

> My view on this is that applications should take up the minimum screen
> space necessary to do the task with no loss of functionality. Of course,
> in this, xterms are supreme, as you can set them to unreadable font, and
> just watch events if you want. I don't feel it's the job of the library to
> interface with the windowmanager to produce this type of functionality,
> however. I would say it is the job of the applications programmer to
> handle it.

I am forced to differ in this opinion.  AmigaOS took this very attitude,
and when Kickstart 1.0-1.3 was available, application's GUIs were in total
chaos.  Since Kickstart 2.0, however, it became exceptionally easy for an
application developer to use the same basic user interface design as the
operating system.  Unlike Windows, however, AmigaOS applications still
have the basic Kickstart 1.0 Intuition API, which allows them to override
this uniformity whenever necessary.

What I propose for GTK 2.0 is the separation of the widget management from
the basic GUI elements: the layer (a window, without all the
embellishments), a boolean gadget, a slider, and a text gadget.  Widgets,
then, become composites of these basic elements, and also of other
widgets.

Note that the Amiga permits a "slider" to go in both directions
concurrently, if configured accordingly.  I wish that GTK had something
similar.

> the same way that X geometries are specified to X toolkit clients. I think
> anything else gets too window manager dependent, and I dislike any program
> with features that rely on either overfeatured or rococo windowmanagers.

Please study the GEOS 2.0 SDK for the PC from GeoWorks.  They have it
on-line.  GOES has a method of defining user interfaces that is fully
independent of its window manager, yet also takes full advantage of its
unique features as well.  No need for Xt-like configurablility nightmares!

==========================================================================
      KC5TJA/6     |                  -| TEAM DOLPHIN |-
        DM13       |                  Samuel A. Falvo II
    QRP-L #1447    |          http://www.dolphin.openprojects.net