Re: GUI without X11 / Artist Help

[jesse]

>>>> I totally agree -- the look of the widgets and dock is very dated,
>>>> and
>>>> they all feel very "large". I think this is one of the things that
>>>> the
>>>> design team needs to determine specs for and then work on
>>>> implementing
>>>> a default modern look.
>>>
>>> The "dock" in most environments where GNUstep apps are run is
>>> actually provided by WindowMaker in the majority of cases.
>>> WindowMaker does not support alpha-channel background images (the
>>> gray square that the icon itself sits over) and I wish it did,
>>> because it would free us to have  a
>>> much more modern-looking dock.
>>>
>>> Cheers,
>>> Alex
>>>
>>
>> Is it possible to or is anyone interested in creating a new dock app
>> to achieve the effects we want? I don't know how WindowMaker is
>> structured,
>> or how difficult it would be to do something like that (but I can
>> assume
>> if it was easy, it probably would have already been done).
>>
>> At the very least, do we know if we can change the square block
>> background
>> to something else, like maybe a slightly rounded rectangle? Perhaps
>> something similar to the windows in this theme:
>>
>> http://www.roard.com/screenshots/screenshot_theme30.png
>>
>> Can WindowMaker be structured (or is it already structured) to take
>> advantage of the anti-aliasing and transparency that libart provides?
>>
>
> I'm not sure that I understand you correctly.
> The only thing in the screenshot, which WindowMaker provides, are the
>   rectangles on the right/bottom side of the screen, AFAIK.
>
>
>>
>> As another direction (and maybe this is going too far or me being more
>>  of
>> a designer than a programmer), but would it be possible to do PNG/JPG
>> mockups of what we'd like to see as the future direction of the GUI
>> (per
>> the competition I mentioned earlier), pull the best features and
>> ideas, and use that as the template for building the components we
>> would need?
>>
>
> I don't know if its possible, I just want to say that I'm more of a
> programmer than a designer,
> and as I said in an earlier mail, if some people want a better looking
> GNUStep, I can try to help.
>
> Patrik
>

Maybe I don't understand it correctly. I know the theming engine is
providing the look of the window borders -- can the dock also rely on the
theming engine for appearance? I guess that's my question. If not, what
would need to be done from a programming perspective to make that happen?

Also, I think it's more important that the appearance of
GNUstep/WindowMaker aid in making it a much more usable environment. It's
not just about appearances and eye candy -- the visual decisions should be
made on the grounds that they increase functionality, not just make the
app pretty (although that does help in attracting new users).


J.