Re: GUI without X11 / Artist Help

[Alex Perez]

jesse@jesseross.com wrote:
> > > > > > Also, apart from icons, is there a direction for the default GUI
> > > > > > interface? I saw some of the theming that will be/is available
> > > > > > through Camaelon -- has there been a clear consensus on keeping
> > > > > > certain NEXTSTEP
> > > > > > elements or moving to a more Mac look (ie: horizontal menubar versus
> > > > > > vertical floating bar, scrollbar on left/right)? Any feedback on
> > > > > > that would be helpful for redesiging the default GUI.
> > > > >
> > > > > This comes up from time to time on the list.  There are equally many
> > > > > usability and aesthetic points that could be cited in favor of either
> > > > > interface, Aqua or "Step".  Since Aqua is already being handled
> > > > > nicely by Apple, it's probably best to make GNUstep's default the
> > > > > alternative, instead of an imitation that will always pale compared
> > > > > to the original.  (In some ways it actually feels good to move from a
> > > > > KDE to a Windows machine, for example..)  Likewise for aping Gnome.
> > > > > The development and continuing popularity of window managers such as
> > > > > WindowMaker and Afterstep suggests there is a user population that
> > > > > likes the Step theme.
> > > >
> > > > First, let me tell you that I'm a very new GNUStep user, but I really
> > > > like it so far.
> > > > The only thing which bothers me is its rather dated look.
> > > > I'm just looking at the screenshot from Nicolas Roard with the new
> > > > icons, and I
> > > > have to admit that it looks pretty good.
> > > > But I still don't like the look of some of the widgets.
> > > > Are there any plans to change them?
> > > > Or, a better question, do you want them changed?
> > > >
> > > > I'm not sure what I should make of all the comments written on
> > > > GNUStep.org.
> > > > It sounds more like you want to keep the look of the widgets as they
> > > > are.
> > > >
> > > > Regards,
> > > > Patrik
> > >
> > >
> > > 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?
This requires WindowMaker to support alpha-channel images. It does have 
some support for this now (the alt-tab switching panel) since 
WindowMaker 0.9.x. However, I don't think the dock supports alpha 
channel images yet. It might, but I will need to test it.

> Can WindowMaker be structured (or is it already structured) to take
> advantage of the anti-aliasing and transparency that libart provides?

It could, but it probably never will. WindowMaker uses its own graphics 
library. It does now have alpha channel support however, and until 
relatively recently, it did not.

> 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?

It's been done before, even by myself.

Cheers,
Alex Perez