Re: Native widgets (was: Re: So, honestly, is GNUStep a viable development option?)

[Gregory John Casamento]

> I think everybody on this mailing list knows that there are GNUstep users that do not really care about that.

> However there are people who care on the list, and the outside world cares about it too.

 
Our architecture makes it difficult to implement this.   Each widget in GNUstep draws itself using a set of postscript like functions.   It is also possible for subclasses to alter how the widgets are drawn.  There are a number of apps on Mac OS X and on GNUstep which make use of this capability.

So, it's not about us not caring.... it's about: how do we use native widgets without sacrificing functionality?

If you can come up with a productive method of using native widgets where we don't lose the functionality, then I would be more than happy to hear about it, but pontificating that we should without offering a concrete solution is fairly pointless.

> I'd prefer create a NIB for X11, Windows and Mac OS X so that it looks good on these platform than

> not being able to look good on anyone.

>

> People discarding GNUstep for wxWidgets, GTK+, Qt are ready to code more for their interface,

> so they wouldn't be afraid if they needed to redo a NIB file.

>

> Actually, this is the same with localization, you have to duplicate NIBs and maintain them, but

> reaching more users is at stake.

These are all good points.   The issues are what I pointed out above.

Later, GJC

--
Gregory Casamento -- OLC, Inc
# GNUstep Chief Maintainer

----- Original Message ----
From: Renaud Molla <renaud.molla@wanadoo.fr>
To: discuss-gnustep@gnu.org
Sent: Friday, November 16, 2007 1:57:53 AM
Subject: Re: Native widgets (was: Re: So, honestly, is GNUStep a viable development option?)

(...) I personally have no problem with "non-native"
look of an application in an "environment" as long as the application itself is cool and powerful.

I think everybody on this mailing list knows that there are GNUstep users that do not really care about that.

However there are people who care on the list, and the outside world cares about it too.

I'm afraid that changing widgets would require additional porting effort
when switching to another platform.

I'd prefer create a NIB for X11, Windows and Mac OS X so that it looks good on these platform than

not being able to look good on anyone.

People discarding GNUstep for wxWidgets, GTK+, Qt are ready to code more for their interface,

so they wouldn't be afraid if they needed to redo a NIB file.

Actually, this is the same with localization, you have to duplicate NIBs and maintain them, but

reaching more users is at stake.