Re: [XForms] How to proceed?

[Rick Engebretson]

My interest in XForms is due to their core simplicity on Linux. A few 
years ago I updated some translation into Freepascal. I relied on the 
XForms C structures maintaining their definitions to create Pascal 
Records. I had no intention for it to be other than what it was; a non 
portable implementation of the XForms library into the more readable 
Object Pascal.

Recently, I've been learning and playing with the Raspberry Pi and their 
Debian Linux port called Raspbian. Surprisingly, the XForms library and 
development tools are in download packages. Also, surprisingly, 
Freepascal is avalable. So for me, the Raspberry Pi is a perfect 
platform for a billion users; 32bit, 700MHz, 500MB.

NEdit is also available for the Pi. The fonts reminded me of old SuSE 
Pro before SuSE9. I was curious about available fonts, but it wasn't a 
priority.

I think it has been difficult for the simple and functional computer 
developers to coexist with the computer candy crowd. I don't care what 
you do now that I have the right version tools on the right platform. 
But don't waste your time making candy for people who will never be pleased.

Thanks,
Rick.

Jens Thoms Toerring wrote:
> Hi,
>
>     the new development versions, using true/open type fonts
> as well as supporting UTF-8, have been available for some
> time now and, while they're not yet perfect, I think they
> (or at least the newer ones) are mostly usable.
>
>     I hope that you've made up your mind if the new features
> are a good thing to have or not. My question to you is: would
> you consider them as something that makes XForms a better (or
> at least more useful) library? Or would you say that they are
> not worth getting included or are even breaking too many things,
> making the new version unusable for your purposes? I know that
> there are issues due to texts being a bit wider with the new
> fonts, which might break UIs of existing programs, which, ad-
> mittedly, can be a PITA...
>
>     As it's definitely not my intention to force a version onto
> you that many consider to be too disruptive or just simply un-
> necessary, I'd like to ask you for a bit of feedback on how you
> feel about it. That will help me decide if I should spend more
> time on it or better stop. So, please, let me know what your
> thoughts are!
>                            Best regards, Jens