Re: GUI without X11 / Artist Help

[Alex Perez]

jesse@jesseross.com wrote:
> > > > > 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?

Short answer: WindowMaker is not a GNUstep application, does not use 
GNUstep in any way, and probably never will, which is unfortunate, 
IMHO). WindowMaker is a standalone C-only application. It shares some 
attributes (the look, mostly, and a few design decisions) with GNUstep, 
but other than that it doesn't use or depend on GNUstep at all.

> 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).

Yes, and this is what many of the candy-coated GNOME/KDE users want us 
to do...throw out UI guidelines and make pretty shiny things. I'm fine 
with pretty shiny things as long as we can make them compatible with the 
UI guidelines, but not if we have to sacrifice them.

Cheers,
Alex Perez