4 ms·

I'm really not sure what you mean. wxWidgets is a wrapper around the underlying GUI framework. AFAICT, all of those screenshots are using the standard wxWidge

I'm really not sure what you mean. wxWidgets is a wrapper around the underlying GUI framework. AFAICT, all of those screenshots are using the standard wxWidgets UI elements, with the obvious exceptions of the audio waveform, the on-screen keyboard, and the 3D graphics widget, which will not be standard components in any GUI toolkit. The variation is due to the users taking the screenshots using different themes or styles in Gtk, KDE, Windows, etc..

moron4hire 11y ago
I was not talking about those very purpose-specific widgets. I know they aren't standard components. I'm also not talking about theme- or OS-specific differences. I'm talking about the fact that few of the examples maintained a 100% consistent look and feel within their own theme. These are not nitpicky things. Maintaining visual consistency between applications is key to achieving usability. Here are some examples: All of the buttons are non-standard, but the gridview headers and tab controls are standard: https://www.wxwidgets.org/about/screenshots/cars-hotsurf-msw.png https://www.wxwidgets.org/about/screenshots/cars-hotsurf-msw... Non-standard toolbar buttons, repositioner handles, and rendering and location for tool-window close boxes: https://www.wxwidgets.org/about/screenshots/audacity-msw.png https://www.wxwidgets.org/about/screenshots/audacity-msw.png Skinned background and non-standard grouping panels, but standard buttons, menus, textboxes, etc: https://www.wxwidgets.org/about/screenshots/boinc.jpg https://www.wxwidgets.org/about/screenshots/boinc.jpg Non-standard coloring on buttons in toolbar: https://www.wxwidgets.org/about/screenshots/ginkgo-windows.jpg https://www.wxwidgets.org/about/screenshots/ginkgo-windows.j... Link-buttons used for commands ("Run Benchmark") and reskinned, giganto elements mixed with standard, tiny elements: https://www.wxwidgets.org/about/screenshots/sysmark2012.jpg https://www.wxwidgets.org/about/screenshots/sysmark2012.jpg An MDI hacked together out of grouping panels: https://www.wxwidgets.org/about/screenshots/trident-msw.jpg https://www.wxwidgets.org/about/screenshots/trident-msw.jpg There was absolutely no reason to reskin these buttons and textboxes. Skeuomorphism is bad design: https://www.wxwidgets.org/about/screenshots/audio-evolution-msw.png https://www.wxwidgets.org/about/screenshots/audio-evolution-... A hacked together Ribbon view out of a tab-view placed in the toolbar location, but they also include a separate toolbar section. Finally, that "calculate" button should follow its config elements, not precede them: https://www.wxwidgets.org/about/screenshots/coppercube-msw.jpg https://www.wxwidgets.org/about/screenshots/coppercube-msw.j...
- outworlder 11y ago
  Yeah, these look pretty bad. If you are going to reskin, reskin everything. However, on Windows, you really cannot. Even more so if you are using the "classic" interface. On my last count, the scrollbars would redraw themselves in response to 11 different types of messages (not only WM_PAINT and WM_NCPAINT, as one would expect). And the API wouldn't give you a handle for you to draw them yourself, windows forms or not. Also, it doesn't help that most of the screenshots are quite old. Where are the apps running on Windows 10? The OSX screenshots, when present, are from the first OSX versions.
- kuschku 11y ago
  Those things are solved by non-native toolkits. Qt comes to mind - which allows simple css styling of the whole UI, applied everywhere, in a simple manner – but still can look native.
  - SomeCollegeBro 11y ago
    Just getting done with a pretty significant realtime plotting app using CMake, Qt 5.5 and QWT. I have to say, it's been a mostly painless, pretty pleasurable experience. The Stylesheets CAN be a huge pain though. If you get a good and organized architecture down, it is by far the best method to style a desktop app I've ever used. Especially if you utilize QObject properties!
- jlarocco 11y ago
  I'm simply baffled that you're nitpicking little things like those, and then jumping to the conclusion that wrapping a browser widget is the best way to display a GUI in an end user application. HTML/CSS UIs you're suggesting are notorious for using ugly, non-standard, completely hacked up widgets with ridiculous styling that don't fit in with the rest of the system. Furthermore none of your nitpicks are due to wxWidgets itself and are mostly due to the application developer making usability choices (i.e. using customized buttons, grouping toolbar buttons using color, etc.) or simple mistakes (like forgetting to turn off the grid view header).
  - 11y ago

moron4hire 11y ago

I was not talking about those very purpose-specific widgets. I know they aren't standard components. I'm also not talking about theme- or OS-specific differences. I'm talking about the fact that few of the examples maintained a 100% consistent look and feel within their own theme. These are not nitpicky things. Maintaining visual consistency between applications is key to achieving usability. Here are some examples: All of the buttons are non-standard, but the gridview headers and tab controls are standard: https://www.wxwidgets.org/about/screenshots/cars-hotsurf-msw.png https://www.wxwidgets.org/about/screenshots/cars-hotsurf-msw... Non-standard toolbar buttons, repositioner handles, and rendering and location for tool-window close boxes: https://www.wxwidgets.org/about/screenshots/audacity-msw.png https://www.wxwidgets.org/about/screenshots/audacity-msw.png Skinned background and non-standard grouping panels, but standard buttons, menus, textboxes, etc: https://www.wxwidgets.org/about/screenshots/boinc.jpg https://www.wxwidgets.org/about/screenshots/boinc.jpg Non-standard coloring on buttons in toolbar: https://www.wxwidgets.org/about/screenshots/ginkgo-windows.jpg https://www.wxwidgets.org/about/screenshots/ginkgo-windows.j... Link-buttons used for commands ("Run Benchmark") and reskinned, giganto elements mixed with standard, tiny elements: https://www.wxwidgets.org/about/screenshots/sysmark2012.jpg https://www.wxwidgets.org/about/screenshots/sysmark2012.jpg An MDI hacked together out of grouping panels: https://www.wxwidgets.org/about/screenshots/trident-msw.jpg https://www.wxwidgets.org/about/screenshots/trident-msw.jpg There was absolutely no reason to reskin these buttons and textboxes. Skeuomorphism is bad design: https://www.wxwidgets.org/about/screenshots/audio-evolution-msw.png https://www.wxwidgets.org/about/screenshots/audio-evolution-... A hacked together Ribbon view out of a tab-view placed in the toolbar location, but they also include a separate toolbar section. Finally, that "calculate" button should follow its config elements, not precede them: https://www.wxwidgets.org/about/screenshots/coppercube-msw.jpg https://www.wxwidgets.org/about/screenshots/coppercube-msw.j...

outworlder 11y ago
Yeah, these look pretty bad. If you are going to reskin, reskin everything. However, on Windows, you really cannot. Even more so if you are using the "classic" interface. On my last count, the scrollbars would redraw themselves in response to 11 different types of messages (not only WM_PAINT and WM_NCPAINT, as one would expect). And the API wouldn't give you a handle for you to draw them yourself, windows forms or not. Also, it doesn't help that most of the screenshots are quite old. Where are the apps running on Windows 10? The OSX screenshots, when present, are from the first OSX versions.
kuschku 11y ago
Those things are solved by non-native toolkits. Qt comes to mind - which allows simple css styling of the whole UI, applied everywhere, in a simple manner – but still can look native.
- SomeCollegeBro 11y ago
  Just getting done with a pretty significant realtime plotting app using CMake, Qt 5.5 and QWT. I have to say, it's been a mostly painless, pretty pleasurable experience. The Stylesheets CAN be a huge pain though. If you get a good and organized architecture down, it is by far the best method to style a desktop app I've ever used. Especially if you utilize QObject properties!
jlarocco 11y ago
I'm simply baffled that you're nitpicking little things like those, and then jumping to the conclusion that wrapping a browser widget is the best way to display a GUI in an end user application. HTML/CSS UIs you're suggesting are notorious for using ugly, non-standard, completely hacked up widgets with ridiculous styling that don't fit in with the rest of the system. Furthermore none of your nitpicks are due to wxWidgets itself and are mostly due to the application developer making usability choices (i.e. using customized buttons, grouping toolbar buttons using color, etc.) or simple mistakes (like forgetting to turn off the grid view header).
- 11y ago