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> Qt/swing/gtk apps tend to look like shit You couldn't be further from the truth. Have you seen the Blizzard app (Qt) [0]? The JetBrains Toolbox app(Qt) [1]?

> Qt/swing/gtk apps tend to look like shit You couldn't be further from the truth. Have you seen the Blizzard app (Qt) [0]? The JetBrains Toolbox app(Qt) [1]? Also, here's a small app I wrote in kotlin and swing for my GF who wanted to download music from youtube without installing crapware downloaders [2]. You'll notice it has a custom window frame, support for drag and drop, and fully customized table and buttons. I spent about 5 hours styling the UI, and half a weekend writing the entire app. Yes, I agree, dowloading music from youtube is immoral and illegal, but I'm showcasing the UI so please ignore the underlying purpose of the app. [0] http://l3.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/v.xvnI7eUsLskyHopY6Kkg--/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjtzbT0xO3c9MTYzNDtoPTk3Nw--/http://media.zenfs.com/en/homerun/feed_manager_auto_publish_494/d4b65f5f7a53b2755541bb5fd804ef75 http://l3.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/v.xvnI7eUsLskyHopY6Kkg--/Y... [1] https://www.jetbrains.com/help/img/idea/2017.2/rm_py_toolbox_app.png https://www.jetbrains.com/help/img/idea/2017.2/rm_py_toolbox... [2] https://imgur.com/J29HJJk https://imgur.com/J29HJJk

pvg 9y ago
The Jetbrains toolbox UI (and your downloader) do very little. Blizzard's app does a great deal more but is a terrible, sluggish, battery-hogging mess, which also includes web UI elements of some sort. Even Blizzard knows this which is why the app has a setting to hide its windows after launching a game. It doesn't feel like an example of a quality Qt app at all, if such a thing exists.
- rootlocus 9y ago
  > The Jetbrains toolbox UI (and your downloader) do very little. That's true, but the argument was never about how complex applications are. It was about how they look. If you want an `idea` how well a swing look and feel scales with the complexity of the application, look at the IntelliJ IDEs. Not to mention the irony of complaining about performance, when the promoted alternative is electron...
  - pvg 9y ago
    Well, I don't think your app looks better than an Electron app, in fact, you've styled it in a very web-like fashion. The Blizzard app does not look good and its performance is vastly worse than most Electron apps I've tried, so the irony eludes me.
    - rootlocus 9y ago
      > Well, I don't think your app looks better than an Electron app, in fact, you've styled it in a very web-like fashion Well, it wasn't about being "better", it was about not looking like shit. > The Blizzard app does not look good and its performance is vastly worse than most Electron apps I've tried, so the irony eludes me. Well, Visual Studio Code used to drain battery life for blinking the cursor in the background. But again, it was never about performance. My original argument was that newer 'native' applications written using Qt or swing can look just as good as web based UIs
      - pvg 9y ago
        Your argument was that Qt and Swing apps looking like shit 'could not be further than the truth'. Your counter-examples are a pair of apps that do next to nothing and a really bad app.
        rootlocus 9y ago
        My argument is that it takes a few hours to make a look and feel for swing that mimics the appearance of modern electron apps. Also that Qt has plenty of styling power. Blizzard's app is a "really bad app" just because you have a personal problem against it. It works pretty well on my PC (0.5% CPU and 130Mb ram) and I think it looks pretty nice.
        pvg 9y ago
        Lots of people dislike the Blizzard app but if you like the Blizzard app or spent 5 hours beating a single Swing frame into looking like a web app with questionable typography, we probably have very different (subjective) notions of what a decent-looking app is. What you did say is that Qt or Swing apps looking bad cannot be further from the truth. If that were the case, you should be able to rattle off dozens of beloved, beautiful, complex Qt or Swing apps. Most cross-platform UIs (including those based on Electron) look and behaves poopily. The few that don't are the result of exceptional effort and focus.
mynewtb 9y ago
> Yes, I agree, dowloading music from youtube is immoral and illegal, ... It is neither! Enjoy your music :)

pvg 9y ago

The Jetbrains toolbox UI (and your downloader) do very little. Blizzard's app does a great deal more but is a terrible, sluggish, battery-hogging mess, which also includes web UI elements of some sort. Even Blizzard knows this which is why the app has a setting to hide its windows after launching a game. It doesn't feel like an example of a quality Qt app at all, if such a thing exists.

rootlocus 9y ago
> The Jetbrains toolbox UI (and your downloader) do very little. That's true, but the argument was never about how complex applications are. It was about how they look. If you want an `idea` how well a swing look and feel scales with the complexity of the application, look at the IntelliJ IDEs. Not to mention the irony of complaining about performance, when the promoted alternative is electron...
- pvg 9y ago
  Well, I don't think your app looks better than an Electron app, in fact, you've styled it in a very web-like fashion. The Blizzard app does not look good and its performance is vastly worse than most Electron apps I've tried, so the irony eludes me.
  - rootlocus 9y ago
    > Well, I don't think your app looks better than an Electron app, in fact, you've styled it in a very web-like fashion Well, it wasn't about being "better", it was about not looking like shit. > The Blizzard app does not look good and its performance is vastly worse than most Electron apps I've tried, so the irony eludes me. Well, Visual Studio Code used to drain battery life for blinking the cursor in the background. But again, it was never about performance. My original argument was that newer 'native' applications written using Qt or swing can look just as good as web based UIs
    - pvg 9y ago
      Your argument was that Qt and Swing apps looking like shit 'could not be further than the truth'. Your counter-examples are a pair of apps that do next to nothing and a really bad app.
      - rootlocus 9y ago
        My argument is that it takes a few hours to make a look and feel for swing that mimics the appearance of modern electron apps. Also that Qt has plenty of styling power. Blizzard's app is a "really bad app" just because you have a personal problem against it. It works pretty well on my PC (0.5% CPU and 130Mb ram) and I think it looks pretty nice.
        pvg 9y ago
        Lots of people dislike the Blizzard app but if you like the Blizzard app or spent 5 hours beating a single Swing frame into looking like a web app with questionable typography, we probably have very different (subjective) notions of what a decent-looking app is. What you did say is that Qt or Swing apps looking bad cannot be further from the truth. If that were the case, you should be able to rattle off dozens of beloved, beautiful, complex Qt or Swing apps. Most cross-platform UIs (including those based on Electron) look and behaves poopily. The few that don't are the result of exceptional effort and focus.

mynewtb 9y ago

> Yes, I agree, dowloading music from youtube is immoral and illegal, ... It is neither! Enjoy your music :)