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This is all true. Tk is a great way to make a GUI on Mac or Windows. Linux, not so much, as it's so ugly and outdated that it's basically unusable. Maybe things

This is all true. Tk is a great way to make a GUI on Mac or Windows. Linux, not so much, as it's so ugly and outdated that it's basically unusable. Maybe things have changed in recent years, but a 1995-style GUI just doesn't cut it.

davidw 7y ago
It's not that hard to give it some styling to make it look modern-ish enough to get things done with it.
bluedays 7y ago
The tk framework has had some improvements in 8.5 when ttk was added that modernize the framework. You can make really attractive Windows now with ttk on Linux now that wasn’t possible before.
- acqq 7y ago
  Exactly, Tk looks good on all platforms at latest since 8.5 and the new engine. The relevant tutorial: https://tkdocs.com/tutorial/intro.html https://tkdocs.com/tutorial/intro.html Which exists since 2008. Here's the minimal example for Tcl, Perl, Python and Ruby (note -- Tk doesn't have to be used only in Tcl!) with the pictures of the native looking interfaces on Mac OS X, Windows and Linux (all three): https://tkdocs.com/tutorial/firstexample.html https://tkdocs.com/tutorial/firstexample.html
aidenn0 7y ago
Tk has been fine on linux since 2006ish with ttk. The default look is still motif, but it's a single line change to get a more modern look. [edit] Tile (which was incorporated in tcl 8.5) is actually older, as an extension, so with a bit of work you could get better looking apps even earlier.
swiley 7y ago
As a Linux user I quite like TK on Linux, I prefer it to the awful GUIs people make with html. In fact, my favorite GUI app on Linux (xcircuit) uses tk.
flukus 7y ago
I do wish the main documentation site would focus more on Tk and less on Tcl/Tk, you get the impression that the two are joined at the hip. For those of us that don't like Tcl it seems like Tk is still quite usable but working out how is left as an excercise for the reader. Things have improved, I found a good multi-language documentation page (https://tkdocs.com/index.html https://tkdocs.com/index.html) including this good multi language example (https://tkdocs.com/tutorial/firstexample.html https://tkdocs.com/tutorial/firstexample.html) but very little on how to use the c api (https://www.tcl-lang.org/man/tcl8.6/TkLib/contents.htm https://www.tcl-lang.org/man/tcl8.6/TkLib/contents.htm). I hope things keep improving, Tk is what electron should should have been.
mwcampbell 7y ago
> Tk is a great way to make a GUI Except that it has zero accessibility support, e.g. for blind users with screen readers. Please don't use it for any non-toy application, unless it's something inherently visual.

davidw 7y ago

It's not that hard to give it some styling to make it look modern-ish enough to get things done with it.

bluedays 7y ago

The tk framework has had some improvements in 8.5 when ttk was added that modernize the framework. You can make really attractive Windows now with ttk on Linux now that wasn’t possible before.

acqq 7y ago
Exactly, Tk looks good on all platforms at latest since 8.5 and the new engine. The relevant tutorial: https://tkdocs.com/tutorial/intro.html https://tkdocs.com/tutorial/intro.html Which exists since 2008. Here's the minimal example for Tcl, Perl, Python and Ruby (note -- Tk doesn't have to be used only in Tcl!) with the pictures of the native looking interfaces on Mac OS X, Windows and Linux (all three): https://tkdocs.com/tutorial/firstexample.html https://tkdocs.com/tutorial/firstexample.html

aidenn0 7y ago

Tk has been fine on linux since 2006ish with ttk. The default look is still motif, but it's a single line change to get a more modern look. [edit] Tile (which was incorporated in tcl 8.5) is actually older, as an extension, so with a bit of work you could get better looking apps even earlier.

swiley 7y ago

As a Linux user I quite like TK on Linux, I prefer it to the awful GUIs people make with html. In fact, my favorite GUI app on Linux (xcircuit) uses tk.

flukus 7y ago

I do wish the main documentation site would focus more on Tk and less on Tcl/Tk, you get the impression that the two are joined at the hip. For those of us that don't like Tcl it seems like Tk is still quite usable but working out how is left as an excercise for the reader. Things have improved, I found a good multi-language documentation page (https://tkdocs.com/index.html https://tkdocs.com/index.html) including this good multi language example (https://tkdocs.com/tutorial/firstexample.html https://tkdocs.com/tutorial/firstexample.html) but very little on how to use the c api (https://www.tcl-lang.org/man/tcl8.6/TkLib/contents.htm https://www.tcl-lang.org/man/tcl8.6/TkLib/contents.htm). I hope things keep improving, Tk is what electron should should have been.

mwcampbell 7y ago

> Tk is a great way to make a GUI Except that it has zero accessibility support, e.g. for blind users with screen readers. Please don't use it for any non-toy application, unless it's something inherently visual.