Well, the question of what's "modern" in C++ is both deep and contentions. But I won't shirk the question... You want to be utilizing the features C++11, C++14

Well, the question of what's "modern" in C++ is both deep and contentions. But I won't shirk the question... You want to be utilizing the features C++11, C++14 and maybe even newer versions of the standard allow you to use, to avoid unnecessary boilerplate, repetition, and arcane-ness of syntax and semantics. Similarly, the GUI toolkit should not be based on C-like or C++98-like design patterns, when newer versions of the standard allow replacing them with more convenient patterns. Here's one example, from the Nana C++ GUI toolkit: #include <nana/gui.hpp> #include <nana/gui/widgets/label.hpp> #include <nana/gui/widgets/button.hpp> int main() { nana::form form; nana::label label{form, "Hello, <bold blue size=16>Nana C++ Library</>"}; label.format(true); nana::button button{form, "Quit"}; button.events().click( [&form]{ form.close(); } ); form.div("vert <><<><weight=80% text><>><><weight=24<><button><>><>"); form["text"] << label; form["button"] << button; form.collocate(); form.show(); //Start to event loop process, it blocks until the form is closed. nana::exec(); } This is not perfect IMHO; for example, I don't really like the confusing div string with the many < and > signs. But you can put this in a text editor, build it with `g++ -I/path/to/nana/includes -L/path/to/nana/libs -lnana` - and it will just work, on various platforms. No secret sauce, no need for a bunch of IDE dialogs or any special configuration or action.