7 ms·

Wow. I hate how so many Windows applications are considerably uglier compared to Mac counterparts. The Windows apps don't seem to push forward Windows design bu

Wow. I hate how so many Windows applications are considerably uglier compared to Mac counterparts. The Windows apps don't seem to push forward Windows design but rather get stuck in the Windows XP design days. This is beautifully designed and clear. The graph visualization is prime, and I love that the peaks are "rounded" out instead of sharp declines (sharp declines would make it look more like a live stock ticker). Extremely well done, and exactly something I have been looking for. I will keep an eye out for the Mac version.

greenwalls 12y ago
Thanks! It was actually very difficult to make rounded peaks due to the way network activity tends to suddenly spike. Sometimes the mini graph at the bottom of the UI doesn't match up exactly with the top graph due to our rounded graph but we're improving it all the time. I also hate the way spiky graphs look.
cledet 12y ago
GitHub for Windows is another beautifully designed Windows app. They even published a blog post about it: https://github.com/blog/1151-designing-github-for-windows https://github.com/blog/1151-designing-github-for-windows
- gcb0 12y ago
  that app has less features than a rock.
  - rjbwork 12y ago
    While true, it does what i need to do, sync my branches with my github for doing PRs.
    - Brajeshwar 12y ago
      I use Github for Mac, just for that feature - selectively write 'meaningful' comments while pushing files.
  - lucb1e 12y ago
    Finally. I thought I was stupid for not being able to help the Windows guys in class with their git guis.
  - higherpurpose 12y ago
    Nailed down the whole Windows Metro style experience.
    - blueskin_ 12y ago
      Useless for actual computing but designed to appeal to anyone a room temperature IQ.
  - blueskin_ 12y ago
    Didn't you get the metro^H^H^H^H^Hmemo? Features and options are bad as they will confuse and scare the user. </s>
  - andrewd18 12y ago
    Agreed. At least with a rock I can print off my source code, wrap it around the rock, and rapidly transfer it to my coworker.
- theflagbug 12y ago
  Here is a library that helps to create such an interface: http://mahapps.com/ http://mahapps.com/ It's also mentioned in the blog post you've posted. Disclaimer: I'm one of the developers of MahApps.Metro, I hope nobody minds the shameless self-promotion
  - raptormissle 12y ago
    I hope you realize that the design of GlassWire is far superior to that windows metro garbage of a UI.
  - winslow 12y ago
    It would be really cool to use this with pyQt. I know Qt has styling already so maybe it isn't needed?
    - theflagbug 12y ago
      This is a WPF library, so I don't think it'd work with pyQt
      - winslow 12y ago
        Oh I know it's a WPF, I just meant a library for pyQT or if Qt could do it by itself.
  - taspeotis 12y ago
    Thank you for your work on MahApps. It's not perfect but does 95% of what I need when I drop it in to small WPF applications.
    - theflagbug 12y ago
      If you tell me what's not perfect, maybe I can fix it :)
  - jmcqk6 12y ago
    MahApps.Metro has been my go to for simple interfaces. Mix it with ReactiveUI and some saner DI, and it's just awesome. Thanks very much for your work!
- slavik81 12y ago
  It's a little over-simplified, I think. In migrating some technical writers to git, I thought it might be a good tool to introduce people to git. I ran into 5 problems: 1. It spit out vague error messages, requiring repeating the action in the CLI to see git's actual, specific problem. 2. There's no option to do the initial clone via ssh, which was a problem because http was failing to download the full repository. 3. It can't do merges, so you end up needing to use the git CLI anyways. 4. It crashed repeatedly while trying to handle large (1GB) repositories. Very sluggish and occasionally unresponsive on smaller repositories, too, especially with large single commits. 5. Various minor bugs. People would ask me stuff like 'how do I discard changes?' and I'd discover they'd gotten into a state where the menu would not appear until the software was restarted. They found it difficult to know when something confusing was inherent or a bug. I wanted to love it, because it looks like it's good for beginners. Unfortunately, being pretty is not the same as being easy to use.
  - azatris 12y ago
    I've found Sourcetree to be powerful, simple and beautiful. It is also clear and good for learning.
    - bkurtz13 12y ago
      I was able to get some people who were apprehensive about git on board after finding SourceTree.
    - slavik81 12y ago
      Huh. I didn't realize Sourcetree was available for Windows. That would have been worth a shot. In the end, I introduced them to the git CLI, simply because I could always answer or find an answer to their questions about it.
  - ark15 12y ago
    I have run into 2, 3, 4, 5 as well. And in general, I often feel like the tool is not telling me what it is doing (especially while handling large repos when operations some time take considerably longer) I have since switched to SourceTree and it is working out well so far.
- raptormissle 12y ago
  GitHub for windows is not a beautifully designed Windows app. It's an app with an abomination of a UI. I immediately uninstalled it after using it for 10 minutes. The metro UI is such a disaster in terms of UI design.
- slowmotiony 12y ago
  Looks like the Zune app for Windows.
- blueskin_ 12y ago
  Too metro for my tastes (or to be usable).
- jimmaswell 12y ago
  GitHub for windows was awful last time I tried it. Didn't follow standard desktop application HIG and was annoying to figure out, sluggish. I've had a markedly better time with SourceTree. I hate it when apps force their own design instead of following the user's window manager settings and form.
- bitJericho 12y ago
  Github for windows is mind bogglingly bad. It's like staring into the sun. Nothing works like you'd expect it. They do their own thing. They should consider using a design similar to btSync. Now that's a good clean UI/UX.
Wintamute 12y ago
+1 for the nice design of this app! But personally, unless the curves represent actual data points, I think they're somewhat disingenuous. Granted they look prettier than spikes but they give a false representation of the resolution of the data.
- greenwalls 12y ago
  You are correct, it's not perfect but we're always trying to improve the graph so it's a better representation.
eric_h 12y ago
On the subject of Mac counterparts, I highly recommend Little Snitch for this particular functionality. I have no affiliation with the developer, I've just found Little Snitch to be quite useful and thought I'd share (admittedly it's graphs aren't as nice as this app's).
- film42 12y ago
  Also not affiliated but I've been using Little Snitch for about 5 years now, and I can't recommend this app enough. It's the first app I install on a new OSX installation.
- ridgeguy 12y ago
  Second your Little Snitch recommendation. Invaluable.
- Sealy 12y ago
  I love the app and what it represents. You have a great story and motive behind it. I'm +1 for a mac version as I think your work is beautiful. I'll share this with a few friends.
- archagon 12y ago
  Super useful if you spend a lot of time tethering. Just set everything to "ask" and build up your whitelist over time. After that, you no longer have to worry about remembering to turn off your torrents, CrashPlan, etc.
rullgrus 12y ago
It might look good on "standard" resolutions but unfortunately it doesn't handle Windows 8.1 scaling and a high resolution monitor that well. For example the "Usage" tab is unusable for me with fonts cut off in half and labels to the diagrams unreadable.
- greenwalls 12y ago
  Working on a fix.
ManFromUranus 12y ago
There are windows design guidelines, most developers/ISV's adhere to them. Another point: many companies don't want to spend any time or effort on design, as for most applications, it won't translate into additional revenue. I would argue that many customers don't even care what the app looks like so long as it works and they can figure out how to use it. Also you don't want to have to re-learn how to computer for every single application you open because somebody got bored with the current state of design for a network traffic monitoring tool.
- cledet 12y ago
  Good design will make a product understandable
  - nyrina 12y ago
    I think in this case, there is a difference between UX and Design. They do overlap, but not completely. UX is about the user experience - or rather, the user understanding the program. Design is about the application looking good. You can have both, or you can have either one, or neither. The command prompt is a good example of the former - I'm sure we can all agree that the design isn't great, but functionality wise, it's doing it's job perfect. Giving commands to experienced users. Perhaps it's my understanding of basic 3D programs, but I would point to 3D programs being the exact opposite, having a great design without a good UX. I always feel like I'm limited, in that I don't understand the millions of options. The programs themselves looks great, but I just don't understand how to use 90% of their functions.
- roadnottaken 12y ago
  I agree. I hate how certain programs (e.g. Adobe Creative Suite) feel the need to re-invent UX paradigms in every new version. I 99% don't care how an app looks if it's useful.
rational-future 12y ago
I'm a Windows user (go on, press the down arrow) and I don't care about app design. Give me military ship grey windows, text menus and a way to hide all icons. Windows 2000 was for me the apogee of 2D design.
- jdhzzz 12y ago
  I'm in on Windows 2000. Active window titles that could be set to bright colors to distinguish the active window from all the others (mine was canary yellow). I miss you Win2k.
  - fencepost 12y ago
    I don't have a Windows 8.x box to check on, but on Windows 7 you can still set the display attributes for active windows - it's just a bit more buried. To do so: * Right-click on the Desktop background, Personalize * Select Window Color button/link at the bottom * Select "Advanced appearance settings..." link * Click on the Active Title Bar in the preview area, or select Active Title Bar from the Item dropdown * Customize the font appearance, including font, color, size and weight.
    - Intermernet 12y ago
      I may be wrong, but as far as I know, the only way to access these settings in Win8 (without extra apps) is regedit. HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Colors has the keys you want.
- lucb1e 12y ago
  > go on, press the down arrow There you go. Nothing wrong with the comment, but since you asked... The people mentioning "this is an unpopular opinion", "why the downvotes" or "this will be downvoted to hell" always get the upvotes and indeed, I see the comment doesn't turn gray when I downvote so it means others already upvoted.
- yzzxy 12y ago
  Despite flat design being categorized as a fad by design news today, I would LOVE a Win2k style desktop with flat design. Could probably just be a texture swap.
tomc1985 12y ago
Wow. I don't hate how so many Windows applications are considerably uglier compared to Mac counterparts. In fact, I don't even care. There are more important concerns!
blueskin_ 12y ago
>Wow. I hate how so many Windows applications are considerably uglier compared to Mac counterparts. I lost you after this sentence. I thought you were about to use this program as a shining example of ugly windows software.

greenwalls 12y ago

Thanks! It was actually very difficult to make rounded peaks due to the way network activity tends to suddenly spike. Sometimes the mini graph at the bottom of the UI doesn't match up exactly with the top graph due to our rounded graph but we're improving it all the time. I also hate the way spiky graphs look.

cledet 12y ago

GitHub for Windows is another beautifully designed Windows app. They even published a blog post about it: https://github.com/blog/1151-designing-github-for-windows https://github.com/blog/1151-designing-github-for-windows

gcb0 12y ago
that app has less features than a rock.
- rjbwork 12y ago
  While true, it does what i need to do, sync my branches with my github for doing PRs.
  - Brajeshwar 12y ago
    I use Github for Mac, just for that feature - selectively write 'meaningful' comments while pushing files.
- lucb1e 12y ago
  Finally. I thought I was stupid for not being able to help the Windows guys in class with their git guis.
- higherpurpose 12y ago
  Nailed down the whole Windows Metro style experience.
  - blueskin_ 12y ago
    Useless for actual computing but designed to appeal to anyone a room temperature IQ.
- blueskin_ 12y ago
  Didn't you get the metro^H^H^H^H^Hmemo? Features and options are bad as they will confuse and scare the user. </s>
- andrewd18 12y ago
  Agreed. At least with a rock I can print off my source code, wrap it around the rock, and rapidly transfer it to my coworker.
theflagbug 12y ago
Here is a library that helps to create such an interface: http://mahapps.com/ http://mahapps.com/ It's also mentioned in the blog post you've posted. Disclaimer: I'm one of the developers of MahApps.Metro, I hope nobody minds the shameless self-promotion
- raptormissle 12y ago
  I hope you realize that the design of GlassWire is far superior to that windows metro garbage of a UI.
- winslow 12y ago
  It would be really cool to use this with pyQt. I know Qt has styling already so maybe it isn't needed?
  - theflagbug 12y ago
    This is a WPF library, so I don't think it'd work with pyQt
    - winslow 12y ago
      Oh I know it's a WPF, I just meant a library for pyQT or if Qt could do it by itself.
- taspeotis 12y ago
  Thank you for your work on MahApps. It's not perfect but does 95% of what I need when I drop it in to small WPF applications.
  - theflagbug 12y ago
    If you tell me what's not perfect, maybe I can fix it :)
- jmcqk6 12y ago
  MahApps.Metro has been my go to for simple interfaces. Mix it with ReactiveUI and some saner DI, and it's just awesome. Thanks very much for your work!
slavik81 12y ago
It's a little over-simplified, I think. In migrating some technical writers to git, I thought it might be a good tool to introduce people to git. I ran into 5 problems: 1. It spit out vague error messages, requiring repeating the action in the CLI to see git's actual, specific problem. 2. There's no option to do the initial clone via ssh, which was a problem because http was failing to download the full repository. 3. It can't do merges, so you end up needing to use the git CLI anyways. 4. It crashed repeatedly while trying to handle large (1GB) repositories. Very sluggish and occasionally unresponsive on smaller repositories, too, especially with large single commits. 5. Various minor bugs. People would ask me stuff like 'how do I discard changes?' and I'd discover they'd gotten into a state where the menu would not appear until the software was restarted. They found it difficult to know when something confusing was inherent or a bug. I wanted to love it, because it looks like it's good for beginners. Unfortunately, being pretty is not the same as being easy to use.
- azatris 12y ago
  I've found Sourcetree to be powerful, simple and beautiful. It is also clear and good for learning.
  - bkurtz13 12y ago
    I was able to get some people who were apprehensive about git on board after finding SourceTree.
  - slavik81 12y ago
    Huh. I didn't realize Sourcetree was available for Windows. That would have been worth a shot. In the end, I introduced them to the git CLI, simply because I could always answer or find an answer to their questions about it.
- ark15 12y ago
  I have run into 2, 3, 4, 5 as well. And in general, I often feel like the tool is not telling me what it is doing (especially while handling large repos when operations some time take considerably longer) I have since switched to SourceTree and it is working out well so far.
raptormissle 12y ago
GitHub for windows is not a beautifully designed Windows app. It's an app with an abomination of a UI. I immediately uninstalled it after using it for 10 minutes. The metro UI is such a disaster in terms of UI design.
slowmotiony 12y ago
Looks like the Zune app for Windows.
blueskin_ 12y ago
Too metro for my tastes (or to be usable).
jimmaswell 12y ago
GitHub for windows was awful last time I tried it. Didn't follow standard desktop application HIG and was annoying to figure out, sluggish. I've had a markedly better time with SourceTree. I hate it when apps force their own design instead of following the user's window manager settings and form.
bitJericho 12y ago
Github for windows is mind bogglingly bad. It's like staring into the sun. Nothing works like you'd expect it. They do their own thing. They should consider using a design similar to btSync. Now that's a good clean UI/UX.

Wintamute 12y ago

+1 for the nice design of this app! But personally, unless the curves represent actual data points, I think they're somewhat disingenuous. Granted they look prettier than spikes but they give a false representation of the resolution of the data.

greenwalls 12y ago
You are correct, it's not perfect but we're always trying to improve the graph so it's a better representation.

eric_h 12y ago

On the subject of Mac counterparts, I highly recommend Little Snitch for this particular functionality. I have no affiliation with the developer, I've just found Little Snitch to be quite useful and thought I'd share (admittedly it's graphs aren't as nice as this app's).

film42 12y ago
Also not affiliated but I've been using Little Snitch for about 5 years now, and I can't recommend this app enough. It's the first app I install on a new OSX installation.
ridgeguy 12y ago
Second your Little Snitch recommendation. Invaluable.
Sealy 12y ago
I love the app and what it represents. You have a great story and motive behind it. I'm +1 for a mac version as I think your work is beautiful. I'll share this with a few friends.
archagon 12y ago
Super useful if you spend a lot of time tethering. Just set everything to "ask" and build up your whitelist over time. After that, you no longer have to worry about remembering to turn off your torrents, CrashPlan, etc.

rullgrus 12y ago

It might look good on "standard" resolutions but unfortunately it doesn't handle Windows 8.1 scaling and a high resolution monitor that well. For example the "Usage" tab is unusable for me with fonts cut off in half and labels to the diagrams unreadable.

greenwalls 12y ago
Working on a fix.

ManFromUranus 12y ago

There are windows design guidelines, most developers/ISV's adhere to them. Another point: many companies don't want to spend any time or effort on design, as for most applications, it won't translate into additional revenue. I would argue that many customers don't even care what the app looks like so long as it works and they can figure out how to use it. Also you don't want to have to re-learn how to computer for every single application you open because somebody got bored with the current state of design for a network traffic monitoring tool.

cledet 12y ago
Good design will make a product understandable
- nyrina 12y ago
  I think in this case, there is a difference between UX and Design. They do overlap, but not completely. UX is about the user experience - or rather, the user understanding the program. Design is about the application looking good. You can have both, or you can have either one, or neither. The command prompt is a good example of the former - I'm sure we can all agree that the design isn't great, but functionality wise, it's doing it's job perfect. Giving commands to experienced users. Perhaps it's my understanding of basic 3D programs, but I would point to 3D programs being the exact opposite, having a great design without a good UX. I always feel like I'm limited, in that I don't understand the millions of options. The programs themselves looks great, but I just don't understand how to use 90% of their functions.
roadnottaken 12y ago
I agree. I hate how certain programs (e.g. Adobe Creative Suite) feel the need to re-invent UX paradigms in every new version. I 99% don't care how an app looks if it's useful.

rational-future 12y ago

I'm a Windows user (go on, press the down arrow) and I don't care about app design. Give me military ship grey windows, text menus and a way to hide all icons. Windows 2000 was for me the apogee of 2D design.

jdhzzz 12y ago
I'm in on Windows 2000. Active window titles that could be set to bright colors to distinguish the active window from all the others (mine was canary yellow). I miss you Win2k.
- fencepost 12y ago
  I don't have a Windows 8.x box to check on, but on Windows 7 you can still set the display attributes for active windows - it's just a bit more buried. To do so: * Right-click on the Desktop background, Personalize * Select Window Color button/link at the bottom * Select "Advanced appearance settings..." link * Click on the Active Title Bar in the preview area, or select Active Title Bar from the Item dropdown * Customize the font appearance, including font, color, size and weight.
  - Intermernet 12y ago
    I may be wrong, but as far as I know, the only way to access these settings in Win8 (without extra apps) is regedit. HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Colors has the keys you want.
lucb1e 12y ago
> go on, press the down arrow There you go. Nothing wrong with the comment, but since you asked... The people mentioning "this is an unpopular opinion", "why the downvotes" or "this will be downvoted to hell" always get the upvotes and indeed, I see the comment doesn't turn gray when I downvote so it means others already upvoted.
yzzxy 12y ago
Despite flat design being categorized as a fad by design news today, I would LOVE a Win2k style desktop with flat design. Could probably just be a texture swap.

tomc1985 12y ago

Wow. I don't hate how so many Windows applications are considerably uglier compared to Mac counterparts. In fact, I don't even care. There are more important concerns!

blueskin_ 12y ago

>Wow. I hate how so many Windows applications are considerably uglier compared to Mac counterparts. I lost you after this sentence. I thought you were about to use this program as a shining example of ugly windows software.