5 ms·

Kind of sad the UI wasn't fixed. TCL/TK looked old and archaic a decade ago on desktop machines, and still looks really bad here: http://www.androwish.org/index

by lnanek2 12y ago

Kind of sad the UI wasn't fixed. TCL/TK looked old and archaic a decade ago on desktop machines, and still looks really bad here: http://www.androwish.org/index.html/wiki?name=Example+Scripts http://www.androwish.org/index.html/wiki?name=Example+Script... It is old Sun technology that Sun abandoned to work only on Java and if you are familiar with how bad and ugly the original Java UIs were (AWT, Applets, etc.) you already know what it looks like. To match modern Android UIs they have to rip out a lot of chrome and needless borders and decoration and make the whole thing a lot cleaner, then redo everything to try to follow a consistent design grid of touchable items. Android designs follow a 48dp grid (dp being a pixel that scales with screen density) to keep things consistent and the right size to touch. In the screenshots above you often see things like inconsistent spacing and tiny microscopic checkboxes (which are not even consistent checkboxes with the rest of Android so increase user friction).

oblio 12y ago
They did fix the tech with TTK/Tile. The thing is, the default themes for it are decent, but they're still far from what Qt does. And even Qt isn't perfect. Here's how things look with Tile: http://tktable.sourceforge.net/tile/ http://tktable.sourceforge.net/tile/ (click Screenshots on the left).
- bachmeier 12y ago
  "the default themes for it are decent" Not on Linux. One of the long-time criticisms of Tcl was its Windows-centric development.
- luckydude 12y ago
  This: http://www.mcvoy.com/lm/bitmover/lm/gui/gui.html http://www.mcvoy.com/lm/bitmover/lm/gui/gui.html is done with Tk. It's possible to make it look semi decent and not that hard. We should have picked some better fonts.
abuzzooz 12y ago
> It is old Sun technology that Sun abandoned to work only on Java Not exactly true. Tcl/Tk was not invented at Sun, although Sun did fund its development for a few years by employing its author John Ousterhout. But, I agree with you that the UI look is outdated, and needs some touching up. Every time this issue is brought up, the Tcl folks point to the "new" theming capabilities that were added in v8.5 (or perhaps v8.4?). I haven't looked at theming in Tcl to make an opinion.
guyzero 12y ago
Tk looked outdated 20 years ago when I first used it on BSD-derived SunOS boxes.

by lnanek2 12y ago

oblio 12y ago

They did fix the tech with TTK/Tile. The thing is, the default themes for it are decent, but they're still far from what Qt does. And even Qt isn't perfect. Here's how things look with Tile: http://tktable.sourceforge.net/tile/ http://tktable.sourceforge.net/tile/ (click Screenshots on the left).

bachmeier 12y ago
"the default themes for it are decent" Not on Linux. One of the long-time criticisms of Tcl was its Windows-centric development.
luckydude 12y ago
This: http://www.mcvoy.com/lm/bitmover/lm/gui/gui.html http://www.mcvoy.com/lm/bitmover/lm/gui/gui.html is done with Tk. It's possible to make it look semi decent and not that hard. We should have picked some better fonts.

abuzzooz 12y ago

> It is old Sun technology that Sun abandoned to work only on Java Not exactly true. Tcl/Tk was not invented at Sun, although Sun did fund its development for a few years by employing its author John Ousterhout. But, I agree with you that the UI look is outdated, and needs some touching up. Every time this issue is brought up, the Tcl folks point to the "new" theming capabilities that were added in v8.5 (or perhaps v8.4?). I haven't looked at theming in Tcl to make an opinion.

guyzero 12y ago

Tk looked outdated 20 years ago when I first used it on BSD-derived SunOS boxes.