[OT] The right way to do a GUI (Was: Can D be cute? (Qt))

[Nick Sabalausky]

"Lutger" <lutger.blijdestijn at gmail.com> wrote in message 
news:hs64bs$voj$1 at digitalmars.com...
>
> Ok, looks like this is specific for the linux chrome version. You have to
> right-click in the chrome title bar btw, not just anywhere.
>
> I do agree though that apps should respect or at least enable title bar
> decoration and theming. (Note that microsoft apps like office 2007 do not 
> do
> this!) Most, if not all, linux window managers can be configured to force
> system titlebar decorations, perhaps it is also possible under windows.

One of the millions of projects I would be working on if I had time:

A cross-platform GUI system that allowed 100% native look & feel, but also 
had an easy-to-use config program that allows the user to make/save/install 
skins (including highly-configurable skins, such as the "classic" Windows 
style, where f***ing everything can be adjusted - something that is 
idiotically missing in all so-called "modern" themes like Aero and Aqua). 
The user can set these themes on both a system-wide level and on an 
app-by-app basis. Theme settings would also affect the system's native 
Aero/Aqua/WinClassic/Gnome/KDE/etc settings to whatever extent is actually 
possible (Naturally, this means it would work best, by far, on Linux, but 
without MS or Apple taking notice, that can't be helped.)

Also, it would provide automatic protection against the now-epidemic 
invisible-text-syndrome by having the API designed so that it's impossible 
for a programmer to accidentally set up foreground/background colors with 
one being system-default and the other being manually-specified (something 
that should *never* happen, but is done *constantly* in both applications 
and websites, hell, .NET's WinForms even has cases where you *can't* fix 
it).

IMO, there is *NO* excuse for any modern windowing system *not* to work this 
way. I mean, crap, ***Windows 3.x*** was already most of the way there. All 
it was missing was a way to set things on an app-by-app basis and support 
for alternate rendering (and the invisible-text protection, but IIRC, 
developers back then weren't in the habit of making that mistake quite like 
they are now). I can understand Win3 missing those things, but I find it 
nothing short of truly pathetic that in the *20* years since, not only have 
we not been able to make that *little* bit of advancement, but things have 
actually gone *backwards*.