On Tuesday, March 25, 2003, at 10:45 PM, Doug Melvin wrote:
Here are some things I would like to see addressed as far as a GUI component standard.I agree. The defaults should be so that the component still looks like what it should, even if that's not how the user want it, but then, a user will right away understand that it needs to be configured a little more, compare to a first impression where, because an argument is missing, the thing is completly screwed up, which is really discouraging.
Defaults: All arguments for all components should have default values. This way a user can pass as many or as few values as they choose and not have the component fail.
I guess we should.
Colors: shuould we define the default color scemes to be used with any GUI component so as to have some sort
of comon look and feel?
I agree we should.
Parameters: (and I am guilty of this myself) some parameters, such as the background and foground colors of
a component are not always accessable as methods. (for instance, the FG color of the scrollbar)
Should we insist (in our standard) that any passed parameter can also be set and read after rendering the component? I.E. myScroll.setButtonColor() myScroll.getButtonColor()
This reminds me that Raymond has almost done a DynCSSStyle :-) So, if we had this beats, it would be very handy to use for skinning. After all a style definition defines location, size, colors and fonts ! We would get as well to change the style of multiple layers in one operation !
Fonts: back to a common look-and-feel. If we want a common look-and-feel to our gui comonents when used in default mode, we should include default font family, font size, font color, ect. (maybe with a css sheet..)
I'm glad you realized it wasn't meant this way. At all. I'm usually pushing the envelope. I was really happy about your scroller, first of all because it's proportional, the one I'm using right now isn't ! And my comments were made in a constructive spirit. My writing may not have conveyed it enough !
What else am I missing? Let's here it.
A side note:
I know I can be loud obnoxious an agressive, but I do this with the best of intentions.
I see here (again) an oportunity to build something great, and sometimes I get a little over-excited about that.
I also sometimes take things personally. That's simply my nature.
You need to understand. I built the light scrollbar as a light scrollbar because of the voiced concerns over the 'heavyness ' of past widgets. I even stated specifically that this is ment as a light component and that I would produce a more classical skinned one as well. Yet when I released it, I get a three page report on why my scrollbar sucks (that is simply how it seemed to me until I had a chance to cool-off).
Thanks,
Benoit
