Hi all,
I am excited to announce a milestone for Fresnel - a modern GUI
component library for Free Pascal that brings web-like layout styling to
desktop applications. After a lot of foundational work, the framework is
now ready to be used for writing simple applications!
For those unfamiliar, Fresnel introduces a UI paradigm where the layout
and look of custom-drawn controls are entirely governed by CSS, offering
a flexible alternative or complement to traditional LCL controls.
## Key Highlights & Current Capabilities
* CSS-Driven Design: Separate design from logic cleanly using familiar
CSS rules (inline styling, classes, IDs, selectors, and pseudo-classes
like :hover).
* Modern Layout Engines: Supports flex, grid, and flow layouters for
dynamic, responsive UI designs.
* Flexible Units & Typography: Define elements using em, vh, cm, mm, %,
or px, along with font fallback support.
* Coexists with LCL: Run Fresnel forms alongside LCL forms, or embed a
Fresnel viewport directly inside an LCL control (TFresnelLCLControl).
* Multi-Platform: Runs stand-alone or via LCL on Linux, macOS, Windows,
and WebAssembly in the browser.
* Visual Tools: Includes a dockable CSS Inspector in Lazarus, live CSS
updating, and a form designer package.
## Any Help is More Than Welcome!
While Fresnel is ready to build small apps and utility tools, it is
still actively evolving. If you love modern UI design, contributions of
any kind are greatly appreciated.
Ways you can help:
* Test & Report: Build small projects and let us know what works or breaks.
* Components & Styling: Help expand the component library or polish
default stylesheets.
* Core & CSS Engine: Assist with expanding CSS attribute support and
layout engine optimizations.
* Docs & Samples: Help write guides, tutorials, or clean example
applications.
Check out the documentation, examples, and roadmap on the official wiki:
https://wiki.freepascal.org/Fresnel
There is also a demo website of the webassembly backend:
https://idefix.freepascal.org/~michael/fresnel/
Give it a spin, let us know what you think, and help us build the future
of Pascal UIs!
Mattias
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