From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.4 (2020-01-24) on polar.synack.me X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-1.9 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00 autolearn=ham autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: 103376,578bd4d051bc4686 X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public X-Google-ArrivalTime: 2004-03-18 06:41:24 PST Path: archiver1.google.com!news2.google.com!newsfeed2.dallas1.level3.net!news.level3.com!zeus.visi.com!news-out.visi.com!petbe.visi.com!news.octanews.net!eusc.inter.net!cs.tu-berlin.de!uni-duisburg.de!not-for-mail From: Georg Bauhaus Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada Subject: Re: OT: GUI [was:]Ann: TeXCAD 4.1 Date: Thu, 18 Mar 2004 14:41:24 +0000 (UTC) Organization: GMUGHDU Message-ID: References: <40577688.2A8B9832@fakeaddress.nil> NNTP-Posting-Host: l1-hrz.uni-duisburg.de X-Trace: a1-hrz.uni-duisburg.de 1079620884 14694 134.91.1.34 (18 Mar 2004 14:41:24 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@news.uni-duisburg.de NNTP-Posting-Date: Thu, 18 Mar 2004 14:41:24 +0000 (UTC) User-Agent: tin/1.5.8-20010221 ("Blue Water") (UNIX) (HP-UX/B.11.00 (9000/800)) Xref: archiver1.google.com comp.lang.ada:6406 Date: 2004-03-18T14:41:24+00:00 List-Id: Preben Randhol wrote: : Georg Bauhaus wrote on 18/03/2004 (12:05) : :> However, as can be learned from advanced UIs before OS/2 and even :> from OS/2, file open dialogue windows are a great leap, uhm, backwards. :> Though to appreciate this one might need the help of a different approach :> to UI design, like applications truly integrated with the OS, including :> its GUI, literally. Like a document centered approach, or like the integrating :> approach of Plan 9 (the *user* defines the user interface using what the :> OS provides for this.) : : Now you are not talking any more about GtkAda versus the Mac OS X : toolkit so this is completely irrelevant. (Mac OS X is not mentioned in the paragraph above, but I admit that I'm always carried away by human interface design issues. I think they are important, and as long as programmers are empowered to make user interface design decisions, improvements aren't likely.) Well, irrelevant..., the OP had mentioned or implied, to me at least, that low level layers (below Gtk) as well as the high level layers invite criticism that can be well expressed in typical "Ada" terms. (Which is what I thought reading pages from the XCB site.) Thinking about a new interface it is an opportunity to think differently about interfaces, taking human interface research into consideration. Interestingly this maps to programming language syntax design decisions, as presented in a collection of articles entitled "The Psychology of Programming" (I don't have it here, but I can provide details when I'm at home.) (For example, is a dashboard oriented panel design, as is more or less hardcoded in (the spirit of) Gtk(Ada) really an adequate choice when in comes to applications that have nothing to do with engineering, or with engineers?) In addition, the new Gtk has adopted an XML based mechanism to describe certain interface components. This is another level of abstraction. Dr. Leif might be pleased to hear about this ;-)