Re: [Ethereal-dev] Re: Windows UI

[John McDermott <jjm@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Mike Frisch wrote:
> > It is very, very nice to have the same UI on both windows and UNIX.  It
> > makes writing manuals for environments where some prefer each system
> 
> Is it *really* that difficult to take two screenshots- one Gtk and one
> Win32?

It is not just the screenshots.  It is the textural descriptions.  It is
projecting it in front of an audience...

> Yes, it is a great feature and when a theme comes along that's
> consistent and actually attractive, I will use it.  It is funny to hear

It is so interesting (for me) to hear that someone actually prefers the
look of Windows!

> people touting the technical benefits of any UNIX running GNOME/Gtk on
> the desktop and then try and compare the appearance of Gtk with that of
> Windows.

Actually, I tend to program in Gtk, but I use KDE because I prefer that
look and feel.

> 
> The Windows UI has been around for much longer than Gtk.  It is
> obviously more mature and much more refined.

Most of my GTK work has been on Linux.  I find it very attractive.  I
have not yet found anything I'd like to do with Gtk that I cannot. I am
not an expert on the latest Gtk and cannot compare its degree of
refinedness to that of Windows.  I see gtk as a refinement of many X
GUIs which are in many cases older than Win32. I agree that Gtk on
Windows is not perfect, but that is a porting issue.  The Windows GUI is
not very good on Linux either ;-)

> 
> Without getting into an OS war, Windows XP has themeable controls now.
> I cannot imagine that Gtk offers anything over Windows in the UI
> department.

OS wars serve no purpose here.  One feature of Ethereal I do like is
that it looks and acts virtually identical on Windows as on *nix.  That
makes it much easier in a training environment.
> 
> This is all just my opinion, of course.  Maybe somebody does like the
> ugliness of the default Gtk theme.

I am not supporting the Gtk default theme! In fact, I seldom use it
unless that is what a client prefers.  Instead I modify the styles to
fit the look I desire.  I presume one can do something like that in
Windows, but I do not know how to create the style file(s) if such a
thing can be done.  Perhaps you can show me how to do it under W2K.

Just asking that we not get rid of an approach that has value,
--john

-- 
John McDermott, Writer and Consultant
J-K International, Ltd.
V +1 505/377-6293  F +1 505/377-6313
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