55 lines
2.6 KiB
Plaintext
55 lines
2.6 KiB
Plaintext
From: oakley at channelpoint.com (Bryan Oakley)
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Date: 22 Apr 1999 22:31:19 GMT
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Subject: The Future of Tk?
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References: <371E964F.C531C2A@istar.ca> <371F11C2.3162025@ciril.fr> <4fv$ECA+JyH3EwbN@jessikat.demon.co.uk> <XtJT2.124$fQ1.12097@burlma1-snr2>
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Message-ID: <7fo7vn$irf$12@newsread.f.de.uu.net>
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Content-Length: 2247
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X-UID: 155
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Barry Margolin wrote:
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>
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> In article <4fv$ECA+JyH3EwbN at jessikat.demon.co.uk>,
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> Robin Becker <robin at jessikat.demon.co.uk> wrote:
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> >I take this completely differently; least astonishment for me is if
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> >program X looks and behaves the same way no matter what keyboard, mouse
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> >and screen I'm using. As a 'user' of the program X it shouldn't matter
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> >what OS/WM is executing the code. I certainly don't want vi or emacs to
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> >be different on the mac why should I treat word or excel differently?
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>
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> I would be very surprised if Netscape on the Macintosh presented a
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> Windows-like user interface, rather than adopting the standard Macintosh
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> user interface. Most end users don't switch between platforms much, so
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> it's more important that all the programs on their system conform to their
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> expectations, than that a particular program work the same across different
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> platforms.
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I would have to agree with that statement. While there are those who
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think retaining the same look and feel across platforms is necessary, I
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would wager they are in the distinct minority. That's not to invalidate
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their position, but merely to put it in context. _Most_ users of
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software want a package to look and feel like the other packages on a
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given system. I hate, for example, the artsy (-fartsy) graphic programs
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that have some weird UI instead of a more traditional UI.
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On the other hand, to some degree this is application-dependent rather
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than user-dependent. For example, if I were to have a requirement to
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write a air traffic control program that had to run on BeOS, MacOS, NT
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and *nix, I would think there would be significant advantages to keeping
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it 100% identical across all platforms. So, to some degree it depends on
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the application, or the targeted user base.
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My point being, there's a need in the world for both models. Only, the
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model where applications should adhere to native conventions is (I'm
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guessing) far and away the most commonly expected model by most users.
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Which is why I think using native windows on Tk is a win -- it meets the
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needs of the majority (though definitely not all) of the users in the
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world.
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--
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Bryan Oakley mailto:oakley at channelpoint.com
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ChannelPoint, Inc. http://purl.oclc.org/net/oakley
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