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List:       ruby-talk
Subject:    Re: Ruby GUI with IDE
From:       David Vallner <david () vallner ! net>
Date:       2006-11-12 14:53:27
Message-ID: 4557358C.3040105 () vallner ! net
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Leslie Viljoen wrote:
> On 11/12/06, David Vallner <david@vallner.net> wrote:
>> Leslie Viljoen wrote:
>> > What is the
>> > advantage over the MS way?
>> >
>>
>> Spacers put the user in control.
> 
> In what way? A spacer on one side seems to create exactly the same
> effect as an anchor on the other side of a control - except with the
> anchor there's only one control, with the spacer there are two. Am I
> missing something?
> 

Unless I have my terminology wrong, a spacer can be dragged around to
change the place where the GUI is partitioned. If you dock a control to
a screen edge, it will at best resize of its own will between the
constraints you specify in the IDE.

Also, for high-grade GUIs, mere resizable widget layouting is a very
primitive technique. Using floating tool windows that can be docked
(also by default) to an arbitrary screen side gives a "power user" yet
more flexibility to arrange a UI as he wants: IDEs like IntelliJ IDEA
and KDevelop follow this, also the tool windows in jEdit. And if you
make the most common panels hide and unhide using keyboard shortcuts,
the result is a GUI that will both offer a lot of information when
necessary, and is easily uncluttered when you need to concentrate on the
primary task.

VS and its form designer let you make a GUI quickly and easily. But none
of the "easy" methods it provides intersect with what I personally
consider as features of a "very good GUI".

David Vallner


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