[Glade-users] hello there

[james cameron compaq com (James Cameron)]

Ben Ford wrote:
> I never have figured out why container based widgets are better than
> fixed placement.  Can someone enlighten me?

Sure.

Geometry negotiation.

The user has a screen area for your application that varies in size. 
They install different fonts.  They change the default fonts to match
their visual acuity.  They change the X server dimensions.

If you code for one screen area (640x480) with one standard font
(fixed), then it is likely that things will work acceptably.  But not
optimally.  You restrict the choices that the user has.

A good example of a well designed widget set in an application is that
the user can enlarge the window and have the most useful widget in the
window grow to cover the area provided.

Example; Netscape Communicator's mail composition window.  I can resize
it all I like; the text area grows and shrinks, but all the other stuff
hangs around in the right place.

The way this is implemented is called geometry negotiation.  The
container widget and the containees negotiate amongst themselves as to
what area they would like on screen.  When a resize occurs, either as a
result of adding or subtracting a widget, or the user resizing a window,
the negotiation results in a pleasing and efficient relayout of the
widgets.

There are other reasons, but I haven't got them on the tip of my fingers
right now.  It's a subject for GTK or Motif design though, rather than
Glade.

-- 
James Cameron                                      (cameron stl dec com)

Not the Director of Titanic, but he had his name before I did.