Re: A springs and struts widget for GTK+

[John Cupitt <jcupitt gmail com>]

On 8/16/05, Michael Torrie <torriem chem byu edu> wrote:
> Is this system similar to what QT uses?  If I recall correctly, I
> remember trying to figure out how to use these spring-like things to do
> layout.  It was very confusing and I never did figure out how to
> properly use them.  I remember wishing QT had a layout system more like
> GTK's, which is easier to use and understand, GUI designers
> notwithstanding.

It also sounds rather like XmForm, the main Motif layout manager. The
main problem I remember from XmForm was its complexity: every version
of Motif had an XmForm widget with different bugs and features (some
allowed width / height circularities, which was actually very useful
and the only easy way to lay out a scrolled window if you needed to
lay it out yourself). So your code had to be rather convoluted to be
able to work well wth most Motifs.

I think XDesigner had the only reasonable GUI for XmForm. You drew
different sorts of lines and arrows between elements to indicate
constraints. But it still wasn't easy to use.

I think GTK's idea of removing layout iteration (all layout is
single-pass, unlike Xt) and using efficient and simple layout widgets
in combination is much easier to understand. The addition of size
groups removed (I think, almost) the last thing that was easier with a
constraint-based layout container.

John