Re: voicing a potentially unpopular opinion

[Jesse Ross]

> am I the only one who thinks that some of the GNUstep GUI controls  
> look
> rather plain? E.g. take the splitter of the NSSplitView control. It  
> could
> sure use some improvements e.g. with a border that would make it look
> three-dimensional. I have noticed that GNUstep gives the impression of
> being somehow bulky, with the controls not being as sleek as they  
> could
> be.
>
> I know there are themes out there, but what about bundling GNUstep  
> with a
> default Acqua theme to make everything look snazzier? The  
> appearance of an
> interface can be very important, especially for the end user who  
> does not
> code him/herself. The first thing people who are considering  
> GNUstep will
> see is, obviously, the interface design.

I voiced a similar opinion a while back, and, while there are some  
who would prefer a different look, there are quite a few GNUstep  
users and developers who prefer the NeXTish look. Additionally, the  
current look is (to my understanding) vector-based, and would thus  
need to be rewritten to support bitmaps. The current best solution  
seems the theme route, as it pleases the most parties.

I do agree, however, that appearance does play a role in perceived  
value, which is why the theme projects are so important for opening  
GNUstep up to a wider audience. If there are ways to get those  
projects more into the open (such as showing screenshots which use  
those themes on the main GNUstep site or in demos).


J.