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Rust cross-platform GPUI components

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Re: Rust cross-platform GPUI components

#221

Post by berkes »

tcfhgj wrote: post #138
Aurornis wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> But for them consistent means consistent with the 20+ other applications they use on a daily base. So native. This was probably true 20 years ago but is not true today. The majority of apps your average (non-HN) user uses is actually on their phone and not using the native UI widgets. On their desktop they’re using apps like Spotify, Slack, and Microsoft Office or Google Docs. The average user of today is not using…

I still want native apps (including proper OS Integration) even though I don't get them.

Indeed.

Users don't want the slack they get. They'd much rather have a slack client that integrates in their OS.

The main reason I get this Slack client that's the same across OSX, Ubuntu and Windows, is because the company doesn't want to spend time building three native apps. And that's understandable and perfectly fine.

But if it cost slack more time and effort to build a single app that runs on four platforms than it would cost them to build 4 that integrate into the platform, we'd get a native client within weeks.

Re: Rust cross-platform GPUI components

#222

Post by berkes »

anonymous908213 wrote: post #67
berkes wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> lose styling consistency Yes. And that is (almost always¹) a good thing. Only the designers of an app, product-owners etc. want their app to "look consistent over platforms". Your users want the file-dialog, window-chrome, menus etc consistent too. But for them consistent means consistent with the 20+ other applications they use on a daily base. So native. ¹ Obviously some software excepted. E.g. categories like "e…

> Your users want the file-dialog, window-chrome, menus etc consistent too. But for them consistent means consistent with the 20+ other applications they use on a daily base. So native. I don't think what you posit is true at all, at least not in 2025. Windows itself has abandoned consistency between its native applications, with more custom and modern styling that looks nothing like what you get out of the box with…

What you describe is an old and common problem with Microsoft Windows. Hell, even Windows applications built by microsoft itself, even within the same team, are inconsistent often.

This is a problem. One that end-users may not recognize, but the cognitive load and learning curve this brings is real and costly.

It is one of the many reasons people like Mac. It's also one of the reasons people feel awkward on e.g. Ubuntu (or just linux). Because eventhough GTK is highly consistent, the apps that don't follow this consistency (Libre office, Gimp, Firefox, Thunderbird, etc) are more common than the ones that do.

Re: Rust cross-platform GPUI components

#223

Post by WhyNotHugo »

dminik wrote: post #115
WhyNotHugo wrote: post #59

The simplest examples have over a thousand (literally) dependencies. Amongst them, are GTK, GDK, pango, etc. It literally depends on another toolkit, which is the weirdest thing IMHO.

Because of GNOME's insistence on not implementing Server Side Decorations, you can't not depend on libadwaita. This is what I imagine pull in all of the GTK dependencies.

You can very much draw a border on a windows and a "close" button without any libraries.

Usually, I'd understand if you're lazy and can't be bothered and just pull in some dependency to do it for you, but if you're implementing a toolkit, this is the kind of thing that is SHOULD provide.

Re: Rust cross-platform GPUI components

#224

Post by WhyNotHugo »

tredre3 wrote: post #104
nu11ptr wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think this is pretty common on Linux. You would want to GTK (or Qt) I would think to draw the top level window and perhaps system menus, etc. even though the UI itself is drawn using a GPU canvas.

> You would want to GTK (or Qt) I would think to draw the top level window and perhaps system menus, etc. even though the UI itself is drawn using a GPU canvas. No, you would want to draw for Wayland or X. GTK and Qt themselves don't burden with importing each-other to work, for example. My guess is that they import GTK only to get a title bar on GNOME, as GNOME forces applications to render their own. They could go…

> They could go custom and cut the dependency but it never looks quite right when apps do that.

This is literally what the GNOME devs advocate: that each application draw their own borders and titles. You might consider that it doesn't look quite right, but that's the design choice they're going with.

Re: Rust cross-platform GPUI components

#225

Post by apitman »

berkes wrote: post #222
anonymous908213 wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Your users want the file-dialog, window-chrome, menus etc consistent too. But for them consistent means consistent with the 20+ other applications they use on a daily base. So native. I don't think what you posit is true at all, at least not in 2025. Windows itself has abandoned consistency between its native applications, with more custom and modern styling that looks nothing like what you get out of the box with…

What you describe is an old and common problem with Microsoft Windows. Hell, even Windows applications built by microsoft itself, even within the same team, are inconsistent often. This is a problem. One that end-users may not recognize, but the cognitive load and learning curve this brings is real and costly. It is one of the many reasons people like Mac. It's also one of the reasons people feel awkward on e.g. Ubun…

HN makes these claims all the time. It sounds plausible, but I've never seen any studies on the topic. Do you know of any I could check out?
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