Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!know!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!sdd.hp.com!hp-pcd!hpcvlx!ben From: ben@hpcvlx.cv.hp.com (Benjamin Ellsworth) Newsgroups: comp.windows.x Subject: Re: Random toolkit issues Message-ID: <100920240@hpcvlx.cv.hp.com> Date: 30 Jul 90 18:43:30 GMT References: Organization: Hewlett-Packard Co., Corvallis, OR, USA Lines: 40 > ... The Motif style guide, if I remember, said something about > pressable objects being differentiated from nonpressable objects by a > raised edge. If this is the case, then how come Motif menus show > raised edges only when individual items are selected? Look more closely at the display. The RowColumn widget does indeed draw a shadow around the entire menu (unless you turn it off). > Wouldn't it make more sense to have all selectable/pressable items > throughout the interface be indicated The highlight is the further shadow drawing by each button as it gets the focus. > ... > Come to think of it, aren't most look and feel issues independant > enough from code that you could start of with a simple/primitive > widget that knows how to draw itself given foreground and background > colors and a border width. This widget would have highlighting and > selection actions built in so that you could use different versions > depending on your own look and feel preferences. Hmm. Try it. I think that you'll be surprised at how difficult it becomes to do this for a non-trivial widget set. It ends up that the description of *how* a component does something is very tightly bound up in our ability to describe *what* is being done. Don't dismay, however, if you can find a simple, elegant way to separate behavior from look which can be easily captured by a consistent API, you have a viable PhD. thesis and probably a shot at a lucrative software licence or two. 8-) ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Benjamin Ellsworth | ben@cv.hp.com | INTERNET Hewlett-Packard Company | {backbone}!hplabs!hp-pcd!ben | UUCP 1000 N.E. Circle | (USA) (503) 750-4980 | FAX Corvallis, OR 97330 | (USA) (503) 757-2000 | VOICE ----------------------------------------------------------------------- All relevant disclaimers apply. -----------------------------------------------------------------------