[boost] Re: [gui] Concerning Scope (Was: thoughts on a GUI component library)

From: Dave Harris (brangdon_at_[hidden])
Date: 2004-12-28 09:06:27

In-Reply-To: <20041224050911.GA9037_at_[hidden]>
alan-boost_at_[hidden] (Alan Gutierrez) wrote (abridged):
> > I'm a bit concerned about the scope of this boost project. Our 
> > drawing framework is pretty huge.
> 
>     This is an important discussion to have sooner than later.
> 
>     1) Is a GUI project a bad idea?
> 
>     2) Is Boost the right place for the a GUI project?

Supposing "yes" to both, that still leaves the question of scope. Possibly 
a "GUI" could just mean a high-level windowing system, and not a graphics 
drawing system. There is a lot to do just managing a tree of rectangles 
and dispatching events to and through them. The windowing system should 
arguably not care about the contents of the rectangles.

It seems to me that adding a graphics system, with pens and brushes and 
polygons and text and bitmaps and wotnot, makes the project much bigger. 
Which isn't to say we shouldn't do it, and do all of it, but perhaps it is 
worth dividing it up into chunks or layers that are more or less 
independent. If that is possible.

>     I believe the time is ripe for a small, light-weight, XML + CSS
>     renderer to attack the new surge of RSS content on the web.

OK. Perhaps my issue is that when I think of "GUI" I don't immediately 
translate that into "XML + CSS".

-- Dave Harris, Nottingham, UK