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Which graphic library is used for the Songbird UI?
I'm currently programming with C++ and Qt as graphic library. Qt is easy to use and easy to learn and best if you're new in development stuff. You can also configure Qt's interfaces a lot to fit your imaginations.
But I think Songbird has the absolutly best User Interface of all software I know; the style, the colors and the size of text, buttons and the whole window is really great. So I'm wondering which graphic library was used to create the User interface... Can someone help me with this issue?
Thanks in advance,
Jonathan
But I think Songbird has the absolutly best User Interface of all software I know; the style, the colors and the size of text, buttons and the whole window is really great. So I'm wondering which graphic library was used to create the User interface... Can someone help me with this issue?
Thanks in advance,
Jonathan
I’m excited by the UI!
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Inappropriate?Well, the Mozilla Application Framework, is used, of course :-) It uses XULRunner as runtime enviroment, the UI is defined in XML User Interface Language (XUL) and then rendered by the Gecko-engine, afaik.
If you are interested in the Mozilla engine, you might also take a look into other Mozilla based, but not that well known Opensource Software like:
http://www.mozilla.org/projects/mozil...
I use Pidgin (IM) and Komodo (IDE) all the time and like them.
Good start: Using Mozilla code in other projects
(But I'm not sure, if Mozilla is the right choice for a one-man-project. You might be a lot faster with qt)
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this answers the question
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Inappropriate?G'day, i do a bit of coding, and both platforms have different benefits. I agree that QT is a REALLY nice platform to do stuff. In fact, I'd say its even nicer then Cocoa in many areas and my current favourite. I coded MenuToGo in it, and it took only 5 or 6 lines of code to allow it to run perfectly on Windows,OSX and Linux. The lines changed had to do with file reading (I just switched to the file reading library built into QT).
Songbird uses XUL, which uses integrated JS and such, and is designed to be extended. However, its a tradeoff:
- Extensions are nice to code
- Extending the GUI is easy (although it is in many ways on QT too)
- Flexible theming
- However, whilst all third party/extension developers seem to have it great, apparently the core is a nightmare.
So I agree with atreiu. Definitely stick to QT for small projects. It also has more features built in. I wouldn't touch the Mozilla platform unless you have a lot of resources, and you consider extendibility a MAJOR feature. -
Inappropriate?G'day, i do a bit of coding, and both platforms have different benefits. I agree that QT is a REALLY nice platform to do stuff. In fact, I'd say its even nicer then Cocoa in many areas and my current favourite. I coded MenuToGo in it, and it took only 5 or 6 lines of code to allow it to run perfectly on Windows,OSX and Linux. The lines changed had to do with file reading (I just switched to the file reading library built into QT).
Songbird uses XUL, which uses integrated JS and such, and is designed to be extended. However, its a tradeoff:
- Extensions are nice to code
- Extending the GUI is easy (although it is in many ways on QT too)
- Flexible theming
- However, whilst all third party/extension developers seem to have it great, apparently the core is a nightmare.
So I agree with atreiu. Definitely stick to QT for small projects. It also has more features built in. I wouldn't touch the Mozilla platform unless you have a lot of resources, and you consider extendibility a MAJOR feature. -
Inappropriate?Thanks for all the suggestions and explainations! I think i got the point, and I think I will keep using Qt. If looked around a bit at Qt projects and saw, that this library is also very flexible in issues about look and feel of the UI; You're also able to use Stylesheets to design your Qt User Interface. This makes it really unneccessary to use the XUL engine to design an UI like the one used in Songbird...
What I also found out during my search is, that allmoast all really good graphic librarys are published under the GPL and you have to provide the Source-Code to your projects. In the XUL engine this will be kind of needless to ask, because Mozilla is known for the free code. Qt sells the possibility to sell project containing their code; for around 1900€ your allowed to distribute your software for a fee...
So I think, even if I have to publish all my code, I will keep using Qt...
Thanks for all the great help again!
Jonathan
I’m thankful
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