On 14.06.2011, at 04:41, Janko Mivšek wrote:

> Hi all,
> 
> In light of recent Microsoft surprising U-turn announcement [1] that in
> Windows 8 it swithes to HTML5 (HTML5+CSS+JavaScript) instead of .NET+WPF
> and Silverlight for desktop app development it is IMO a right time to
> think about:
> 
> 1. is this a clear signal that HTML5 for ALL apps, both desktop and the
>   web is inevitable?

Just as much as Java is inevitably the only choice for ALL apps, both desktop and the web.

> 2. is this a clear signal that we need to rebuild Morphic on top of
>   HTML+CSS, to leverage all Morphic advantages and come back
>   to bleeding edge again?

There already is Jens's Morphic.js:

	http://www.chirp.scratchr.org/blog/?p=34

And Lively Kernel is Morphic too, even more embodying the spirit of Squeak as a personal computing environment.

> I think yes. What Squeak/Pharo/Cuis GUI masters say?

Well, it would be great to see more of the good ideas in Squeak and its ancestors getting wider adoption. Seeing Morphic on the web is cool, but that's somewhat unrelated to Squeak.

Having style sheets in Squeak's Morphic would be cool too. The Sophie developers used style sheets for their Tweak UI. But I don't think HTML would be a good choice for Squeak's Morphic. Implementing a fully compliant HTML renderer is Hard, and I don't see the added complexity being worth it.

What would be nice though is pursuing the idea of alternative UI kits in Squeak - being able to unload and switch between Full Morphic / SimpleMorphic / Native / HTML interfaces, all backed by ToolBuilder seems very useful. For the HTML interface you could e.g. just add a WebKit plugin.

- Bert -