On Sun, Jan 25, 2015 at 12:16:55PM -0500, David T. Lewis wrote:
> On Sun, Jan 25, 2015 at 09:31:49PM +0530, Mayuresh Kathe wrote:
> > On Sun, Jan 25, 2015 at 10:47:43AM -0500, David T. Lewis wrote:
> > > On Sun, Jan 25, 2015 at 09:02:35PM +0530, Mayuresh Kathe wrote:
> > > > considering the *great* graphics and animation support available under 
> > > > squeak, would it be difficult to mould the squeak 'ui' to adhere to 
> > > > material design guidelines [1] from google?
> > > > 
> > > > 1. http://www.google.com/design/spec/material-design/introduction.html
> > > > 
> > > > ~mayuresh
> > > >
> > > 
> > > Designing and implementing user interfaces tends to be a lot of work, but
> > > aside from that I so no reason that it could not be done.
> > > 
> > > One of the nice aspects of Squeak (often overlooked) is that it provides
> > > a concept of "projects" in which different types of user interface
> > > environments can be implemented. You can open a Morphic project or an
> > > MVC project, and the system will look and feel quite different depending
> > > which kind of project you are currently using. The concept can be extended
> > > to other kinds of UI implementation, such as the one you are suggesting
> > > here.
> > > 
> > > I am cross-posting to the squeak-dev list, which is probably a better
> > > place to continue the discussion.
> > > 
> > > Dave
> > 
> > okay, since i am still self-training for smalltalk and all stuff squeak,
> > would like to know if the preferred approach be to create my own project
> > and do what i want with it without crippling the rest of my system
> > image?
> 
> Hi Mayuresh,
> 
> Start by doing this:
> 
> 	Project current explore
> 
> This will give you an explorer on your current project. This corresponds
> to everything that you are interacting with on your Squeak display right
> now.
> 
> If you have created other projects, they will be linked together though
> the nextProject, previousProject, and parentProject that you see in the
> explorer.
> 
> You will also see a uiManager in your explorer. Your current project is
> probably an instance of MorphicProject, and the UI manager will be an
> instance of MorphicUIManager. The two cooperate to manage the Morphic
> user interface. If you were in an MVC project (try it) you would have an
> MVCProject that has an MVCUIManager.
> 
> If you browse the class hierarchy for both Project and UIManager, you
> will see that these are abstract classes that have subclasses to represent
> the Morphic and MVC user interfaces. There is also a related ToolBuilder
> hierarchy that is used for creating the the Morphic or MVC tools (browsers,
> debuggers, and so forth).
> 
> To create a different kind of user interface, you would want to create
> new kinds of Project and UIManager, and maybe also ToolBuilder. One way
> to get started would be to subclass the existing MorphicProject and
> MorphicUIManager, and start changing those subclasses a little bit at
> a time until you achieve the behavior you want.
> 
> Your new kind of Project would be activated through the Squeak menus. I
> will not try to explain that now, but if you look at the toolbar at the
> top of the Squeak window, you  will see:
> 
>   Project
>        -> New Project
>             -> New MVCProject
>             -> New MorphicProject
> 
> So you would add your new kind of project into the menus:
> 
>   Project
>        -> New Project
>             -> New MVCProject
>             -> New MorphicProject
>             -> New MaterialDesignProject
> 
> And more generally, we might hope some day to see a few other kinds
> of projects:
> 
>   Project
>        -> New Project
>             -> New MVCProject
>             -> New MorphicProject
>             -> New MaterialDesignProject
>             -> New ScratchProject
>             -> New EtoysProject
>             -> New Morphic3Project
>             -> New SeasideProject
> 
> Dave

hello dave,

"Project current explore" is definitely cool, i did not know about it.

as i'd mentioned, i am still quite some time away from completing my
self-training in smalltalk using squeak, post which i would need to
spend a considerable amount of time gaining experience, and i guess
that's when i would be ready to dive in to work on creating my own
user interface.

i am quite impressed with the work done on "thirdway", an extension of
the 'mvc' project world, and i hope to become atleast as good as the
creator of that project.

thanks for your detailed response, it was quite nice of you.

~mayuresh