On 05/02/07, Giuseppe Luigi Punzi <glpunzi at zyoconsulting.com> wrote:
>
> I disagree with native windows. One of the features of Squeak is get an image
> and load it on any OS without changes with a proper vm. And I love this as
> much as I love the Smalltalk/Squeak way to develop.
>
> The thing could be change with the windows feel. More like a normal window but
> with the squeak features.
>
I don't think you're alone in this; just looking through the Swiki
there have been many attempts to address this need:

http://wiki.squeak.org/squeak/1576
http://wiki.squeak.org/squeak/1008
http://wiki.squeak.org/squeak/3480
http://wiki.squeak.org/squeak/5887 Edgar J. De Cleene's 2006 return to Zurgle

Most of them are incomplete, out-of-date, and abandoned; but they show
that developers are repeatedly coming back to a need to find an easy
way to create and manage a user interface that employs the metaphors
that have become familiar to most desktop users. Not a "Windows
clone", but perhaps something like Tk or Swing Metal -- familiar
enough, but not tied to the platform -- and not requiring extra
installation above and beyond the Squeak VM & image.

After looking at the options (and trying unsuccessfully to make prefab
usable for me), I gave up! I'm now using Seaside to build the UI for
my applications. This isn't a perfect answer,  in fact using a complex
mix of HTML CSS and JS to replicate a rich client interface is pretty
mad, but it quickly gives me a user interface that is familiar and can
be layed out quickly and easily.

If I had access within Squeak to a full set of UI widgets that had a
consistent look and feel, were more 'mainstream', and preferably came
with builder tools (perhaps Magritte with layout hinting), I'd love to
have the power of Morphic under the covers, but as it is, Seaside is
the best game in town.

Cheers,
Michael