Nui: C++ multiplatform framework | Hacker News Reader

Nui: C++ multiplatform framework

libnui.net

18 pointshko17 comments

For a UI toolkit, they don't seem to parade all that many screenshots (or maybe I didn't find the right page). All the examples shown are from audio software with pixel-precise design.

Fancy gradients, photorealistic knobs and tiny text labels are certainly the right choice for this type of applications (it's actually pretty interesting how certain software niches have instantly recognizable signature looks which all the vendors within that space share as if bound by an unspoken agreement). But I'd also like to know whether Nui can handle flexible layouts, long text paragraphs, user font preferences, accessibility concerns, tabbing between controls, etc.

In a way, Nui seems like an "anti-GTK+", in the sense that GTK+ tends to look very plain and can be difficult to customise for pixel-perfect layouts, but does fairly comprehensively handle all the boring usability and layout automatisation stuff.

NUI is actually very capable of both. Here is a partial list of features (including widgets and layout containers): http://redmine.libnui.net/wiki/libnui/Features You can have a small example of the way it looks in the widget debugger doc (completely done with nui and included in any NUI application): http://redmine.libnui.net/wiki/libnui/DebuggingTools

While the (few) screenshots look beautiful, it's hard to find... well... anything on their site. I've been unable to find any detailed API information in their documentation section (although it appears to be a WIP).

I'm very intrigued, and I hope to see more from this. I really like the licensing set up on this too, more libraries should do something like this (it's not a crime to ask for money if you're making money using someone's library).

It would be nice if this eventually grew to add a drag and drop gui creator. As a programmer/artist who hates boring interfaces, count me interested.

Not seeing the win for writing iPhone apps in a quirky x-p UI toolkit. The good iPhone apps are all custom designed for the platform.

I think the idea is to write quirky iPhone looking apps for all those people on Windows without an iPhone

that's a good point! there's an awful lot of complaining from people who want to get in on the iphone gold rush but don't have a mac and iphone to develop with. this way, you could do most of the work in nui, then borrow somebody else's mac for the final stages, which might take only a day or so.

The idea also is to write iPhone applications in C++ instead of ObjectiveC/Cocoa which as a steep learning curve (not objC per se but the way cocoa works takes time to learn...)

NUI is simpler than Cocoa? It doesn't look that way.

Not sure what your background is but for most people learning ObjectiveC and Cocoa is much longer than just learning a new toolkit. I have no problem programming in ObjectiveC with Cocoa but may people really do.

I've shipped in Motif, GTK, and Win32, and I know ObjC/Cocoa; of these 4, Cocoa was by far the easiest. Can you point me at some critiques of Cocoa vs., say, QT?

Again, I get that it's cross-platform. But that's not a huge win for the iPhone, which is so idiosyncratic that any good app is going to be one big special case for that platform.

Curious how both name and logo are similar to http://natural-ui.com

Anyone here have experience with nui?

Also, anyone know how this compares with qt/qtopia?

I downloaded the demo application and it instantly crashed upon loading with:

"Unexpected problem detected in the program 'nuiDemo.exe'"

If your demo application crashes, you're not ready for primetime.

Do you have updated the drivers of your graphic card? What card is it? On which OS? Can you send the crashlog to the contact address on the website? Thank you very much in advance!

It works here but... Please wait... scaning font

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