Re: [GD-General] GUI Design

[Brian H. <bri...@py...>]

On Thu, 23 Jan 2003 11:14:03 +1100, Chris Brodie wrote:

>think of solving the problem so it looks 'normal' is to provide=
 some
>kind of virtual scaling system that the menu is designed=
 against
>that is then translated in to screen coordinates. 

The NextStep Interface Builder handled this in a fairly elegant 
manner using "bars and springs".  In the GUI designer you could 
specify a GUI widget as being tied to another either using a bar=
 or a 
spring.

A bar would always keep that component a fixed distance from an=
 edge. 
 For example, if you wanted to have a row of buttons aligned on=
 the 
right hand side of a resizable window.

Springs, as you would guess, stretch to fit.  This is how you=
 would 
specify, say, a button that is always centered.  Each side of a 
widget could have a bar or a spring, so you could have something=
 that 
was always centered horizontally but always a fixed distance from=
 the 
top edge of the parent component, etc.

>For example I
>could use something simple like 100% equalling the width of the
>screen, so a box might be 20% wide 15% high at position 5%,5%.

That's the typical fashion.  The downside is that you give up=
 precise 
measurements and it just feels a little "weird" to many people. =
 And, 
of course, there's the whole issue of scaling GUI graphics,=
 period.

Another compromise is to work in some idealized screen resolution=
 
that you don't plan on exceeding, like 1600x1200, and then scale=
 down 
from there.  That way your designers are always working in pixel=
 
units instead of percentages.

>How have you guys solved this problem? My solution presented=
 seems
>like it'll add a whole lot more math to the GUI to do all the
>translations for the virtual screen space.]

That amount of math should be relatively trivial though in the=
 grand 
scheme of things.

-Hook