#Nodebox gui code#

I feel like the code could probably be a bit faster during resizes. If I get time I might try to improve the code by getting it to use computed gradients instead of images. This was a real simple change to integrate. He basically put together an NSWindow subclass that draws its background with a bunch of images to match AppleвЂ™s iTunes-ish windows. I ended up using PolishedWindow, which masquerades as вЂњTunesWindowвЂќ on Matt GemmellвЂ™s web site. I also decided pretty early on that the streamlined look might go well with one of the вЂњpolished metalвЂќ looks from AppleвЂ™s suite of applications. Gasp! Could I just take those labels out? But the user will be lost without them! The main instructiveness of those labels was to tell the user that the list on the left was an вЂњActivity List.вЂќ I discovered that by changing the main columnвЂ™s label from вЂњNameвЂќ to вЂњActivity Name,вЂќ I could get this point across well enough without using a sledgehammer to drive it home. I realized quickly that zero-margins on the left and right sides made the text labels and associated whitespace above the respective sections look stupid. This is a good trick to keep in your back pocket for a variety of finishing touch-ups. To accomplish this, you can simply set the x origin of the view to -1. A trick I discovered (and recently saw repeated by Brent Simmons on a mailing list) is that many views, table view included, will look best if its border is hidden off the edge of the screen. About the only вЂњgotchaвЂќ with this exercise is getting the UI to look good flush against the edge. I busted open Interface Builder and started moving stuff around. When I got home, I didnвЂ™t waste much time getting to work on this. I spent the rest of the weekend on not really thinking about it.

I just realized that was where IвЂ™d start, and left it in my head to sink in. ThatвЂ™s when it struck me: вЂњIвЂ™ve got too many margins.вЂќ I immediately envisioned FlexTime with its list view and details pane flush against the left and right edges of the window. What Brent had done was an app that had broken with traditional HIG guidelines by eliminating the margins around the main views in his window. Then I was sitting in Chicago at C4, listening to John Gruber talk about the вЂњdeath of the HIG.вЂќ He brought up Brent Simmons, using his NetNewsWire as an example of somebody who had made a big impact by stepping outside the HIG guidelines. But what? I worried I might have to scrap the whole thing and start from scratch. I found myself frustrated whenever I looked at it, because I knew something drastic had to change. What followed was basically a month or more of working on anything but the interface.

I was trapped my 1.0 interface, but I couldnвЂ™t figure out what needed to be done to fix it. The inequities between the square corners of the list view and the round corners of the details box made it hard to embed anything more complicated than the few standard controls I have in there now. The interface was not suited to evolution. Hey, that was a nice piece of work for a newbie UI designer who is just trying to get something out the door. I had never designed toolbar icons before, so I felt pretty good about the matte blue stencils I came up with using NodeBox. I was pretty happy with FlexTime 1.0 when I released it. For reference, this is what I was becoming increasingly dissatisfied with before embarking on this journey: You have got to be dissatisfied with something before you can make it better. You can rub sticks together for an eternity, but if youвЂ™re not cold, youвЂ™ll never start a fire. If youвЂ™re not convinced that your UI needs an overhaul, then you might as well forget it. That might sound fluffy, but itвЂ™s absolutely critical. IвЂ™m going to go over the steps that made up the redesign in roughly chronological order, including links to existing open source packages that I used, and also releasing some small contributions of my own for your review.Д«efore anything else, youвЂ™ve got to be inspired to change. But looking back I can see a lot of discrete obstacles that I had to overcome, and perhaps my path through the wilderness will prove helpful to you. And also like everything in life, it seems a lot easier once youвЂ™ve done it. How did I accomplish all of the little things that add up to the new UI? Like everything else in life, you just bite off a little bit at a time, and hope for the best. Some readers pointed out that in announcing FlexTime 1.1, along with its snazzy new interface, I left out some of the most interesting details to programmers.

Nodebox gui