How about some new fancier icons/flat style toolbar/whatever? I think MC looks a bit too Win95-y. I also think there are royalty free clipart icons on the web.
Interface revamping?
Posted by Poromenos on Wed 22 Dec 2004 10:35 PM — 9 posts, 29,649 views.
If MFC is anything like ATL/WTL, changing to flat toolbars should just be changing a flag somewhere or perhaps using a subclass (don't remember exactly.) Fairly straightforward in ATL, but then, MFC has a tendency to complicate some of this stuff. If I remember correctly, MUSHclient was written with MFC, not ATL.
That being said, I think MUSHclient looks pretty good as it is. I wouldn't want to make it look too "fancy" because that usually detracts from speed. Admittedly though, perhaps flat toolbars would be nice, but only if it's as simple as it is in ATL/WTL.
That being said, I think MUSHclient looks pretty good as it is. I wouldn't want to make it look too "fancy" because that usually detracts from speed. Admittedly though, perhaps flat toolbars would be nice, but only if it's as simple as it is in ATL/WTL.
What would be nice is if someone artistic (that's not me) would make a nice consistent set of icons for things like triggers, aliases etc. to replace the current icons on the button bar.
Good point Ksilyan, I do mean just adding 2-3 things (like the XP default style with the .manifest file I posted, although it breaks notepad windows, I have no idea why). I don't like zMUD where they have custom title bars, buttons, etc and in the end it all looks messy, or like RealPlayer where they have their own buttons and custom menus and it takes up half your RAM. And yes, it would be best if someone designed a theme... Unfortunately I, for one, can't even draw a circle, let alone design icons :/
I can probably find a bit to set to make the buttons flat, but personally I quite like the 3D look. It makes it clearer they are buttons and you can press them.
... time passes ...
I have done a bit of research. Even something simple like flat toolbar buttons requires a fair bit of extra code. It is this sort of thing, that is not really required but has extra code that can go wrong, is what gradually bloats applications and makes them less reliable. I think I'll leave well enough alone for now.
However I am still interested if someone artistic wants to improve the icons.
... time passes ...
I have done a bit of research. Even something simple like flat toolbar buttons requires a fair bit of extra code. It is this sort of thing, that is not really required but has extra code that can go wrong, is what gradually bloats applications and makes them less reliable. I think I'll leave well enough alone for now.
However I am still interested if someone artistic wants to improve the icons.
That's too bad. In ATL (MFC's successor) changing to a flat toolbar from a 3d toolbar is simply a matter of using a different class, both of which have exactly the same interface and inheritance scheme. Also, I don't think doing it in ATL would add code bloat, since you have the ATL libraries there anyhow.
In VB, changing the standard toolbar to the flat look was one system call (SendMessage to 3d look or something, I think). And in the MFC samples I wrote, I seem to remember I only had to change one flag... I could be wrong though, has anyone done this?
Actually, only adding the manifest file makes the toolbar 3D, but I don't know why it breaks the notepad windows.
Looks like I was looking in the wrong place before.
The next version will have an option for flat toobar buttons.
The next version will have an option for flat toobar buttons.