Google Summer of Code

[John Bailey]

Gregor Dick wrote:
> John Bailey wrote:
>> I'd really like to get the native win32 UI project going this year if we have a
>> good applicant.  I'm hoping that starting the project will spark interest in the
>> Windows-inclined developers out there.
> 
> Hello,
> 
> I'm also considering throwing my hat into the ring for the Win32 UI
> task. My name is Gregor Dick and I'm a final-year undergraduate
> mathematics student at the University of Edinburgh. I would propose to
> implement the UI using the Win32 API directly, Petzold-style, without
> using any particular framework.
> 
> I realise that this deviates from the recommendations of MFC and .NET on
> the wiki, but I suggest it partly because it's what I'm familiar with,
> but also because it would allow the front-end to be integrated into the
> existing build system and built with MinGW, without any need for MSVC.

Not that it matters much, but I thought MFC applications were possible to build
with MinGW as long as you had the headers?  That said, it doesn't matter too
much for the purpose of the Win32 UI SoC project whether MinGW or Visual Studio
is the preferred toolchain--if the project is successful, I want to split it
away from Pidgin and have it be a separate project in the vein of Adium.  I
already have a trac environment set up at vulture.rekkanoryo.org, as the
preferred applicant last year agreed to the name Vulture (to keep with the bird
theme for UI names).

> As far as I'm aware there hasn't been any concrete discussion regarding
> particular requirements for a Win32 front-end, for instance in which
> respects, if any, it should attempt to be self-consciously Pidgin-ish.
> If there's any established opinion on such matters, I'd be grateful if
> someone could please point it out so that I can work it into my proposal
> and prototype when the period for applications begins.

I was hoping that the design would be overall similar to Pidgin, but with
behavior that makes sense for the Windows users.  For example, the buddy list
design works well, but the mini dialogs that we have may not make sense in a
Windows application (I've never seen such a thing on Windows).  The Pidgin
preferences window design may not make as much sense as something that's more in
line with other applications on Windows.  There are other examples, but I can't
think of them at the moment.

John

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