Re: 0.4.0pre16

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On Thursday 11 November 2004 12:02 pm, Dror Matalon wrote:
> On Wed, Nov 10, 2004 at 09:41:53PM -0800, Alex Russell wrote:
> > ...
> > You aren't missing much, but we do have several larger
> > applications under the belt which have helped to inform
> > requirements and drive stability. As for widespread adoption, I
> > think you'll find that all of the available DHTML toolkits suffer
> > to some extent from this
>
> Seems to me that part of the problem is that the big value of
> netWindows is under the hood, things that most DHTML users won't
> realize/find out since they tend to look for specific widgets and
> don't have a whole lot of background in software development.

That's a good way to put it. I'm constantly suprised at how often NW=20
gets into a site or product and then someone asks "how do I..." and=20
the answer is "well, you can just use this builtin thinger from=20
netWindows...".

> And as far as specific widgets go, netWindows has a nice collection
> but for each widget you can probably find a standalone equivalent
> that does more, has more bells and whistles.  So I can see why this
> would be a hard sell.

Right. One of the biggest problems with widget development is the=20
sheer amount of mind-numbing detail work. I, for one, am not a=20
graphic designer. Combine that with performance constraints of=20
working in the browser and a general lack of developers who "get" UI=20
engineering (let alone UI engineering in a browser context), and=20
you've got a recipe for medieocrity. nW currently has several "killer=20
widgets", but they're only "killer" because someone funded my=20
development time and provided both requirements and a user base. That=20
combination is much more likely to produce great components than a=20
vacuum of those drivers would. OTOH, I do think that producing=20
capable "plumbing" is something that the open source side of things=20
succeeds at. It's funny that way: it's almost our own microcosom of=20
the tradeoffs and pressures that formed Mac OS X.

Regards

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Alex Russell
[email protected]
[email protected] F687 1964 1EF6 453E 9BD0 5148 A15D 1D43 AB92 9A46
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