ZSNES GUI 3.0 the first screenshot

[rchuncleskeleton]

It's nothing to look at yet, but you get the idea. All done in QT. Over time I will post the progress of the conversion.

Leave it alone....the current gui is perfectly fine and I love the fact that it doesn't look like every other program out there...it's unique and give you that retro 16 bit feel. Please don't ruin a good thing!

[sweener2001]

i like the part where you failed at looking at the first screenshot

[DancemasterGlenn]

He probably did fail, but the two screenshots up there represent the process, as pagefault said. The first shot was taken earlier in the conversion, as you can see in the second shot where there are now more system-generic menus.

At least, I'm pretty sure.

[Gil_Hamilton]

I always find this complaint hilarious, given that commercial entertainment software goes out of it's way to AVOID the standard OS windowframe+bar GUI. Hell, even MS and Apple do it in their own products(Windows Media Player? iTunes?)

1. WMP has one of the worst UIs ever, at least from the point of view of a competent computer user, who likely is not not be the target audience. Essential menus hidden in very unintuitive places; to do anything beyond playing a file the user has to make a careful search of the player, and possibly switch interface, essentially solving a meaningless puzzle. WMP doesn't even resize gracefully (latest version on Vista)... try it for a laugh. There is much better media software available (e.g. MPC-HC, foobar).

I never said WMP was a GOOD application. Just that not even Microsoft themselves use the standard Windows interface.
Should I have said IE8 instead? Too bad, because it didn't work for my aesthetics argument.
I could've pointed to MSN*backspace*Windows Live Messenger, though.

Hey, remember when Winamp was the shizzle in the hizzle?


And one of the primary complaints heaped on Foobar for quite some time was it's minimal standard interface, before it evolved an extensive proprietary GUI and ceased being "the noisy notepad", so I find your example amusing.

Consumer-targeted software often uses a task-based interface without a visible menu bar. Although the best software which gets used by technically competent users (which you have to be to use any emulator) pretty much always has a standard menu interface, entertainment software or anything else. (MS Office an exception.)

FEAR?
Quake 4?
Crysis?
The STEAM client?
(Yes, I know I'm dating myself a little by picking yesterday's big deals. I don't really keep up with PC gaming, so I'm not sure what I SHOULD name to get the latest and greatest.)

2. The ZSNES interface is based on a menu bar. So the arguments pro and con menu-based and individualized or task based interfaces aren't relevant.

Which was never my point. I was making a PURELY AESTHETIC argument.

Given that you have this type of interface do you want:
- low-res bitmapped fonts or the same system font (properly rendered and even sub-pixel anti-aliased) that the user has chosen to appear in all menus?

For an SNES emulator? Low-res bitmapped fonts.

And sub-pixel antialiasing is the devil.
This opinion may or may not be influenced by chromatic abberation from my glasses that cause different colors to shift location severely relative to each other. Coincidentally, red and blue shift heavily, and in opposite directions. The point is, it doesn't work right on my end and it makes everything look like shit and I hate it with the burning passion of a thousand fiery suns.

- a mouse pointer that moves at adifferent speed in and out of the ZSNES window?

Aesthetic arguments only, please.

-box-like menus that show off DOS-era design?

Yes, actually. They fit quite well with the theme of SNES emulation, designed as they are to match output restrictions placed on them by SNES emulation.

If you LIKE the design, then you can set it as your system default! You can make the whole OS use a bitmap font, colour it purple, make your mouse pointer bitmapped and yellow. For the DOS style menu boxes you may have to petition Microsoft.

Would not fit the theme of all applications.
And the menu boxes are fairly clearly patterened after Windows 95, with an oldschool SNES flair thrown on them.

At any rate the OS is the right level to make these choices at.

I disagree.
Many applications are far better served by per-application theming. Professional applications are the exception, not the rule.
The high prevalence of totally native GUIs in homebrew applications is due to ease of implementation, not well-considered design.