I've been using GWT for over 2 years now for developing large scale web applications, and think it's a fantastic toolkit for doing clean, browser-independent development. However, there is one conspicuous place where it does not meet its stated goals, where I incidentally spend an inordinate amount of time fiddling/guessing/cursing, and that is in layout.
I've used many different layout frameworks over the years, but never had such issues. A good layout framework has a few simple properties, which include: - Platform (browser) independence - A few straightforward concepts for setting absolute (px), relative (%), aligned, content-based, user, and overflow sizing relations between parent and child widgets - Layout relations independent of the child/parent/grandparent widget type - Predictable, consistent resize behavior GWT's layout scheme has practically none of these, instead providing lightweight wrappers around html table/div/whatever elements and leaving the developer to puzzle over how to get what they want, and hope it works across browsers. Html on its own was not designed to deal with sophisticated layout, but is now being co-opted to do so. A simple case; a multi-paned application that fits exactly the browser window height (no browser scrollbars). Depending on the combination of which hierarchical layout elements, content-containing child widgets, and browser are used, over-large content might overflow the whole application outside the browser window size, overflow the local content pane (clipping it), or, if I get lucky, create the proper scrollbars around the content. You might say, well show me your particular problem, oh use layout widget X instead of Y because it uses table not div. But that's not the point. In a toolkit as sophisticated as GWT, I don't believe I should have to understand all the hackey nuances of html in order to design a well-laid out application. Furthermore, it actually inhibits good software design practice. I can't swap in a rich text for a text widget and know it's going to lay out the same. So, is such a goal even possible? Am I the only one who sees the value in this? As I am not a cross-browser html guru, I don't even know for sure whether a real layout framework can be designed. However if it is, GWT with its browser-dependent compilation provides an ideal way to do so. Tables? Divs? Spans? Resize handlers? I don't care, as long as it works right! A few such html guru developers who really understand the differences could thus save everyone enormous amounts of time and effort. And in the end, isn't that why we have GWT? If this is seen as useful, I would gladly take up the charge to come up with a detailed proposal. --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Google Web Toolkit" group. To post to this group, send email to google-web-toolkit@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to google-web-toolkit+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/google-web-toolkit?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
