Hacker Newsnew | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submitlogin

In the 1990s, an awful lot of Linux apps were Tk/Tcl. People complained then about them not being "native", but they were slimmer and better performing than the typical Java or Electron app of today.


It’s only because TK was so butt-ugly


Agreed, but you can stylize them now with ttk (https://tkdocs.com/tutorial/styles.html and https://wiki.tcl-lang.org/page/Ttk). There are other ways, too, but I do not have the source code at hand at the moment (as I have done this before).


Tk’s look was based directly on the Motif widget toolkit that was dominant on UNIX workstations at the time it was created.


Yes, unfortunately, though Tk wasn't quite as bad as the dystopian Brutalist Soviet horror of Motif.


It was better looking than Athena or OpenLook, which were your other two free options back then. GTK+ wasn't around, QT was mostly unknown and had license issues anyway, and Motif cost money.


You should see Windows {10,11} or Android. /s




Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: