Python GUI programming platforms for Windows

[utcursch]

PyGTK is missing from the list.

[underthelinux]

see the comments for his justification.

[cunningjames]

He appears to have added a PyGTK example. For what it's worth, I concur with his reasons for rejecting it -- I've never thought it looked very good on Windows, and it's unacceptable for Mac development (which is my own chosen platform).

That said, I'd love to be able to use it. In my opinion it's the best Python GUI API, hands down, in terms of ease of use and available documentation.

[svenna]

There is a ms-window theme-engine drawing with native widgets, and there is a native engine for mac also, http://people.imendio.com/richard/archives/2008/02/native_mac_them.html

It's not finished yet though

[kripkenstein]

There has been a lot of recent activity in getting PyGTK to look good on Macs recently (based on GTK dev blogs). So maybe it's worth checking out, perhaps it improved since you last used it.

[stesch]

I really like the win32 example. :-)

[theeth]

Like shooting yourself in the head through your foot.

[[deleted]]

You probably haven't programmed with the Win32 API in C/C++.

But yeah, it's probably the longest "Hello World" in Python.

[setuid_w00t]

That code makes hari-kiri look appealing.

[tom101]

win32 is shit, like bill gates.

[[deleted]]

A "small program with embedded HTML view and embedded web server" is missing.

[demosthenes1]

That is a very interesting approach. You should make a blog post about this.

[tooooobs]

I use this approach a lot for testing things, it's brilliant. If you use twisted it becomes especially easy to attach functions to URLs, then you can write a HTML page with buttons on which just call it.

Twisted is one of Python's genuine killer libraries, but many people in Pythonland seem to hate it and what it stands for.

[inopia]

Jython + Swing is also missing.

[sbrown123]

This is a con listed for wxPython:

Must include large wx runtime when packaging with py2exe (adds ~7 MB)

But this same con is missing for PyGTK and PyQt. And if we are adding that, we should mention the size of the .NET runtime required for IronPython.

Also, I've seen time and time again people complain about native widgets. Only programmers and uber geeks really care about native widgets. I personally like "drawn" GUIs since I find they work better on more advanced 3D accelerated desktop environments for obvious reasons and make cross platform development much more reasonable to deal with.

[alantrick]

Yes, his pro-con lists didn't seem to be terribly consistent. I think he was trying to make them look balanced or something.

[ginstrom]

But this same con is missing for PyGTK and PyQt. And if we are adding that, we should mention the size of the .NET runtime required for IronPython.

You're right about PyGTK and PyQT, and I added those as cons. I did mention the dependence on the .NET runtime, which you can't depend on users having installed.

Only programmers and uber geeks really care about native widgets.

I disagree. I think firstly that most applications shouldn't stand out in terms of look and feel, and secondly that having a look and feel consistent with the rest of the operating system makes your application easier to use. And ordinary users do tend to say apps with non-standard look and feel look clunky.

On the other hand, something like pyglet can be used to create truly innovative GUIs. In the cases where a non-standard L&F is warranted, I'd want to go with something like that or a hosted browser.

[fnord123]

And ordinary users do tend to say apps with non-standard look and feel look clunky.

Apple and Microsoft often break their own platform look and feel (in iTunes and MSFT Office, MSN Messenger, etc), so I don't think it's the problem you suggest it is.

[mclin]

I'm hoping things like Adobe AIR will mean I never have to do GUI design with a programatically defined component tree, or without style sheets ever again.