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betterlook.pbi is a small set of tweaks to help you make your PB app look a little better on Windows.



It is partly based on my now-abandoned SWV project, but has somewhat smaller ambitions:
The main components are a side panel menu, a custom title bar and some modern-looking buttons.
Nothing revolutionary, but perhaps better than nothing.

Note that no HTML/JS is needed to design the UI. Just easy, standard PB syntax.

Web page with executable demo: https://www.radsix.com/betterlook/

It's EASY and FAST to set up and use, and requires no DLL, but be warned that the internal code in the PBI is a royal mess!

With the PBI, you can achieve the below look with just 10 easy lines of code!





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UPDATE MAY 29, 2023:

Now ready to share the kit with a first group of users!
During the first few weeks, priority will be given to users who have been active on this forum for at least 2 years.

I have decided to share the full source code to allow for a proper evaluation.
Also I chose to go for an early release and allow people to give it a try already, rather than waiting for a 'perfect' product.


To obtain a download link, please PM me and I will try to get back to you (usually within 24-36 hours).
The package includes the full source code, and a couple example programs.

Important: You must agree not to share the source code publicly without my prior approval.

The evaluation period is 45 days. Then:

For use in commercial apps, please contact me to purchase a license at a reasonable cost.

For use in personal/family/freeware apps: FREE forever!
(Donations are welcome, though, and will greatly encourage me to keep maintaining and improving the library.)
Also, if you build nice-looking programs using the library, I would love to see some screenshots!


Note: Procedure names and parameters are still likely to change during the next few weeks.

I am planning to rename the library to one of the below options. Which one do you prefer?

• betterlook.pbi (current)
• modernlook.pbi
• freshlook.pbi
• modernkit.pbi
• altlook.pbi
• prolook.pbi

I'm interested.

Looks good and promising!

I'd be interested to see more. Looks really good.

It looks great, but if we need more gadget types and use the standard ones, the result would be weird (I think).
It would be nice if almost all current gadgets in PB were translated into this look. I sure would pay for something like that.

Caronte3D wrote: Thu May 18, 2023 11:49 amIt would be nice if almost all current gadgets in PB were translated into this look.

Optionally, yes. Not mandatory. The current Win32 look is still useful and needed.

Converting all (or even most) gadgets would be a different project actually - much bigger than I could handle with the limited time I have, I'm afraid. But I believe this PBI can be a good tradeoff, at least until a better option becomes available.

Here's another screenshot showing some standard gadgets as well. Whether it looks nice or weird is probably a matter of taste, but I've worked with a lot of business apps that look much worse IMO

Note: open the image in a new tab to see it in high quality!

I'm always interested in better eye-candy for PureBasic.

Another demo screenshot, with a narrow side panel.

The full EXE size is only 175KB, with no dependencies!

(Open the image in a new tab to see it in full quality)

OK enough teasing

First public release will be available soon at a small one-time cost, but if some people
want free early access to the latest release candidate and do some beta testing, just send me
a quick PM. I am usually able to respond within 24-48h.

Just a few caveats:

1. Again, please do not expect an Electron alternative or a full UI framework (see top post).
2. Code is currently not DPI aware. It shouldn't be too complicated to implement though.
3. By default, the PBI uses gadget numbers in the 500-600 range. Keep this in mind to avoid overlapping gadget numbers.
4. Probably works best for fixed-size, single-window applications - untested for more complex cases.
5. Only Windows 10 x86 and x64 have been tested so far. Windows 11 not tested yet.

There is no documentation but I will post a commented "Hello World" example code to get started easily.

It would be nice if you could publish a quick little demo program that uses your setup. I'm mostly interested in testing if/how it impacts accessibility.

firace wrote: Fri May 19, 2023 3:59 pmFirst public release will be available soon at a small one-time cost

Make sure you allow enough time for us to buy it. Money's tight these days and some people only get paid monthly.

BTW, it's really an alternative/modern look; not necessarily a "better" look. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

BarryG wrote: Sat May 20, 2023 12:20 am Make sure you allow enough time for us to buy it. Money's tight these days and some people only get paid monthly.

Sure! Will keep that in mind.

BarryG wrote: Sat May 20, 2023 12:20 am BTW, it's really an alternative/modern look; not necessarily a "better" look. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

Agree - I might consider changing the final name to something like modernlook or freshlook but the main priority is to make a first version available for testing.

Update: confirmed to build fine using PB 6.x (both ASM & C backends).

nsstudios wrote: Fri May 19, 2023 5:17 pm It would be nice if you could publish a quick little demo program that uses your setup. I'm mostly interested in testing if/how it impacts accessibility.

Accessibility is not fully implemented at this stage, but is on the to-do list.
That said feel free to try out a little demo program here:

https://www.radsix.com/betterlook/index.html

Note that it's only a very simple "Hello world" type of program. Only some of the buttons trigger simple actions. If you try it out and wish to leave a comment, could you please mention your OS version.