Re: Issue 698 in lilypond: Windows users should be offered a better first impression

[Valentin Villenave]

On Tue, Oct 6, 2009 at 12:26 AM,  <address@hidden> wrote:
>
> Rather, it might be better to write a cross-platform GUI (not Java based) so
> that
> we're not stuck using the Windows API.  I've been thinking about starting a
> project
> like this for a while, but I'm not promising anything yet.

I've been thinking the same thing.

1) I believe PyGTK might be the way to go (Python is already included
with LilyPond, GTK is cross-platform, stable, and almost everywhere on
GNU/Linux distributions. Besides Lily already uses GTK low-level stuff
like Pango).

2) A small GUI could also be able to detect, configure and launch
already installed editing environments (It could check for emacs,
LilyPondTool and Fresco, for instance).

3) As for the text editing component, Scintilla is probably one of the
bests out there, it has countless features, most of which would not be
needed at all (so perhaps we could distribute a <100Ko stripped
version). So, even users who do not have emacs/LPT/whatnot could enjoy
syntax-highlighting and proper indentation :)

4) And if we really do need to embed a PDF viewer (no we don't, but
still), muPDF is the lightest, fastest solution. And it's
cross-platform.

5) ...Aaand ideally, we should have some kind of an auto-updater
mechanism. Having to uninstall/download/install everything everytime
is a PITA.

6) And if we ever do manage to achieve that, we could name it, huh,
"EasyLilyPond" or something :-)

There, I've said it. No matter how, I'd be delighted to join you in
developing something.

Cheers,
Valentin