> Please, please, please don’t use a GUI toolkit like this, that draws its own widgets rather than using platform standard ones, when developing a plugin for a digital audio workstation (e.g. VST or Audio Unit), as this author is apparently doing.
Um, I have normal but aging sight, and I still can't get a DAW that actually scales its widget to something other than 200% (or 150% if I'm reaaaaally lucky).
I have no GUI that renders at useful speeds using OpenGL or Vulkan.
The Photon author didn't just create this to be contrary. Modern OS GUIs don't work very well for things like DAWs because DAWs often operate much more like a game wherein the screen is animated and has 60fps of stuff going on.
Rather than complaining, write us all an open source GUI that doesn't suck and people will happily use that and then people will write the accessibility hooks for it.
> DAWs often operate much more like a game wherein the screen is animated and has 60fps of stuff going on.
This is puzzling to me. Do sighted DAW users really rely on such a high-bandwidth, continuous flow of visual information? What kind of information? Mainly volume meters, or other things as well?
FWIW, I'm just starting to dabble with a DAW myself. But I know that blind people have successfully done all stages of music and other audio production using a DAW. From what I understand, they do it by concentrating solely on the audio itself during real-time playback and recording. But the UI does need to be accessible for non-real-time work, e.g. plugin configuration, switching tracks, switching instruments, or making precise edits.
At least VST allows you to switch to and from using basic controls and the full plugin UI. Actually, if your plugin does not provide a UI, the DAW host will provide a generic one for you, with basic controls like sliders, drop-down menus, etc. that map to the parameters that your plugin use. You should probably just use those if you are blind, again assuming that the host provides all the accessibility features you need (I am not sure if all VST hosts do, you should check).
First of all, I doubt that writing yet another toolkit of my own would be the solution. How could I know that anyone would adopt it? And as for spending time contributing to an existing toolkit, which toolkit? I read about several per year here on HN. That's why I've been pleading with developers to use platform widgets, or cross-platform toolkits that wrap those widgets (like wxWidgets), wherever I can. But the replies on this thread have convinced me that sometimes, the platform widgets really do leave a lot to be desired. So, I don't know what to do instead.
You don't. But if it's better, people will actually use it. This is currently a glaring hole in the software development landscape screaming for a better solution.
I'm currently in a similar boat as the Photon author and I have a much more prosaic application. But I have a lot of interaction with OpenGL and the GUI system, and none of the GUI toolkits like that.
Photon is simply doing the same thing that GTK did originally--GTK was written specifically for the GIMP and only later did it become general purpose.
> And as for spending time contributing to an existing toolkit, which toolkit?
That's your choice to make. And your efforts help make those decisions. The toolkit that attracts motivated people and improves starts gaining momentum and attracts more people. Even a single motivated individual can tip the balance when things are unsettled.
Unfortunately, this is not a well-trod and settled area. Part of being on the bleeding edge is that you get cut.
FWIW, Photon scales well. One issue is that DAWs may or may not allow scalable UIs. VST2 for example, is not designed to be scalable, but VST3 is. I'm very open to addressing accessibility if anyone wants to do some work on it.
Um, I have normal but aging sight, and I still can't get a DAW that actually scales its widget to something other than 200% (or 150% if I'm reaaaaally lucky).
I have no GUI that renders at useful speeds using OpenGL or Vulkan.
The Photon author didn't just create this to be contrary. Modern OS GUIs don't work very well for things like DAWs because DAWs often operate much more like a game wherein the screen is animated and has 60fps of stuff going on.
Rather than complaining, write us all an open source GUI that doesn't suck and people will happily use that and then people will write the accessibility hooks for it.