Book Image

Hands-On GUI Application Development in Go

By : Andrew Williams
Book Image

Hands-On GUI Application Development in Go

By: Andrew Williams

Overview of this book

Go is often compared to C++ when it comes to low-level programming and implementations that require faster processing, such as Graphical User Interfaces (GUIs). In fact, many claim that Go is superior to C++ in terms of its concurrency and ease of use. Most graphical application toolkits, though, are still written using C or C++, and so they don't enjoy the benefits of using a modern programming language such as Go. This guide to programming GUIs with Go 1.11 explores the various toolkits available, including UI, Walk, Shiny, and Fyne. The book compares the vision behind each project to help you pick the right approach for your project. Each framework is described in detail, outlining how you can build performant applications that users will love. To aid you further in creating applications using these emerging technologies, you'll be able to easily refer to code samples and screenshots featured in the book. In addition to toolkit-specific discussions, you'll cover more complex topics, such as how to structure growing graphical applications, and how cross-platform applications can integrate with each desktop operating system to create a seamless user experience. By delving into techniques and best practices for organizing and scaling Go-based graphical applications, you'll also glimpse Go's impressive concurrency system. In the concluding chapters, you'll discover how to distribute to the main desktop marketplaces and distribution channels. By the end of this book, you'll be a confident GUI developer who can use the Go language to boost the performance of your applications.
Table of Contents (25 chapters)
Title Page
Copyright and Credits
About Packt
Contributors
Preface
Comparison of GUI Toolkits
Index

Integrated user experience


A consistent user experience is of paramount importance if users are expected to pick up software and be able to use it quickly. When programmed to match system design and layout, as well as use standard components, it is easier for a new user to understand how the application will likely work without the need for one of those weighty user manuals. The graphical user interfaces for most popular operating systems have been very carefully designed so that applications written for them will feel natural. The user should inherently recognize the design language and know how to accomplish most of the main tasks right away. Carefully designed platforms such as macOS or Windows 10 provide a toolkit that ensures applications built using it will be immediately familiar to users. This includes peripheral items such as how you choose a file to open, what should happen if you copy and paste a complex file type, and how the application should respond if an item is dragged onto its window. Very few of these features are available to, or correctly utilized by, web-based or command-line applications.

An additional consideration for professional application producers would be assistive technologies. GUIs built using the platform standard toolkits work with provided (or complementary) accessibility enhancers such as screen readers or braille devices. Both web pages and text-based applications typically have to work much harder to support these technologies. Remember that each platform your web page or hybrid application will load on could have very different standard behaviors for assistive technologies. Building a graphical application using the tools of your target platform typically benefits your users, whether they use the interface you designed directly or through accessibility options.