 |
» |
|
|
|
The Motif user interface is a graphical user interface for
the X Window system. By providing a consistent interface for the
UNIX environment, Motif enables users to work with multiple applications
that have consistent and similar characteristics. Motif and the Common Desktop Environment | |
The Common Desktop Environment (CDE) is a specification and
reference implementation of a common UNIX desktop user environment
and has many cross-process relationships. By comparison, the process
relationship between an application, a window manager, and the X
Window System server is much simpler than in CDE. The area covered by CDE is broad, and although the layering
in the system is not as rigorous as that of Motif, the relationship
between high-level system components is more diverse. This is primarily
due to the ToolTalk extensions that have been built into CDE. (For
more information on ToolTalk, see the ToolTalk User's
Guide and CDE ToolTalk Messaging Overview
.) CDE, however, uses Motif as its underlying toolkit. Applications
developed for CDE must adhere to the same style guidelines as Motif
applications running under another window manager as well as to
CDE-specific style guidelines (see Chapter 13 “Common Desktop Environment
Guidelines” for more information). Figure 1-1 “Relationship
of Applications With and Without CDE” shows
the relationship of applications with and without CDE. History of Motif | |
Motif was developed to fill a growing need for a consistent
graphical user interface for the X Window system. To develop such
an interface, the Open Software Foundation (OSF) solicited technical
input from the computer industry in 1989.
Table 1-1 “History of Motif and the Motif
Style Guide” outlines
the history of Motif and the Motif Style Guide. Table 1-1 History of Motif and the Motif
Style Guide | Version | Description |
|---|
| Motif 1.0 and
1.1 | Early releases
of Motif. OSF published a style guide. | | Motif 1.2 -
1.2.3 | Many technical
and behavioral upgrades. Technical upgrades included toolkit enhancement,
support for X11R5, additional internationalization functions, and
performance improvements. Behavioral upgrades included drag-and-drop
capability, tear-off menus, and window manager implementation. OSF
also improved the style guide. | | Motif 1.2.5 | Based on Motif
1.2.3. This version was developed exclusively for the Common Desktop
Environment (CDE) Version 1.0. A style guide was released with CDE. | | Motif 2.0 | Based on Motif
1.2.3. This version included additional controls, C++ support, international
language improvements, and text input modifications. A preliminary
style guide, based on IBM's Common User Access, was developed but
never released. | | Motif 2.1 | The current version
of Motif. Now administered by the X Consortium, this release of
Motif combines all the features of Motif 1.2.5 and Motif 2.0. Developers
can build their own desktop environment and applications or build
CDE 2.1 applications with the same set of libraries. This style
guide includes both Motif 2.1 and CDE 2.1 style guidelines. Since
CDE 2.1 was built with Motif 2.1, the Motif 2.1 guidelines also
apply to CDE 2.1 unless stated otherwise. |
|
Printable version
