// Copyright (C) 2025 The Qt Company Ltd.
// SPDX-License-Identifier: LicenseRef-Qt-Commercial OR GFDL-1.3-no-invariants-only

/*!
\page topics-ui.html
\title User Interfaces
\brief Qt's technologies for Creating User Interfaces
\ingroup explanations-ui

The Qt framework's main user interface technologies are \b{Qt Quick}
and \b{Qt Widgets}. Qt Quick interfaces are fluid, dynamic, and are best
on touch interfaces. Qt Widgets are for creating complex desktop applications.
You can create Qt Quick and Qt Widgets interfaces with the target
platform's native look and feel.

\section1 Building UIs with Qt Quick

\l [Quick]{Qt Quick} is for creating dynamic and fluid user interfaces. The
\l{Qt Quick Controls} module supplies QML types such as buttons, dialogs, and
menus. You can use \l{The QML Reference}{QML}, a declarative language,
to build the UI and JavaScript to implement the logic.

The following list contains related overviews:
\list
\li \l {Qt Quick Controls}
\li \l {Getting started with Qt Quick applications}
\li \l {First Steps with QML}
\li \l {Glossary Of QML Terms}
\li \l {Visual types}
\li \l {Positioners and layouts}
\li \l {Handling user input}
\li \l {Displaying text}
\li \l {Animations}
\li \l {Integrating JavaScript in QML}
\li \l {Qt Quick 3D} - add-on for 3D graphics
\li \l {Qt Shader Tools} - add-on shader effects
\endlist

\section1 Qt Widgets User Interfaces

\l {Qt Widgets} are the user interface elements that are typical in desktop
environments. The widgets integrate well to the underlying platform providing
native look and feel on Windows, Linux and \macos. The widgets are
mature and feature rich user interface elements suitable for mostly traditional
user interfaces. In contrast to \l {Qt Quick}, the widgets are for creating
large desktop applications and less suited for creating touch-centric
applications with fluid interfaces.

The following list contains related overviews for Qt Widgets:
\list
\li \l{Widgets Classes}
\li \l{Animation Framework}
\li \l{Application Main Window}
\li \l{Dialog Windows}
\li \l{Drag and Drop}
\li \l{Gestures in Widgets and Graphics View}
\li \l{Layout Management}
\li \l{Window and Dialog Widgets}
\li \l{Styles and Style Aware Widgets}
\endlist

\section1 Comparison of UI Interfaces

The following table compares Qt Widgets and Qt Quick interfaces.

\table
    \header
        \li
        \li Qt Quick / Qt Quick Controls
        \li Qt Widgets
        \li Comments
    \row
        \li Used language(s)
        \li \l{QML Applications}{QML/JS}
        \li C++
        \li
    \row
        \li Native look and feel
        \li \inlineimage ok.png
        \li \inlineimage ok.png
        \li Qt Widgets and Qt Quick Controls support native look and feel on
            their target platforms.
    \row
        \li Custom styling
        \li \inlineimage ok.png
        \li \inlineimage ok.png
        \li Qt Widgets provide customization with
            \l{Qt Style Sheets}{style sheets} and Qt Quick Controls has a
            selection of \l{Styling Qt Quick Controls}{customizable styles}.
    \row
        \li Fluid animated UIs
        \li \inlineimage ok.png
        \li
        \li Qt Widgets do not scale well for animations. Qt Quick
            offers a convenient and natural way to implement animations in a
            declarative manner.
    \row
        \li Touch screen
        \li \inlineimage ok.png
        \li
        \li Qt Widgets often require a mouse cursor for good interaction, whereas
            Qt Quick provides QML types for both mouse and touch interaction.
    \row
        \li Standard industry widgets
        \li
        \li \inlineimage ok.png
        \li Qt Widgets provide all the bells and whistles, developed over two
            decades, needed for building standard industry type applications.
    \row
        \li Model/View programming
        \li \inlineimage ok.png
        \li \inlineimage ok.png
        \li Qt Quick provides convenient views, but Qt Widgets provide more
            convenient and complete framework. In addition to Qt Quick views,
            Qt Quick Controls provide a TableView.
    \row
        \li Rapid UI development
        \li \inlineimage ok.png
        \li \inlineimage ok.png
        \li Qt Quick is an excellent choice for rapid UI prototyping and development.
    \row
        \li HW accelerated graphics
        \li \inlineimage ok.png
        \li \inlineimage ok.png
        \li Qt provides full hardware acceleration for Qt Quick interfaces and
            Qt Widgets interfaces are rendered in software. The \l{Graphics}
            overview has more information.
    \row
        \li Graphical effects
        \li \inlineimage ok.png
        \li
        \li Several Qt Quick modules provide graphical effects and Qt Widgets
            interfaces can use \l{Qt GUI} for effects.
    \row
        \li Rich text processing
        \li \inlineimage ok.png
        \li \inlineimage ok.png
        \li Qt Widgets currently provide the most comprehensive base for implementing
            text editors. Qt's rich text document classes can also be utilized in
            Qt Quick and Qt Quick Controls' TextArea, but may require some C++
            implementation.
    \row

\endtable

\note You can display QML views in a Qt Widgets UI. For more information, see
\l {Qt Quick Widgets}.

\section1 Related Topics

The following pages contain more information about designing and developing user
interfaces:

\list
\li \l{Design Tools} - overview of user interface tools for designers and
    developers
\li \l{Graphics} - graphics overview
\li \l{Model/View Programming}
\li \l{High DPI}
\endlist

*/

