Give Unix a Windows look and feel

Although Windows buttons, scrollbars, and other widgets are not, in general, available for Unix desktops, there are times when it's desirable to give Unix GUIs a bit more of a Windows appearance. Among the cheap option database tweaks that can help cosmetically are

         option add *borderWidth 1
         option add *Text.background white

RS also likes

        option add *font {Helvetica 9}
        option add *Button.borderWidth 1
        option add *Button.padY 0

because on Solaris, the default bold Helvetica isn't that beautiful. The two other changes are for making buttons look less fat. HRB: Unfortunately this screws up the icon appearance in messageboxes.

A good location for related information is "Microsoft Windows and Tk".

Readers should take the above with a grain [pound??] of salt. The Windows port of Tk makes use of Windows native widgets in several places. To make the native X widgets act just like Windows is beyond simple option settings. Instead, the above adjusts some of the decorations and fonts used. They do not modify behaviors, add functions like native print support, etc.

I think it's clear enough. I don't see how anyone smart enough to get involved with programming could miss that.

PT 10-Feb-2004: See the 'tile' project at http://tktable.sourceforge.net/tile/