LinuxTag 2009: GUIs of the Future with QML
In his keynote at the LinuxTag 2009 in Berlin, KDE founder Matthias Ettrich spoke about the future of user interfaces on mobile devices. In the process he presented QML, the newest development from his employer Qt Software.
KDE's and Qt's Matthias Ettrich presents QML, a Qt extension for modern GUI development.
Ettrich's talk was titled "New user interface paradigms on mobile devices" and addressed GUI developers. He began with a bit of history: ten years ago programming was at the forefront of development, with UIs "quickly assembled in about two hours." That has since change. Users now demand much more sophisticated UIs, and make purchasing decisions based on them.
The whole paradigm of GUI development has thus shifted. Graphics processing is faster, resolutions better and mobile devices provide new input mechanisms. These conditions, according to Ettrich, require diverging from the traditional development model. No more boxed, rectangular widgets. These components are much too difficult to turn on and off, scale or otherwise change, and don't allow consistent backgrounds.
"The boundaries should no longer be set only by technology but by the creativity of the developer," offered Ettrich. As a tool that represents this new style of thinking he presented QML, a declarative UI language from Qt Software's development lab in Brisbane, Australia. QML is an extension of the existing Qt Toolkit and is under LGPL licensing.
Ettrich showed some sample applications that he created onstage using Qt Creator to showcase the new QML language. He demonstrated the properties, states and transitions that are typical for QML.
A Qt Labs blog presents a video of QML in action and some sample code. It also includes links to the Windows binaries and Gitorious source code repository.
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Support Our Work
Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you’ve found an article to be beneficial.
News
-
Red Hat Releases RHEL 10 Early
Red Hat quietly rolled out the official release of RHEL 10.0 a bit early.
-
openSUSE Joins End of 10
openSUSE has decided to not only join the End of 10 movement but it also will no longer support the Deepin Desktop Environment.
-
New Version of Flatpak Released
Flatpak 1.16.1 is now available as the latest, stable version with various improvements.
-
IBM Announces Powerhouse Linux Server
IBM has unleashed a seriously powerful Linux server with the LinuxONE Emperor 5.
-
Plasma Ends LTS Releases
The KDE Plasma development team is doing away with the LTS releases for a good reason.
-
Arch Linux Available for Windows Subsystem for Linux
If you've ever wanted to use a rolling release distribution with WSL, now's your chance.
-
System76 Releases COSMIC Alpha 7
With scores of bug fixes and a really cool workspaces feature, COSMIC is looking to soon migrate from alpha to beta.
-
OpenMandriva Lx 6.0 Available for Installation
The latest release of OpenMandriva has arrived with a new kernel, an updated Plasma desktop, and a server edition.
-
TrueNAS 25.04 Arrives with Thousands of Changes
One of the most popular Linux-based NAS solutions has rolled out the latest edition, based on Ubuntu 25.04.
-
Fedora 42 Available with Two New Spins
The latest release from the Fedora Project includes the usual updates, a new kernel, an official KDE Plasma spin, and a new System76 spin.