This Year in Conrod – An Update from the Rust GUI Library

It&#x27;s worth noting that Conrod doesn&#x27;t use any unsafe code [1].<p>In light of the &quot;Why I&#x27;m dropping Rust&quot; post, it&#x27;s nice to see a proof point that it&#x27;s possible, and easy, to write heterogeneous trees in Rust without using unsafe code. It looks like Conrod uses petgraph via the daggy crate [2].<p>[1]: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;github.com&#x2F;PistonDevelopers&#x2F;conrod&#x2F;search?utf8=%E2%9C%93&amp;q=unsafe" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;github.com&#x2F;PistonDevelopers&#x2F;conrod&#x2F;search?utf8=%E2%9...</a> [2]: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;github.com&#x2F;mitchmindtree&#x2F;daggy" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;github.com&#x2F;mitchmindtree&#x2F;daggy</a>

Couple of minor nitpicks <i>re</i> naming:<p>1. `Oval` should really be `Ellipse` given that its sizing assumes symmetry on two axes.<p>2. Can&#x27;t decide which side of the Atlantic it&#x27;s on - it has `color` and variants (US English) but also `centre` and variants (British English). Much as it pains me, programming has generally standardized on USian spellings.<p>3. The use of `kid` in names feels slightly odd, especially when the documentation for those names consistently uses the more common `child`.<p>The current theme support looks kinda limited - is it ever likely to expand to support things like gradient fills, rounded corners, drop shadows etc? Or would that be pushing too much complexity into the rendering backends?

I&#x27;m sure this is great from the perspective of a Rust developer who wants a Rust GUI library, and the post is basically written from that perspective. If I&#x27;m not using Rust, are there compelling reasons for me to switch from Qt? Does conrod have the equivalent of QOpenGLWidget so that I can mix 2D widgets with 3D visuals?

Is there support for antialiasing? Some of the shapes and text look jagged.

I am looking to use Rust to write Delphi and C# type of (business) apps. Can Conrod be used and how would it be painful? I am interested in getting things done, and I don&#x27;t care much about looks. Note I much prefer a spartan GUI, as Conrod apparently proposes, over some Java-style widgets.