Mischa Kroon wrote:
> Hi guys,
> 
> I'm wondering which GUI toolkit I should use for experimenting with GUI 
> programming with windows.
> 
> My selection points:
> Free for non commercial use
> A graphical designer
> Simple to use
> Not 2 awful to look at
> Runs on the windows platform

Ruby/Tk is probably your best bet to start with. Given that FreeRide is
bundled in the One-Click Installer, Fox is another possibility. I've
forgotten what the graphical designers for those toolkits are called,
but I know they exist.

QT4 is in my opinion the best looking and has the best designer. But I
don't think the Ruby/QT4 interface is fully baked yet (if someone from
the QTRuby team is here, I'd *love* for you to prove me wrong here!).

You might also want to consider getting ActiveState's Komodo IDE. I'd
wait until 4.0 is released, though -- 3.5 is on the way out and 4.0 is
in beta. It's a tad expensive -- $250, although they have a lower cost
"personal edition".

> It's nice if it also runs on other platforms but I can live without them :)

> 
> Would RubyCLR be a good option or should I look at other roads ?

There are actually now *three* Ruby - .NET environments to choose from,
plus jRuby if you like the Java way. I'm not at all familiar with .NET,
so I won't pretend to evaluate them.