ANN: wxWidgets 2.8.0: a cross-platform GUI toolkit

December 14th, 2006 -- the wxWidgets team is pleased to announce a
major new release of the mature cross-platform C++ application framework.

The following platforms are supported:

- Windows 95/98/ME, NT, 2000, XP, Vista
- Windows 64 on Itanium and x86-64 architectures
- Windows CE, including Pocket PC 2003, Smartphone 2003, Mobile 5
- Unix (Linux, *BSD, Solaris, AIX, HP-UX, IRIX, Tru64) and VMS with GTK+
- Unix with Motif/Lesstif
- Unix with X11 (beta)
- Mac OS X using Carbon
- Mac OS X using Cocoa (alpha)
- MGL for Linux and DOS
- OS/2 (beta)
- Direct Frame Buffer (alpha)

To get wxWidgets, please go to the Download page here:

http://www.wxwidgets.org/downloads/

This is the first version in the 2.8 series.

There have been many changes since the 2.6 series; please see the
change log file included in the distribution for more details. The
most significant additions to the GUI part of the libraries were:

- AUI (advanced user interface) library providing dockable
windows and much more
- Generic wxRichTextCtrl implementation, for editing styled text
- New wxComboCtrl and wxOwnerDrawnComboBox controls
- New wxTreebook book-like control
- New wxColour/Dir/File/Font/PickerCtrls
- wxHyperlinkCtrl control
- wxAnimationCtrl
- wxAboutBox
- wxSimpleHtmlListBox
- General-purpose wxHTML help viewer window
- Right-to-left language support on some platforms
- Support for Core Graphics on Mac OS X
- wxDataViewCtrl (native on wxGTK only)

Non-GUI enhancements include:

- Tar archive streams
- TGA file support
- Improved MIME types support on Unix

With this release, wxWidgets continues to improve its compatibility with
standard C++ library facilities. In particular, wxString and std::string
can now be used almost interchangeably.

*** About wxWidgets

wxWidgets is a comprehensive open-source, multi-platform C++ GUI
framework, that can be used to build commercial and free
software. First released in 1992 under the name wxWindows, it's
increasingly used by organisations and individuals all over the
world due to its winning combination of sophistication, wide
platform coverage, ease of use, unrestrictive licence and
vibrant user community.

For most ports, wxWidgets adopts the native look and feel of
each platform since it uses the native widget sets. There is also
a generic widget set, used for example by the wxX11 port - no
other widget set is required, giving the potential for embedded
use.

An extraordinary range of classes is provided - but don't be put
off by this because most people find wxWidgets easier to learn
and use than MFC and other frameworks.

As well as comprehensive support for the usual widgets, advanced
features include: HTML viewing/printing, wxImage class providing
handlers for reading and writing many image types, resizeable panels
and dialogs on all platforms, document/view, OpenGL support,
HTML-based and context-sensitive help, wizards, drag and drop,
a grid class, ODBC support, threads, sockets, container classes,
a styled text control, and much more. A 2,000-page reference manual
is provided in HTML, MS HTML Help, WinHelp, wxWidgets Help and PDF
formats, and there are over eighty samples and demos.

If you're an MFC user, you'll find many wxWidgets concepts
reassuringly familiar, while often clearer and more consistent.
If you're not, you should still find it intuitive from the start.

wxWidgets bindings for many other languages are available,
including Python, Perl, Basic, Lua, JavaScript and Eiffel.

If you're considering wxWidgets, do check out some of these links:

http://www.wxwidgets.org/about/feedback.htm ; Comments from users
http://www.wxwidgets.org/about/screensh.htm ; Screenshots
http://www.wxwidgets.org/about/users.htm ; Some of our users

Have fun!

The wxWidgets team