I'm preparing my session for this month's PyCon?, and thought I'd ask for some input from people who are not as thoroughly immersed in Dabo as I am. Specifically, I'd like to hear your ideas and observations about what it is about Dabo that either first attracted you to it, or that created the Aha! moment when you realized that this might be a truly useful tool for you. My thinking is that since I have to limit my talk to a short period of time, which means that I'll have to skip some things, if I can get a better idea as to what grabs people best, I will be sure not to drop that from the talk.
If someone posts an idea that you agree with, add a me too! so that I know that it is something to be sure not to miss.
If you could show a comparison of Dabo code and wxPython code required to do the same thing, I think that that might impress anyone who is a wxPython user. That's what got me hooked on Dabo. - Peter Decker
I think that you should focus on the UI toolkit more. I agree with Peter on the Dabo to WxPython comparison. The UI toolkit is the only reason I came to Dabo. I liked the ability to write short, easy to understand GUIs? thanks to the way that the UI layer is designed. I think that is does wonders for maintainability, as GUI code is traditionally spaghetti code. I would think that a discussion on the UI layer demonstrating the concise nature of the UI code and how it impacts both development time and maintainability. That should get most people that have developed GUIs? or maintained GUIs? in other languages interested. I also second Peter's idea of a comparison between Dabo and a few other UIs? like WxPython, C#, and Java.
I see this as maybe becoming a standard presentation for GUI developers. GUI developers know what a pain it is to code GUIs?, and will be able to appreciate the ease of use for widgets like the dGrid. Also, if they ever have to maintain a GUI that was either hand coded or visually designed (far worse for maintainability and readability), they will greatly appreciate the easy to understand nature of the Dabo code. I think that this is also a bonus to managers, who must keep in mind maintainability when designing apps because often times they will be used for years and programmers will spend far more time reading code than understanding it.
I see a lot of people coming to Dabo solely for the UI layer...I know that Dabo is designed for database apps, but the UI layer is so good that I forsee more people using Dabo for UIs? than for the db and bizobjs. In other words, I think that you are currently marketing to a smaller crowd (VFP, DB) and the larger pool of potential users (GUI designers from all languages) is being left to discover Dabo on their own.
So, to sum things up, I think that you should discuss the advantages the Dabo UI gives in development time, compactness, readability, and maintainability of GUI code. This can be demonstrated with a comparison of different GUI toolkits to Dabo. Even if they don't understand the code and advantages particular widgets offer (dGrid), they will be able to make the connection that this is something that can really help them out and it is something that they might want to learn.
My $.02
~ Nathan Lowrie