How good can Winforms make a UI look using free resources only?

Question

I\'m a novice programmer writing my first program (it\'s in C#), and having to learn as I go. I\'d love to have a WPF gui but that might be biting off more than I can chew

Answer 1

Plastic SCM from Codice Software is a very nice example of what a non-traditional, cross-platform WinForms application could look like. It almost has a WPF look and feel to it - but is completely written using standard WinForms (and NO 3rd-party controls!). The screenshots I linked to above to could be good inspiration for you.

The application has a trial period in which you could download it an play around in the UX that they build. The developers are easy-going and would probably even be able to find some time to answer some "how did you do xxx" questions.