Create a cross platform Windows, Mac OS X application [closed]

Answer 1

You can create fantastic looking cross platform applications with Java Swing. It just requires slightly more effort to learn to do so.

Here, take a look at some of these links.

1. http://jidesoft.com/products/component.htm
2. http://www.xerto.com/imagery.php
3. http://www.jgraph.com/screenshots.html
4. http://www.javootoo.com/
5. http://www.formdev.com/screenshots/
6. http://www.jidesoft.com/products/oss.htm

Answer 2

For completeness, it's now worth adding Unity to the list.

It would be very hard to create a native-looking app for either platform and the general GUI tools are far from mature. But, it's not just a game engine and you can write in C#/Mono, make use of a decent range of libs and deploy to Win and OSX fairly painlessly.

Answer 3

thanks for all your answers. I've been doing some research and playing around with WPF and CAnimation etc. It looks like using a C/C++ model and doing the GUI individually for each platform is the best way to go. Thanks for all your help.

Answer 4

As long as you are not tied to languages, it looks like Java is a good candidate. Pair that up with SWT for the GUI, and you will have a native looking app on any OS you like.

Answer 5

If you choose C++ language, I would definitely recommend Qt for that. Your application can be deployed under Windows and Mac as requested in the OP, but also Linux, and now, with the latest version on smartphones using iOs, Windows RT and Android.

It's well documented and very active on the web (including on SO).

The only negative point I see is Qt creator tool which, IMHO, is less user friendly than historical tools (like Visual Studio for instance ), but you are not actually forced to use it as an IDE for Qt development.

Answer 6

The upcoming QT-Creator might be worth a look: link text