If you wish to design GUI for a GTK+ editor, you need to get familiar with Glade which comes in handy in such times. You can create the GUI design with the help of a Glade Interface Designer, one that does not depend on programming language put to use in the design, making it the perfect choice for such a task.

Quick overview


The most important thing that you should note when it comes to Glade is that it is more of a library than it is a language.You can also refer to it as a library of resources used by developers as they develop GUI applications for use on various platforms.

The program gets written in C language though there are options that can allow you to develop an application using other 'languages' of your choice. The central libraries found in GTK+ are ATK, Pango, and Glib. The latter allows for compatibility with different devices and is critical when working with C++ and C. However, if you are using languages such as Python, Glib is not required as languages of this level have their libraries for that function.


This software gets used in the design of GTK+ applications, and it is an application by itself. It works great in the simplification of coming up with an interface for an application. It gets used in the making of an XML file that shows the pecking order of the widgets used in the interface. The XML file created is known as the glade file.

Most tutorials that you find will show you examples where Glade works with C language. The reason behind this is that Glade initially worked with C to create GUIs, and as such, it became the norm. Over time, people took up Libglade to create interfaces which got later replaced by Glade 3.

Thanks to these developments, you only get to use a glade file to help you build a GUI, and the rest of the work gets left to you. This flexibility works great for developers as they get to have much more choices in the programming languages that they choose to use.

Glade 3 is widely available nowadays and getting one should not be a hard task. By using this kind of builder, you will write little code and design amazing interfaces. How does this work? Well, it is quite simple. You start off by deciding the kind of interface you want by feeding it into an XML file which will then create objects. The type of code you write will relate to the user.

By understanding this software and its purpose, you can then go ahead and make use of it in designing GUI for a GTK+ editor.