"Summary: This series of articles explores how to use Python to
create scripts for the GNOME desktop, the screenlets framework, and
Nautilus to deliver a highly productive environment. Scripts on the
desktop enable drag-and-drop functionality and quick access to the
information and services you commonly use. In this installment,
learn how to build a desktop application using the screenlets
widget toolkit.
"Developing applications for the Linux desktop typically
requires some type of graphical user interface (GUI) framework to
build on. Options include GTK+ for the GNOME desktop and Qt for the
K Desktop Environment (KDE). Both platforms offer everything a
developer needs to build a GUI application, including libraries and
layout tools to create the windows users see. This article shows
you how to build desktop productivity applications based on the
screenlets widget toolkit (see Resources for a link).
"A number of existing applications would fit in the desktop
productivity category, including GNOME Do and Tomboy. These
applications typically allow users to interact with them directly
from the desktop through either a special key combination or by
dragging and dropping from another application such as Mozilla
Firefox. Tomboy functions as a desktop note-taking tool that
supports dropping text from other windows."
