How did Chrome create a different GUI for the browser?

Question

I am interested in how Chrome was able to write such a good looking GUI? What libraries and methods did they use?

I am particularly amazed that it acts 100% like a regular GUI - you can drag it by the blue strip and the regular buttons [_, o, x] are made differently. Also tab dragging is so seamless. In fact you can drag a tab outside of existing GUI and it will create a new window fluidly.

Does anyone know more details about this?

I am asking because I also want to write great looking GUI for my applications. And this is a good start to understand the process.

Answer 1

I would advise against taking this approach. While Chrome does have an attractive GUI, breaking the design guidelines for your target platform is rarely (but sometimes) the path to creating an attractive, usable, intuitive user interface.

If you're looking to understand the process for developing a UI, then I would recommend that you explore the design guidelines for your target platform (Windows, it would appear, in your case).

Answer 2

Likely purely Windows API.

There is are functions in Win32 to override almost any aspect of Window behavior / and or look. For example, you can intercept the WM_NC_PAINT message to paint the "non-client area" (title bar and max/min buttons). You can do this on any app, in fact.