Day 19

Hours worked/Total: 3.5/36.5

Day Recap

Shifted focus back to UX by researching and implementing a custom windows title bar. Made progress with updating the app icon and manually designing Windows controls like minimize, maximize, and close buttons. Made it work, but the process was tedious.

What I Did

• Changed the app icon by updating the default icon to a custom .ico file.
• Implemented a custom title bar:
  • Styled each button using Avalonia controls.
  • Had to replicate the exact behavior of Windows controls (e.g., maximize/restore toggling).
  • It was a painfully detailed process to mimic default functionality while keeping the design consistent.
• Added custom navigation buttons to the title bar:
  • Designed and positioned the buttons for navigation (e.g., back, forward).
  • Styled them to fit the app’s theme and made them visually distinct from the default Windows controls.

Remarks

Customizing the title bar was a tedious and required a lot of effort. Avalonia doesn’t seem to offer a straightforward way to handle these controls out of the box, making customizations a pain in the ass.

The app now feels more polished, and having custom navigation in the title bar adds usability. However, this process shows the need to weigh customization efforts against actual user value.

Next Goals

Figure out sharing state between Avalonia views.