WPF UI Library
What UI library can you recommend to use in WPF that is free and looks modern? I checked that Xceed has themes that they are paid.
67 Replies
I remember always using MahApps.Metro back when I was still doing WPF
mahapps is meh
if you want a more modern look, like fluent, then WpfUI is the way to go
WpfUI isn’t perfect though, it’s far from it
if you want something other than the 7 look but not too bloated, go with mahapps. If you want bloated but modern controls then go with WpfUI
Or switch to Avalonia, it has some nice looking UI libraries
And it's easier to style, so not using premade components to achieve a modern look is even easier
Avalonia?
Yes
ah
that’s an option too
wpfui looks pretty cool thou
$wpfuilibs
MahApps
https://github.com/MahApps/MahApps.Metro
ModernWPF
https://github.com/Kinnara/ModernWpf
Adonis UI
https://github.com/benruehl/adonis-ui
Material Design
https://github.com/MaterialDesignInXAML/MaterialDesignInXamlToolkit
Biaui
https://github.com/YoshihiroIto/Biaui
HandyControl
https://github.com/HandyOrg/HandyControl
WPFUI (Windows 11 inspired)
https://github.com/lepoco/wpfui
Waves (WPF/Avalonia/More)
https://github.com/waves-framework/waves.ui.wpf
I wish Microsoft would stick with a modern framework instead of leaving it up to developers to support these old frameworks like WPF/winforms
GitHub
GitHub - lepoco/wpfui: WPF UI provides the Fluent experience in you...
WPF UI provides the Fluent experience in your known and loved WPF framework. Intuitive design, themes, navigation and new immersive controls. All natively and effortlessly. - lepoco/wpfui
wasdk is nice but it’s pretty buggy
for now yeah
I wouldn't recommend it for a few more years
and given Microsoft’s behavior towards UWP, nobody even knows if they’ll stick with it
Avalonia is amazing and pretty modern UI
the UI looks sleek
They're already two frameworks ahead of UWP lmao
It's dead and buried
two?
WinUI and MAUI
unless you’re counting MAUI
WinUI3 was suppose to be the successor
oh
Maui is only a wrapper around various native ui libs
MAUI is barely usable
for windows it uses WinUI
This is Avalonia's standard UI
You should take a look at what Microsoft uses itself, such as Microsoft Teams
If Microsoft doesn't release a new UI framework once every 3 years, the CEO gets an aneurysm
they use react native.
So they're contractually obliged to do that
isn't teams web?
react native
lmao
I know the windows store was remade in UWP I think
Avalonia is made to be similar in terms of Syntax so you can easily port it to Avalonia, especially if you use MVVM
MS themselves don't use MS-made frameworks lol
they do thou 😛
Yep. Embarrassing
They only use webview now
Wrapping a React app in MAUI Webview2 doesn't count 😛
the store is not webview
not everywhere. Dev Home is a winui app. store is also native. but yeah a lot of apps are still web based unfortunately
When cross platform is the target, WinUI/WPF just makes little sense.
true
I wonder why MS don't adopt Avalonia when it's obviously the better choice for desktop platforms
but more reason for them to provide a broader support to MAUI and empower it
I was thinking about using avalonia, but I can find any good example how to implement navigation with MVVM Community Toolkit, so right now I'm using
Stylet + WPF. It would be good if there was example for AvaloniaBecause when Microsoft invested on those products, Avalonia was not even a thing to be used.
plus the fact it can keep the look and feel makes it even more amazing
agreed. still, imo, apps that are made for only windows should depend on the native libraries provided to them. why does Windows Search need to be web based? It’s only running on Windows
Or at least any good navigation for which I won't need to write my own implementation
Avalonia don't really have a navigation system like MAUI, it does however have tabcontrols, etc.
MAUI have its own navigation which is fairly simple to use
Avalonia also can implement a viewlocator fairly easy they also have samples using it u can just copy paste
with Stylet u can also do one fairly easy by using UserControls
since it gives u all the tools to achieve it
specially with their conductors and sutff
please don’t recommend MAUI. Friends of mine that have worked with Maui said that it’s absolutely terrible. avalonia/uno are much better than maui
from all that I’ve heard, Maui is extremely buggy
I am currently writing a medium size MAUI app yes there was some issues but they were easily resolved and documented, u can definitively use it for mobile
I've tried it and it wasn't a good experience
im talking about for true cross platform. Windows inlcuded. There are better platforms for the job
not like avalonia or uno are perfect either
avalonia for mobile is very far behind compared to maui thou
making native x-plat frameworks is very hard
have you tried Uno?
no
uno is decent
For sure.
but yeah anythign c# right now for mobile is in dire states imo
I have tried Uno, for me it was pretty similar to UWP and sorry sergio .. I hate UWP.
u either implement ur self which u can with maui
or u webview it
unfortunately. c# is great and I wish it was more popular
but mobile apps are the most popular. best options are native for each platform but most go for web apps
anyway back on topic
have u looked at that list I sent above?
some nice looking stuff there
I recommend Material Design, that's my favorite WPF UI lib
easy to get started and looks good
yes, these are good-looking ui libraries
I'm deciding which one to use
Avalonia is amazing, however, there r a lot of challenges working with vids, it had never been straightforward - at least for me - (u may consider some 3rd parties like libVlc or so)