WPF is Ugly by Default?
Erik Sink thinks WPF is ugly by default:
"In fact, many developers are under the impression that WPF apps are just naturally pretty. They believe that something about the platform makes the user interface look great, automatically, with no extra effort.
This is not true.
What Microsoft doesn't want you to know is that it is possible to make ugly applications using WPF. In fact, ugly is not merely possible -- it's the default." [1]
Paint, by default, is ugly if you drop it on a canvas. Art isn't something that has ever really sprang to life without an artist. WPF isn't any different from any other UI framework in this regard. WinForms is also ugly by default, as are MFC, SWING, ASPX, etc. The simple fact is that if you want an attractive user interface, you must have someone who is concerned with and capable of making a good looking UI. The difference with WPF is that you don't have to write code to make it pretty. A designer with a copy of Expression gets you far closer to production than a designer with a copy of Photoshop. Maybe it's not perfect, but the power of WPF isn't in the difficulty of making things ugly, it's in the ease of making things pretty. In the right hands, that's a powerful thing.