Introduction
============

Project Overview
----------------

Clera is a Python-based framework for rapidly building cross-platform
GUI applications. Built atop PySide6, it simplifies creating visually
appealing and interactive applications with minimal effort. Clera's
focus is on:

-  **Rapid Prototyping**: Quickly create GUI applications with minimal
   code.

-  **Simplicity:** Intuitive syntax and streamlined design for fast
   learning and prototyping.

-  **Flexibility:** Customizable widgets and layouts for a wide range of
   use cases.

-  **Quality:** Native look and feel on all supported platforms
   (Windows, Linux, macOS).

-  **Efficiency:** Reduce development time while ensuring robustness.

Why is it useful?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

-  Simplifies GUI development with reusable components.

-  Reduces development time with prebuilt widgets and layouts.

-  Provides flexibility for both beginners and advanced users.

What's New in v0.3.0
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Version 0.3.0 is the first developer beta release and introduces
several new widgets and layout features:

-  **Splitter** — resizable split panes with live drag support.

-  **TreeView** — hierarchical tree widget with drag-and-drop, inline editing, and sorting.

-  **SpinBox** — numeric input with integer and float modes, prefix and suffix.

-  **cursor()** — custom cursor support per widget or window.

-  **font()** — load external font files for use in CSS.

-  **Context menus** — built-in and custom right-click menus on Image, ListWidget, Select, and Table.

-  **Box and Grid** — now accept ``css``, ``size``, ``fixed_size``, ``min_size``, ``max_size``, and ``id``.

-  **Window** — new ``radius``, ``alignment``, ``hide_cursor``, ``fullscreen()``, and multi-window support via ``instance`` and ``child`` parameters.

-  **MenuBar** — renamed from ``Menubar`` (old alias still supported).

Target Audience
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Clera is designed for:

-  **Developers** who want to create GUI applications without extensive
   experience in GUI frameworks.

-  **Beginners** exploring Python for GUI development and want an
   easy-to-use GUI framework.

-  **Advanced users** looking for a framework to prototype and deploy
   quickly.

-  **GUI application creators**, ranging from beginners to advanced
   users.

Scope
~~~~~

This guide covers:

1. Installation and setup.

2. Quick start examples.

3. Beginner and advanced usage guides

4. In-depth usage of widgets and layouts.

5. Tutorials, FAQs, and troubleshooting tips.