>>107you don't need a bloated GUI lib for a minimalist browser, just call the most basic X functions. granted, X is itself pretty bloated but so is windows. but maybe I'm just saying it because I'd rather have a browser run natively on linux or openbsd than go through a compatibility layer.
as for windows GUI API, I dunno. when I worked with it, it felt like they tried to force a C++-shaped peg into a C-shaped hole. you have many types (devices, device contexts, windows, window handles and a fuckton of stuff I don't remember) and functions to put one type in another type which would make sense if done under the hood in a sepples-style language but feels like a lot of boilerplate and busy work. but keep in mind that I have a different perspective because my work with windows GUI stuff was about reverse engineering it, so maybe it's possible to write it in a more concise way but the programmer who did the original work was a dumbass.