jimjawn wrote:
Hey all!
I've been using linux for a few months now and I want to start getting
more involved in working on open source projects. I figured the best
way for me to get started would be to add an itch that needed to be
sratched for me personally to something I'm already using. In any
event, I'd like to contribute to roundcube. I've used it successfully
a bunch of times and I just love its simplicity and its ease of
setup. That being said, the one thing that I wish I could do with it
is to check my email from my cell phone. Sort of in the spirit of
m.gmail.com <http://m.gmail.com/>, I wanted to pass it on the
developers and see what you think.
I've included kind of a rough markup
<http://growinguplinux.com/images/m_roundy.png> of an interface that I
think I can build, less perhaps the grouping by conversation feature.
Well at least I think I can. I've been going through the code and its
complexity and depth are staggering IMHO. For some reason I thought
simple interface = simple codebase. While the code is well commented
and very, very eloquent, at this point its a bit above my knowledge of
PHP & javascript. However, I'm not going to let that dishearten me.
I'm down for a challenge.
So I have a few questions for some of the devs on this list.
1. How modular is the interface? I've been going through the code
and it seems like some HTML is hardwired into the program (but
some of the code I'm having a hard time understanding). Is this
the case? Is there an easy way to plug in an alternative
interface besides a common web browser w/ajax support? Is
something like this even possible with roundcube?
2. I've been looking at the wurfl
<http://wurfl.sourceforge.net/php/> and wall
<http://wall.laacz.lv/> and thought that it would be easy to
build a WAP/HTML interface like a roundcube_wall_page() using
these libraries and I'd like to give it a whirl but I'm still
trying to figure out how the code is structured beyond the
introductory info in the help file.
3. Is there any rudimentary docmentation or diagrams that help
explain the system design from a higher level? Is there some
sort of autodocumentation program that I can help build or get
involved in until I understand this system better? Something
that strips tags out of the code and automatically builds
documentation or something? How about a developers guide?
4. What functions can I call that will allow me to: List all of the
IMAP folders, get the messages from the IMAP server in some sort
of organzied array, and basically just work with the IMAP stuff
at a lower level. Is there a roundcube IMAP ilohamail wrapper
class?
If I'm not using the right language please correct me. This is a
great, great open source product and I'd love to be able to contribute
in some manner or fashion. Thanks for reading this and I'm hoping
I'll be able to contribute some way.
jimjawn
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Fakaofa since 2003 - http://palangifiles.com
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I'm sure I'm not the only one who thinks this but....
IMHO Roundcube was meant more for the desktop environment. Utilizing
AJAX and other desktop capable technologies (faster processors, more
memory, etc.) is something AJAX does. And since roundcube is an AJAX
Webmail Client, putting it on a phone with little Java support AND less
memory and CPU power, it's just useless.
What makes roundcube what it is, is the interface and how closely it
resembles a real desktop application. This isn't to say that roundcube
can't be put on a phone; acutally, roundcube could be applied to a
phone, but it would lose the essence of what it is. Roundcube is meant
to mimick Outlook, Thunderbird, kMail, iMail and the like. I don't
believe (correct me if I'm wrong) but I don't believe any programs like
that are on cell phones. Phone makers create their own mail programs.
So while a phone would be a great level to make it to, I don't think
phones are ready yet. They aren't powerful enough, nor do they have
enough memory. We've already seen that the 8MB limit is too small for
some mailings and needs to be increased to 32. Not really sure how much
memory your phone has in it, but 32 is pushing it for me.
These are just my opinions, and not the opinions of any Dev of
Roundcube. Take them with a grain of salt.
--
~ Brett Patterson ~
Roundcube Forum Admin
www.roundcubeforum.net
