A few general thoughts: * The only configuration framework I've ever dealt with that wasn't a one-off I wrote was the one in doxygen (which is, of course, a one-off by the doxygen guys). One thing I like about it that we could possibly copy for our configuration tool is that it has two views, an autogenerated 'advanced view' that exposes all options and a 'wizard view' which is hand-tweaked to be easier to deal with, but may not show all options. Obviously this would ease the burden of adding new configuration options, my guess is that it would require basically no extra work for interaction designers.
* If we expect java developers contributing plugins to also be competent web designers then we are limiting the set of potential contributors. This seems like more than just a difference in philosophies, and I'd tend to agree with Andrea that we should try and keep the number of technologies + tools required to contribute as small as possible. * It seems like having the configuration tool as a separate servlet wouldn't be very burdensome to me? Couldn't it be packaged in the .war with geoserver regardless of whether or not it actually shares code? I think commenting some stuff out in web.xml to kill the config UI would probably be acceptable to those CLI junkies that want to get rid of it :) * If we supported autogenerating a configuration tool we would also probably have most of the machinery needed to create a CLI configuration validator, which would probably be a useful feature for "those CLI junkies." -David On Wednesday 26 March 2008 10:12:32 Luca Morandini wrote: > Andrea Aime wrote: > > Luca Morandini ha scritto: > >> A Java programmer can build good UIs too, I suspect. > >> Look, I've never heard of a "saw craftsman" as unable to make an elegant > >> wood table: let's separate the tool from the product. > > > > We're thinking of different things here. As Dijstra wisely stated > > in "The humble programmer": "The competent programmer is fully aware of > > the strictly limited size of his own skull; therefore he approaches the > > programming task in full humility, and among other things he avoids > > clever tricks like the plague." > > > > While this has nothing to do with UI, the "limited size of the skull" > > means, imho, that either one is a top notch java developer, or a very > > good interaction/UI designer. The skill set is very different, someone > > very proficient in both is kind of an exception, not the norm. > > We shall agree to disagree on this: I like the concept of a > "generalizing specialist" [1] ;) > > >> Actually, if you are serious about REST, no state should be on the > >> server, hence calling for a pure AJAX client. > > > > If you look at http://www.spatialreference.org/, you'll > > find a web app that's made along the rest principles, has no server > > side state management, yet it's not using AJAX. > > Point taken, let me restate it: > <<Actually, if you are serious about REST, no state should be on the > server, hence calling for a pure AJAX client *unless your state is so > simple that can be stored in hidden HTML forms*.>>. > > Actually, I did just this back in 2001... no RESTful services at the > time though. > > Regards, > > [1] http://www.agilemodeling.com/essays/generalizingSpecialists.htm > > -------------------- > Luca Morandini > www.lucamorandini.it > -------------------- > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Check out the new SourceForge.net Marketplace. > It's the best place to buy or sell services for > just about anything Open Source. > http://ad.doubleclick.net/clk;164216239;13503038;w?http://sf.net/marketplac >e _______________________________________________ > Geoserver-devel mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/geoserver-devel > > !DSPAM:4040,47ea59eb118902143011171! ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Check out the new SourceForge.net Marketplace. It's the best place to buy or sell services for just about anything Open Source. http://ad.doubleclick.net/clk;164216239;13503038;w?http://sf.net/marketplace _______________________________________________ Geoserver-devel mailing list [email protected] https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/geoserver-devel
