2015-03-19 16:24 GMT+01:00 Mário Luzeiro <[email protected]>: > Hello all, > > I've just watched Wayne Stambaugh @ FOSDEM15 > > https://fosdem.org/2015/schedule/event/kicad/ > https://video.fosdem.org/2015/devroom-electronic_design_automation/kicad.mp4 > > .. and I really appreciate it because I was missing that introduction and > general view status of the KiCad project.. > > Since I started last year occasionally contributing to KiCad, I make a > question to myself lots of times: "Where am I" ? > > I am not following everyday this mailing list, I just come here once in a > while or when I start to make a new contribution so I miss something that I > quickly catch and see the development status of the project. > Recently, I found some important posts here by Wayne (i.e: > https://lists.launchpad.net/kicad-developers/msg17342.html ) related with > "stable releases".. and so on > > I am missing in KiCad some uniformization point on all fields that KiCad > community is working on. I think KiCad is missing some "corporate branding" > in the way that it shows / present itself to the world, probably is because > it is being developed by just engineers. ;) > > I know that KiCad is a opensource project and don't need to marketing itself > and promote as a real business corporation is, but, the way the things are > moving now, hardware is becoming more attractive to different area fields and > people, and lots of other (commercials) products are moving to engage more > people as well (ex: the recently movements that commercial products did with > electronic components online stores, Eagle->Farnell, DesignSpark PCB -> RS, > and with the online communities of makers, Altium -> CircuitMaker) > > So, I miss something that have a more careful presentation to public, like > other opensource project have nowadays
I don't see anything inherently wrong in the current setup as such. For me it is the information that matters not the style as such. I agree somthing else might me nice, but for now we are using Confluence. I don't kow much about customisation of this, but if anyone wants to make the appearance different, I am sure they can just start making a new template for it. As it is now, it might look a bit strange because of its wiki style appearance... because that is what it essentially is. > and I think it will be special important that KiCad will have stable releases. Well... as you might or might not have noticed, this is planned and in progress. > I believe when someone new, open a webpage of an opensource project would > like to see that it is a live >a not dead project! Where do you see a dead project except of http://iut-tice.ujf-grenoble.fr/kicad/, that everyone for some unknown reason always mentions as a resource. >So things like see the latest stable release, reading some blog news about the >development of the >project.. etc We still have the mailing lists. Also Chris Gammels forum, on https://forum.kicad.info/ If you want a blog, why not read the mailing list announcements? An idea for a lightweight compromise is to link announcements on the kicad-pcb.org site. There is the "dev space" where there was kind of a status page. I have recently tried to add announcements on this. This is ofc not nessesarely as updated or might even show something wrong. http://www.kicad-pcb.org/display/DEV/KiCad+Development > Also, for kicad, all the information in webpage (the official .. and the > others web sites!) is very spread across the web, same for the users and same > for the developers. Well, we have some fragmentation, but it is not that bad IMHO. I agree that we might want to centralise some of the information, but it is still a bit hard, since some are different services. > Example, for developers: > We have this page (Atlassian based ?) with misc information: > http://www.kicad-pcb.org/display/DEV/KiCad+Development > > And the launchpad page, with other information and details: > launchpad.net/kicad > > and the mailing list page: > https://launchpad.net/~kicad-developers > > we have also other separate projects like: > https://launchpad.net/kicad-winbuilder > > CERN webpage have also very good information (not sure if updated) for > project development > www.ohwr.org/projects/cern-kicad/wiki > > and the original author JP webpage: > http://iut-tice.ujf-grenoble.fr/kicad/ > > and then.. that important information of the project I discuss there is also > spread in mails in the development list. You even forgot the github organisation... > That would be nice if we have in a main kicad page as much as a single and > only updated information with also that types of summary update status that > Wayne is doing, it should be in a online page for quick reference making > everybody tuned in the project and also, the other users people will know > about the progress of the project and fill confidence using KiCad. > Well, the kicad-pcb.org is still a quick reference. Just because there exists different side projects, it does not mean that you have to look there. If you think anything specifically is missing on i.e. kicad-pcb.org, don't hesitate to contribute. > > As a developer I miss things like to understand on what people are working or > who can I contact to discuss about something related with some part of the > project.. who developed / define the architectures of something.. etc > A good example that illustrate my point is the wxWidgets project (that KiCad > is using) > > https://www.wxwidgets.org > +Download latest version > +Good example screenshot > +news for users.. and developers... so they have the official updates and > project progress... > +User Documentation > +Community > +Bug report > +Development information > +Development roadmap! > ... > > > https://inkscape.org/en/ > +Download > +News > +Learn > +Development > +Community > +Support > +Gallery (it is useful to attract people with good examples of the software > capabilities) > ... > > and so on. It is something that shows to the community, call it for > engagement and interest. > > I believe if we can make KiCad look a bit more attractive it will engage more > people to use and contribute (development and other) to it. Can you claify this a bit more? (I know the confluence page is a bit bad on a small mobile browser [the left menu is missin somehow]) > There are probably things in this points that will cost money / time / skills > and specialized people... but .. Wayne Stambaugh prove in the FOSDEM15 that > he is very good to "sell the product" so hope you find some way to get a more > live Kicad ;) > > Any plans on this Wayne?! > > Cheers! > Mario Luzeiro If you think this reply is a bit grumpy, don't consider it as such. I just tried to reply to some of your statements from another view angle. _______________________________________________ Mailing list: https://launchpad.net/~kicad-developers Post to : [email protected] Unsubscribe : https://launchpad.net/~kicad-developers More help : https://help.launchpad.net/ListHelp
