interaction in that App is stellar. Tools such as cropping, painting
with different brushes, colouring and so on rely on custom made widgets
that transcend a level of detail that isn't even on the same galaxy as the
stuff that's happening in GNOME. So what's the point on even working on
stuff that's sub-par by design?
Then there are (or were) aspects such as the intention to make all Apps in
GNOME full screen by default. When I first read this it quite puzzled me.
Why would you want to have a desktop or a laptop computer if the default
behaviour is to have a single visible App? Computers with physical
keyboards and mouse/touchpad offer a productivity advantage over tablets
precisely because you have bigger screen dimensions that enable awareness
of several tasks (Apps) at once and more precise and refined controls.
Fullscreen on this form factor only makes sense for Apps such as Blender
or Shotwell and even a web browser on 13 screen laptops, but that's it.
If a user has a 27 inch screen, or even a 15 inch screen, launching
Contacts in full screen is rather obscene. But apparently, part of the
rationale was that these Apps would also be used in tablets, which is
something I find an even more obscene proposition. Developing an
Application and hoping to ship it as is, both on the desktop and on the
tablet, doesn't even categorize as a design decision, it hinders any
rational logic since the end result is inevitably tragic. I hate to point
again at Apple, but take a look at any App that's available both on the
desktop and the tablet, they're completely different and for damned good
reasons. It just feels so obvious.
Cheers,
Jan Jokela
On Wed, Apr 25, 2012 at 2:27 PM, Allan Day allanp...@gmail.com wrote:
Hi all,
Apologies in advance for the long mail - there was no other way.
There have been a few design-related threads on the list recently. I’m
going to try and reboot those discussions in a slightly different and,
I hope, more constructive mode.
Let’s start with the big picture - design is important for GNOME. Our
project’s success rests upon our ability to design and execute an
outstanding user experience. It is in all our interests to make GNOME
design work, therefore - to work together to produce a consistent,
integrated, well-defined, high-quality, delightful user experience.
So far we have made some great progress in this direction. We have a
small but thriving design community. We have successfully reorganised
our development processes around design - development tends to be
design led, and we now have new feature proposals each release rather
than module proposals.
There are very few, if any, real community projects that have achieved
this feat. Members of other projects have even approached me in the
past to ask how they can replicate GNOME’s success in this area.
But there are challenges and things we can do better. Among those
obstacles, I see:
* lack of design resources - we are always trailing behind where we
want to be, and there are important tasks which we are unable to
complete (a new HIG springs to mind)
* improving the quality of design - we can always do better
* getting the project behind a common vision - we sometimes lack focus
* giving people a stake in the project - the danger of design-led
development is that people feel that the project is no longer theirs.
They want to feel they can have an impact and that they can express
themselves through their activities in the community.
* design disagreements can sour relationships and lead to discord
* letting people stay in touch with and understand design activities,
and therefore the activities of the project as a whole
* helping community members to participate in design activities
Now, there have been some initiatives in GNOME to try and help make
design more successful within the community. Some of those are
well-known, like the design wiki pages and the IRC channel, but there
have been other things too, like design office hours (remember those?
nobody came), UX Advocates (also suffered from a lack of take up) and
Every Detail Matters. We are also working to attract more design
contributors, which the Outreach Program for Women is really helping
with right now (yay!)
But there is more we can do. The challenge for us as a community is to
make design an even more successful part of what we do. This isn’t an
easy challenge and I don’t think there are any quick fixes, but we
have experience and a rich community on our side.
It is important to recognise that improving the state of design in
GNOME isn’t just the responsibility of designers. There are things
that all of us can do to help - from the release team and maintainers,
to individual developers and community advocates. Here are some of my
ideas for things that all of us can do to make design work more
effectively and harmoniously as a part of GNOME:
* a more rigorous (and better documented) feature proposal process
