[Ayatana] Community Proposed Unity Design Document

[Arian van Gend <arianvg@xxxxxxxxx>]

Hello every one,

After using Ubuntu for a few years now, I've developed more and more interest in the design decisions that are made by the wonderful design team on the one hand, and the community input on the other. It seems hard sometimes to reach across the schism that at times seems to exist between these two groups. Lots of work is being done in this area of course, including the Ubuntu design blog, and the increasing acceptance of community code into the project (such as the launcher resizing code, and the freshly started power user group). These are great efforts by all involved, and they truly make Ubuntu better and better.

Still, it would seem prudent to increase the ease of the communication, especially for the designers, who undoubtedly do not have the time to read every single item on this mailing list, every forum and/or blog post for great ideas, especially if they are not detailed, or polished enough.

Therefore I've created a Google Doc for now with the working title 'Community Proposed Unity Design Document'. It can be found here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/13d-82URPS09y7KU2JntbvT_JkFXYxccNKFWOUj0Mhdw/edit?hl=en_GB&authkey=CPXZ690J

For now, do not expect to find too much there. I've started with a rough document outline and an initial fleshing out of the text with design ideas of my own, that need to be polished and tested for validity against the guidelines of the document.

The aim of the document is to accumulate the best community design ideas and unify them into one stream-lined document, that in time can become the unified communication point between Unity designers and the community. The document should take into account the current state of Unity design, the usability testing performed on it, and the publicized design philosophy of the Unity design team on the one hand, and the input from the community, be it this mailing list, a blog post, or forum post, on the other. The community should write this document, and at times receive feedback from the designers to keep things on track.

My hope is that this way, we can receive more easy feedback from Unity designers, without weighing them down with too much work, and have more community involvement on the other hand, that is polished enough for consideration, and in line with the Unity design philosophy.

What do you think of this idea? For now, the Google Doc can only be viewed, because I feel it isn't productive to have too many people working on it directly. If any one feels inclined to help me out in writing the document, I would certainly welcome it! Maybe, with a handful of motivated editors, the document can grow quickly, and with proper unity. :)

Sincerely,

Arian van Gend