Re: [Ayatana] Putting some brakes on the enthusiasm

[Dylan McCall <dylanmccall@xxxxxxxxx>]

On Mon, Jun 7, 2010 at 3:07 AM, Conscious User <conscioususer@xxxxxxx> wrote:
>
> Hey all,
>
> I want to finally write something I've meant to write for a long time.
> …

Really well said :)

One issue I have is NotifyOSD _feels_ done, but indeed the project
does not meet the design. If I look under Blueprints for notify-osd on
Launchpad[1], I see one very general task from core developers, and
three from frustrated users that conflict with the stated goals. So,
if I want to help notify-osd, I am already lost.
[1] https://blueprints.edge.launchpad.net/notify-osd

Something that highlights this issue for me is a bug I filed for
implementing sounds, with a patch. It has been kindly filed as a
Wishlist item, which is great, but I feel it hasn't received much
attention (maybe as a result?). This is strange; the feature is
described in the NotifyOSD wiki page[2]. This feature is necessary to
call the project complete, and I am basically offering to do whatever
work is necessary to get it rolling!
[2] https://wiki.ubuntu.com/NotifyOSD#Sound

So, I think some of this falls to organizing tasks better. Shiny new
projects need to be broken into smaller chunks. It isn't about
organizing work during a busy release cycle, but so people can
contribute specific features stuff more easily when they aren't
involved in the core developer group and link their implementations to
those blueprints.



And speaking of polishing features, how about that Gnome Shell thing?
They are using desktop notifications more aggressively, with a system
very much inspired by smartphones. Notifications, from their
perspective, aren't necessarily popup bubbles. They are messages that
appear in a tray at the bottom of the screen (which have nothing to do
with status indicators) and stay there until dismissed. It's looking
like a very solid design goal, which I expect apps will be encouraged
to support.

My identi.ca status is currently "#ifdefs are the devil!”, so you may
see where this is going ;)

I think it's a good idea to keep a retrospective eye on this; to
address the current stuff very carefully in terms of where we are,
fitting upstream, fitting with other projects, and satisfying users;
taking into account failures and successes in that regard. I'm not
saying I am unhappy with NotifyOSD (to the contrary, I think it feels
even more awesome than Meego's notification daemon!), but its design
seems firmly rooted in Gnome 2.x. New stuff, like Unity with its app
launcher menus, seems to mutually benefit (from) Gnome 3.x, so it
would be nice if slightly older designs had the same treatment.



Thank you!
Dylan