ubiquity-slideshow team mailing list archive

[Dylan McCall <dylanmccall@xxxxxxxxx>]

It is time to get the ball rolling for Lucid. There is a lot of time,
but it's important to tread with certainty and hit the deadlines
comfortably [Lynx metaphor goes here].

Here is a list of goals and deadlines to be aware of for Lucid. With
this list, I hope to be more organized, and more certain about where the
project is rolling so that everything comes together neatly. Hopefully
there is a bit for everyone, so if you are interested in contributing to
something, feel free take a look and pick out something that interests
you :)

(On that note, I will be putting up blueprints and the like at some
point, so make sure to check around the project information at
<https://launchpad.net/ubiquity-slideshow-ubuntu> before getting too
absorbed in something; it may already be done!).


---

First of all, I intend to keep the design fairly close to where it is
now. I spoke really quickly with Ivanka at UDS, and she says she is
happy with the design but that the copy could use a bit of work (and I
have been meaning to follow up on that. Ugh, I hate Calculus).

Importantly, there is TONS of interest in having slideshows for
derivatives and upgrades. That's possible, although a clever change to
the build infrastructure will be necessary, so we can maintain multiple
versions under the one source package without too many duplicate files.
I want that to be the main goal with this for Lucid, and hopefully
everything will be ready for derivatives by Alpha 2, which is January
14th.
There is a blueprint for that one:
<https://blueprints.launchpad.net/ubiquity-slideshow-ubuntu/+spec/alternate-versions>

There should definitely be an ubuntu-upgrade slideshow, ideally
explaining what's new for an existing user. It may run in the
karmic->lucid upgrade, but probably won't run for hardy->lucid (since
the slideshow currently demands Webkit or Gecko, although that's fixable
in a few ways if someone is keen to do it!).

With regards to the slides, it would make lots of sense to update the
Ubuntu slideshow withe something about PiTiVi, and _maybe_ to mention
the new default games selection (which could be interesting). lielf has
a games slide in his bzr branch, which is a good starting point.

The Software Centre will be seeing some exciting changes, so that slide
in the Ubuntu slideshow may benefit from some updating when the dust has
settled. It may be fun to present some examples of the software in there
(for example, GIMP), but that all depends on the space available.

I hope the number of slides can stay about the same and instead to move,
delete or modify existing stuff to fit in what's new. It would be
amazing if we could read peoples' minds and figure out which slides are
most useful ;)

translate-toolkit's html2po in SVN now supports a --keepcomments
argument with which it maintains HTML comments as translator notes in a
generated .pot file. It would be perfect if the patch landed in Lucid,
as it will make things easier for translators in our case (and hopefully
a few others). Not an urgent thing, though; I can always generate
the .pot files on my end.

I think it may be worth making the slide content area scrollable. (Not
as something we EXPECT to use, but a useful fallback when translations
end up being too long for the existing space. Some clever Javascript
could result in a pretty decent looking design, I think).

Still some interest in having user-friendly controls to go back /
forwards along the slideshow.
I'm hoping that somebody will manage to implement that in a graceful
fashion.
Important guideline on that: this project should not raise itself to any
level of importance beyond a little slideshow that runs for 20 minutes
every 6 months. That's why I am a bit hesitant on the controls idea, (it
takes it a step closer to being an owner's manual), but it absolutely
deserves a chance!

Everything except graphics must be absolutely settled before the
documentation string freeze, which is March 25th.

---


Other contributions and ideas are welcome as well, of course, but this
is what I really would love to get rolling for Lucid. Any help in these
areas would be fantastically amazing.



Thanks,
Dylan McCall