From kde-core-devel Thu Feb 21 23:23:12 2008 From: "Aaron J. Seigo" Date: Thu, 21 Feb 2008 23:23:12 +0000 To: kde-core-devel Subject: Re: KDE4 Vision Document Message-Id: <200802211623.13130.aseigo () kde ! org> X-MARC-Message: https://marc.info/?l=kde-core-devel&m=120363610307821 MIME-Version: 1 Content-Type: multipart/mixed; boundary="--nextPart1510811.p49ngvoR1G" --nextPart1510811.p49ngvoR1G Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Content-Disposition: inline On Wednesday 20 February 2008, Celeste Lyn Paul wrote: > Is there a formal KDE4 Vision statement anywhere?=20 no, as others have noted. i've been very hestitant to try to write such a=20 thing because of the pushback that i feel would be innevitable. the dark secrete i carry ;) is that i already have such a vision statement = for=20 KDE4 and i present it at conferences around the world on a regular basis. s= o=20 oddly enough the outside world knows what our vision is better than we've=20 articulated it internally. the vision statement i present was derived by looking at all the new=20 development in KDE4 (changes to kdelibs, the new frameworks, the new apps a= nd=20 the updates to existing apps) as well as the language used in common=20 conversation during KDE4 development. i then tried to extract the=20 commonalities. so this vision statement is not personal to me, but rather=20 what i've discerened from the broader movement. (it would have ended up a b= it=20 different if it was up to just me alone, but that's the beauty of a team=20 effort: it's better than any single one of us) i came up with three broad topics: * Beauty * Portability * Function Beauty gets broken down into: * Breathtaking visual design * Usability * Modern graphics programming (made easy) Beauty -> Visual design is broken down into: * cues from industrial design in terms of ergonomics and streamlining * modern art trends * as a core principle: realization that visual design and usability are lin= ked=20 Beauty -> Usability is broken down into: * HIG (WIP) is important * Flexibility is good, "interface follows implementation" configuration is = bad * "passive configuration" -> configuration is a natural part of the interf= ace * thinking about how a feature appears to the user, not the app * Organics * The evolution principle: making software exploit the hardwired traits ou= r=20 minds and bodies have taken on through evolution in the physical world * The "(almost) nothing is square, (almost) everything is gradiated in col= or,=20 and (almost) anything can be put anywhere" principle Portability gets broken down into: * "In-bound" portability (greater adoption of fd.o and other external specs= =20 and technologies; this is the "KDE working with the rest of the world to ma= ke=20 the rest of the world's technology work better with KDE") * "Out-bound" portability (our platform choices: Linux, BSD, OpenSolaris,=20 Windows and MacOS) =46unction gets broken down into: * Frameworks * Applications =46unction -> Frameworks vision ends up with: * Consistent APIs that: * hide the platform specifics (portability) * abstract away changes that may happen (future proofing) * Integration & Synergy: Solid + Phonon, Solid + Threadweaver, Akonadi +=20 Plasma, etc.. our frameworks are meant to work together, and when this=20 happens even better things come of it (the "your chocolate is in my peanut= =20 butter" principle ;) then there are the "soft" (e.g. non-technical) topics: * Target audiences * The spirit of KDE Target audience topics include: * A focus on crossing the chasm (yep, ripped that phrase right off ;) from= =20 early adopter to early majority * Consumer software for the hip and forward thinking * Productive software for the professional environment The spirit of KDE: * Freedom to the consumer and to the contributor * Community * Not chasing other people's taillights, but shooting for the stars that's sort of the rough sketch of it. i'd be happy to flesh it out into a= =20 full document on techbase that others can then discuss and we can modify,=20 etc, together. my only conditions on doing so are that i don't get smacked = in=20 the face for "having the audacity to speak for others in the project" and=20 that we can discuss changes to the document in a constructive manner. this = is=20 just because i don't have the energy right now to take on yet another=20 initiative that results in me put in the middle of argumentative controvers= y.=20 i'm sort of at my physical limit for that right now. (yeah, yeah, i'm=20 fragile.) i'm also happy to let someone *else* draft such a document. i do think it i= s=20 important and useful to do so, however. > Having and maintaining this document (I assume in techbase? where else > would it go?) is extremely important for all contributors. Having this such a document on its own is, of course, not enough. it needs to be part o= f=20 the fabric of the culture of the project. or rather, it needs to reflect th= e=20 fabric of the culture of the project. it needs to take the words and phrase= s=20 we use to talk to each other. it needs to not just express our goals, but=20 express them using the terminology and beliefs we hold to be self-evident (= to=20 borrow another great phrase from history). that was the reason for the "work backwards from the processes we are engag= ed=20 in" approach. if the document achieves that, it would be *tremendously* useful for new=20 contributors as well as those who may not have the deepest insights into th= e=20 technical coding aspects of the project. > document is a necessary first step before backfilling on any user research > and usability work in the future. agreed. =2D-=20 Aaron J. Seigo humru othro a kohnu se GPG Fingerprint: 8B8B 2209 0C6F 7C47 B1EA EE75 D6B7 2EB1 A7F1 DB43 KDE core developer sponsored by Trolltech --nextPart1510811.p49ngvoR1G Content-Type: application/pgp-signature; name=signature.asc Content-Description: This is a digitally signed message part. -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v2.0.4-svn0 (GNU/Linux) iD8DBQBHvgfh1rcusafx20MRAioBAKCRb6Y5J8xk5Jksk63KedUS2p/PVgCdF8Xp C4QiHf7nS7k9tcJUcnQc8oI= =c7eD -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- --nextPart1510811.p49ngvoR1G--