From kde-panel-devel Wed Mar 19 13:22:14 2008 From: Rob Scheepmaker Date: Wed, 19 Mar 2008 13:22:14 +0000 To: kde-panel-devel Subject: Re: GSoC application draft: extenders. Message-Id: <20080319132213.GD31483 () student ! utwente ! nl> X-MARC-Message: https://marc.info/?l=kde-panel-devel&m=120593299723713 Hi, I've improved my proposal a bit. It can be found at http://cripplefight.student.utwente.nl/extenders.pdf I'm really hoping that a couple of people could spare some time to deliver feedback on this, since I want to have my GSoC application ready when the application period starts, and I want to know if I'm on the right track. Should it be more specific on the details? Is it 'big' enough for GSoC? I would like to know what you think about it. Any help is appreciated! Thanks in advance... Rob Scheepmaker (pinda) On Mon, Mar 17, 2008 at 05:48:07PM +0100, Rob Scheepmaker wrote: > Hello Plasma Devs, > > I want to apply for GSoC, and have written this first draft of an > application. I would like some feedback on my proposal. I would also > like to know if there's somewhere where I could find GSoC applications > from last year, so that I could get an idea about what's expected. > > > > Project proposal Google Summer of Code 2008 > > The Project: > > When plasma was designed, one of the groundbreaking concepts was that of > extenders. Unfortunately, this concept isn't implemented in plasma yet. > Extenders would allow for a more intuitive and versatile way of > interacting with the desktop. The idea is that so called 'applets' which > are placed in a panel, and have little room to display all information > they're capable of displaying, could 'extend' the panel when a user > clicks on them, hovers over them, or when the applet wants attention. > These extenders could then be detached by dragging them somewhere else, > so a user could take an item of iterest, and put it somewhere where the > user can easily monitor the item. Because a mockup says more then a > thousand words, here are some links illustrating this concept and > applications that could make use of it. > > http://plasma.kde.org/cms/1069 (section 'extenders') > http://kde-look.org/content/show.php/KDE+Extender+Mockup?content=30012 > http://kde-look.org/content/show.php/Tasks+Info+in+Less+Windows+(mockup)?content=33673 > > When plasma provides a flexible, yet easy to use interface to applets, > and even applications, lot's of applets will use this feature, making > the desktop more consistent, intuitive and powerfull. > > This project would cover the following: > > Design a easy and flexible api for extenders, so that both applets and > applications having a system tray icon could add extender functionality > without much coding effort. This design would of course be made in close > collaboration with the rest of the plasma developers, to be sure it's > flexible enough, and in line with the rest of the plasma api. > Implement extenders. Extenders would probably be specialised applet's or > widgets which will be contained in a special containment. Extenders > should be sortable, detachable, and regroupable. > Polish the visual appearence. Extenders should look like they really > belong to the panel, or whatever other containment they're in. So panel > borders shouldn't be visible between the panel and the extenders and the > border should go around the extenders. Interacting with extenders should > have an organic feel to it, so Phase should be used to animate extenders > growing out of the panel, instead of making them appear out of nothing. > Also, detached extenders might show some form of 'title bar' as shown in > the animated mockup. > Make one, or, if time allows, more proof of concept applets that use > these extenders. Ideas for good proof of concept applets include the > following: > A kuiserver applet that shows all currently running jobs (file > downloads, burning of cd's etc.). > An rss applet that can show items from feeds in extenders, and > where detaching an item shows the the actual post. > Extend kopete or konversations, so they use extenders for > showing incoming messages. > > About Me: > I'm a student in computer science at Twente University in the > Netherlands. I'm currently in my third year of studying computer > science. Besides my study I also earn some money building web > applications. I've been interested in FOSS software for quite some time, > but recently I got involved in the KDE project and actually committed a > couple of improvements. I've also been working on a new rss plasmoid. > I've learned basic c++ programming skills on my university, and because > of my recent involvement in KDE I've also learned some basic Qt and > libplasma. > > I'm hoping to get accepted for GSoC, so I could get a more thorough > understanding of the inner workings of plasma, and improve my knowledge > of Qt. This would make it easier for me to commit usefull improvements > to plasma in the future. I discovered that writing code for software you > use and love, and being able to share that code with the world is very > satisfying and a lot of fun. And being able to look at the code of other > applications to see how they solve certain problems is a great way to > learn. I'd love to be able to spend more time on writing FOSS software, > and GSoC is an excellent opportunity to be able to do that. > > The reason I chose for a KDE project is that I really like the open and > accessible community. I also think that KDE is the most powerfull > desktop environment around, and that it has the real potential to draw > people towards free software. And the first thing people coming from > other platforms will notice is the plasma workspace. Because plasma is > such a visible part of KDE, it should be beautifull, flexible, intuitive > and basically just amaze people. I think that the concept of extenders > could really add to this. > > > > > Rob Scheepmaker (pinda) > _______________________________________________ > Panel-devel mailing list > Panel-devel@kde.org > https://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/panel-devel _______________________________________________ Panel-devel mailing list Panel-devel@kde.org https://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/panel-devel