While I might not be an Amarok developer. I would love to still be able to sync my database information with the one on my server, since all my computers sync with it by internet.<div><br></div><div>If you suggest a design contest, make sure the winner or whatever can actually stick around and see the design to end.</div>
<div><br></div><div>Last.FM support imho is required :></div><div><br></div><div>The only thing, keep it from being bloated, just easy to use but with some good functionality like syncing, <a href="http://last.fm">last.fm</a>, ratings, album art, etc.<br>
<div><br><div class="gmail_quote">On 5 January 2011 12:10, Bart Cerneels <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:bart.cerneels@kde.org">bart.cerneels@kde.org</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex;">
Hi guys<br>
<br>
markey and me are seriously considering working hard on a mobile port<br>
for this: <a href="http://qt-apps.org/news/?id=340" target="_blank">http://qt-apps.org/news/?id=340</a><br>
<br>
I've been investigating how to do such a port for a few months so let<br>
me share my insights.<br>
<br>
* The future is Qt Quick:<br>
UI design will be done completely using QML, C++ is only used for the<br>
business logic and to extended QtDeclarative.<br>
Using different QML files (let's assume its possible without a<br>
recompile) we can quickly try out UI experiments and easily create new<br>
specialized interfaces for other platforms.<br>
In the context of the competition and device availability though we'll<br>
start with a handset UI for N900.<br>
<br>
* Developers suck at UI design. NO DESIGN BY COMMITTEE!<br>
We've had enough epic discussion threads about tiny design choices<br>
that don't go anywhere. Not to mention the result leaves much to be<br>
desired. So let's leave the design of the UX (User eXperience) to<br>
designers. People with skills, training, experience and interest to do<br>
so.<br>
We currently don't have much design talent in house but those we do<br>
have tend to be to busy to commit. That is why I propose to hold a<br>
design contest once we have some larger parts of Amarok accessible<br>
from QML. We'll select a winner and work with that person to extend<br>
the design to completion. He/she will be our design dictator with<br>
final responsibility over the UX.<br>
<br>
That said we do need to prepare the amarok codebase for QML so this<br>
developer will say something about design:<br>
We have 3 major areas in amarok: media, context and playback (controls<br>
and queue). Those 3 will undoubtedly be present in some form in any<br>
UI. So we need to make these accessible. More on that later.<br>
<br>
* Dependencies are a porting nightmare:<br>
We need to get rid of some dependencies that will make it very<br>
difficult to compile for other platforms. Specifically mysqle is<br>
troublesome, even on desktop we've noticed. Unfortunately our best<br>
collection and a lot's of services need sqlstorage. Short term I<br>
suggest we bring back sqlite. Long term we need to move away from SQL.<br>
I've already started to do that for the OpmlDirectory [OPML].<br>
Eventually we'll integrate with platform services as much as possible.<br>
QtSparql is a great tool for that [qtsparql] [tracker].<br>
<br>
* Modularization:<br>
In order to support multiple platforms with one codebase we need to<br>
take modularization very serious. Jeff has spend some effort, but we<br>
need a lot more work.<br>
Ideally our sourcetree would be grouped by functional dependencies.<br>
ex. SqlCollection + SqlPodcasts + SqlPlaylists in one subdir (==<br>
plugin) which can be include by the top-level CMakeLists.txt.<br>
<br>
The roadmap is like follows:<br>
<br>
1) modularize<br>
2) "lessql": sqlite or direct to tracker 0.6 (N900, not sparql)<br>
3) proof-of-concept QML UI, example for design contest<br>
4) complete mobile UX targeting N900 and N900+1 with contest winner.<br>
<br>
4+) target more platforms, even consider desktop UX with QML and<br>
SparlCollection (nepomuk & tracker with one stone).<br>
<br>
[OPML] <a href="http://gitweb.kde.org/amarok.git/shortlog/refs/heads/stecchino-IncrementalOpmlDirectory" target="_blank">http://gitweb.kde.org/amarok.git/shortlog/refs/heads/stecchino-IncrementalOpmlDirectory</a><br>
[qtsparql] <a href="http://qt.gitorious.org/qt/qsparql-development" target="_blank">http://qt.gitorious.org/qt/qsparql-development</a><br>
[tracker] <a href="http://live.gnome.org/Tracker/Documentation/SparqlFeatures" target="_blank">http://live.gnome.org/Tracker/Documentation/SparqlFeatures</a><br>
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</blockquote></div><br></div></div>