GSoC proposal: Enhanced Amarok UI

[Dan Meltzer]

This should be sent to the amarok at k.o mailing list, where the other
proposals are.

Dan,

2009/3/31 Enrico Ros <eros.kde at email.it>:
> Hello Everybody!! Here is my proposal for the Summer of Code.
> Anybody willing to mentor me??
>
> ------  ------  ------  ------
> # Motivation for Proposal / Goal:
>  Improve the look & feel of Amarok User Interface, taking advantage of the
> latest Qt Software technology. Essentially I want to make the UI pluggable in
> a way that each component (the 'player bar', the 'context browser', the
> 'playlist', the 'analyzers', etc.) can be mixed and layouted by the user or
> automatically.
>  In the meanwhile I hope to raise the performance of the UI, accelerate
> graphics where available, and loosen implementation constraints to give
> designers more freedom (see [1]).
>  In the remaining time I'll implement some fancy components for the pure
> pleasure of the eye ;-)
>
> # Implementation Details:
>  The first step will be to abstract the MainWindow class to allow it to be
> reimplemented in other ways. This is important in 2 ways: 1. the ui<-
>>functionality decoupling that is brought in, 2. I'll be allowed to work on
> the “pluggable container ui” side-by-side with the actual MainWindow, that
> will remain the default.
>  Then I'll define what a “Component” is, and the related concepts. Here is are
> some key points:
>  - the user interface may react to some variables (user input, user habits,
> music type, tags, beats, time of the day)
>  - the ui won't get in the way of the user
>  - Amarok must work even with an empty ui
>  - different component aggregations are called “presets” (mini player, compact
> player, [1], are presets)
>  - the current MainWindow look will be the default “preset” of the ui
>  Then the work on the Container will begin. I'll support the layouting logic
> of the components and Drag & Drop component reordering. This is the point
> where Qt Software's Kinetic and StateMachine frameworks will be used. OpenGL
> acceleration will also be used on the container. This will even allow for
> pure-OpenGL components (Amarok's CoverFlow-like component will be resumed at
> this point, and will allow for effects like [2]).
>  Then I'll develop additional components (analyzers mainly, and cpu cycles
> wasting eye candy components). For the analyzers I'll coordinate with the
> students working on the related Phonon SOC project (at this point Amarok's
> interface should already be present), or I'll provide a dummy interface for
> later binding if that project is not on the way.
>  The development will probably be done on a git repository that tracks the
> SVN trunk, to allow for an easy merge of the work, provided that it will prove
> good.
>  In the early design phase I'll try to make sure that the most interesting ui
> ideas by designers, usability experts, users and developers will be doable (I
> already have lots).
>
> # Tentative Timeline:
>  - may: integrate all the feedback from designers, artists, developers and
> create the architecture
>  - june: do the ui decoupling, that allow for different MainWindows to be built
>  - july: implement the “components” ui, with layouting and live editing
>  - august: implement some components for a new, to be decided as we go, design
> (I hope :-)
>
> # About Me:
> I study Electronics Engineering at the Universiy of Padua (Italy). I like open
> source and have been involved in the kde community before (fixing performance,
> working on okular, on the themed kdm and amarok). I'm really passionate about
> graphics, 3D acceleration, HMI and saving cpu cycles for a greener world ;-)
>
> [1] http://www.kde-
> look.org/content/show.php/A+Media+Player+for+KDE4?content=94472
> [2] http://img14.imageshack.us/img14/6241/amarokcoverspq.jpg
> ------  ------  ------  ------
>
> Enrico
>
>
>
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