on Words

[Sebastian Sauer]

Thanks for the nice writeup. I added some comments. Some of them
are maybe not direct related but then I think brainstorming a bit
cannot harm.

On 10/07/2011 01:39 PM, C. Boemann wrote:
> Hi fellow Words developers
>
> The sprint is nearing and I think it's time to start thinking about what we
> should do. The following is up for discussion at the sprint but I'd like to
> get a head start:
>
> Mission statement
> ------------------------
> Inspired by Krita we should come up with a mission statement. Here is a
> suggestion:
>
> "Calligra Words is an all purpose word processor useful for writing such
> diverse documents as for example: A simple letter, a university dissertation,
> a rule book, school reports and much more.
>
> We will not provide very specialized features if they clutter the user
> interface, but on the other hand should try to be flexible enough that people
> can create their own plugins.

+1

> As examples we find changetracking a core feature, but a function that
> generates custom documents based on external input is not"
>
> Road map
> ------------
> With such a broad mission statement we need to limit ourselves initially. Not
> to the point of excluding contributions, but in defining what we, the core
> developers, will focus on.
>
> I suggest that we will target the university student. Meaning we should be
> able to view MS Word documents and be able to create from scratch reports and
> dissertations.
>
> The viewer part is not strictly needed but if a user is not able to view
> documents the user will choose another tool for viewing, and thus choosing
> Words for creating documents becomes very unlikely.
>
> For the creation part we need to support creation and editing of tables,
> change tracking, foot notes, endnotes, bibliography, basic page setup, images,
> and style management.
>
> We are already pretty far along this road (it's been an unspoken roadmap for
> quite a while) I suggest that we just keep on pushing for these features to
> mature and stabalize.

+1

 From a developer-point of view, which does not direct belong into
road map but cannot harm to be named, I would like to put more
focus on editing and saving.

With editing I mean the way our users interact with Words. I don't
mean conceptual things like those below about the tools, but to
identify problems our users have with Words. Think here of
Boudewijn's recent issue-list he had while using with Words (seems
atm I am not able to refind the link to the mail he wrote to
calligra-devel that includes the list of issues) or the bug-reports
Sune made (e.g. backwards-selection of centered text wasn't
working). It's such "small issues" that hit back worst while writing
text. We should try to collect a list of such small issues,
maybe prioritize them and get them fixed.

With saving I mean that content should not be lost. That is imho
mostly a quality-issue. Means we sometimes just do notice
problems introduced way to late. Loosing content is the worst
case. Automated cstester-roundtrips that expect 1:1
output=>input could help here a lot but then we still need to take
the time to fix the issues we have currently + solve the
pixel-offset-rounding problem we have (means cstester shows
sometimes differences cause somehow we have a rounding
problem somewhere that results in pixel offsets being slightly
different).

> In 8 months we ought to be really strong with these kinds of tasks.
>
> User interface
> ------------------
> At the usability sprint in Berlin two weeks after the first Calligra sprint
> (also in Berlin) Celeste lead a small design process for the overall user
> interface for Words. As with all usability designs it has to undergo iterative
> finetuning and experimentation, but I quite like it already.
>
> I've implemented the idea but we need to carry on from there and continue
> improving the user interface.
>
> http://wstaw.org/m/2011/10/04/wordsui.png

As I already wrote when Boemann presented the screenshot the first time
I very much like it. Fantastic work! :)

> kotext, textlayout, textshape, words division of responsibilities
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> We should come up with a plan for how we want the code structured in the long
> run. We've come a long way already, but we should discuss what further things
> we can do.

Long-term I would like to make it easy to extend Calligra Active with
editing capabilities. That means our libraries and the functionality
provided by Words can be reused for other UI's like the QML-based
Active-UI, an alternate desktop-UI (think of a kids interface or an
interface specialized on other use-cases or an interface for different
form factors or one for star trek fans or whatever crazy and/or
innovative things a developer likes to do build up with our
frameworks).

> KoTextEditor hacking
> ---------------------------
> I'd like a hacking session where we start extending the functionality of
> KoTextEditor.

What is the goal? I mean what exactly do we like to change/extend
in what direction? I ask cause that is not clear to me if it comes to
the concrete code. Maybe it's not defined yet what will be part of
the sprint-session?

I btw will not attend the sprint but I can participate online :)

> Changetracking
> --------------------
> I'd like a brainstorm on how we proceed on change tracking. The current state
> leaves much to be desired.
Identify problems and put them into bugzilla? But yes, that will not
magically fix them. At least it would be a start and provide more
details what exactly still leaves much to be desired.