[dot] APPEAL Meeting: Springtime in Berlin

[Dot Stories]

URL: http://dot.kde.org/1112736422/

From: APPEAL Team <>
Dept: it's-a-family-not-a-conspiracy
Date: Tuesday 05/Apr/2005, @23:27

APPEAL Meeting: Springtime in Berlin
====================================

   A group of KDE contributors converged on Berlin, Germany for five
days at the end of March to collaborate on a variety of KDE related
projects. The scope was broad and included artwork, human interface
guidelines, Tenor (a contextual linkage engine), alternatives to
traditional file managers and groupware applications. Graciously
sponsored by Novell [http://www.novell.com] with additional support from
Relevantive [http://www.relevantive.com], this group of individuals came
from as far away as Canada and from as near by as 15 minutes across
town.

     During the intense day-long meetings attendees broke out into small
focus groups, occasionally coming together for presentations and
brainstorming sessions. The creation of eye catching, usable interfaces
was a common thread in these sessions, which often extended well into
the evening hours.

     In attendance were artists Frank Karlitschek, Torsten Rahn, David
Vignoni, and Ken Wimer who are working on a wide array of artwork for
KDE. Joining them were usability experts Jan Mühlig and Ellen Reitmayr
who explored how to refine the most commonly used interfaces in KDE,
such as Konqueror and the KDE PIM applications. A collection of KDE
hackers, including Stephan Binner, Eva Brucherseifer, Daniel Molkentin,
Hans Oischinger, Kurt Pfeifle, Cornelius Schumacher, Aaron Seigo and
Scott Wheeler helped bring technical expertise to the meeting.

     This first APPEAL meeting provided a hot-house for focused,
interdisciplinary KDE development. Looking forward, the group aims to
grow organically in scope as others with a similar drive for realizing
visual beauty, interface clarity and technical creativity in KDE come
together. Additional APPEAL meetings are already being planned.

     A web site, descriptions of the current APPEAL projects and
outreach to the broader KDE, Open Source and business communities is
underway. Until then, enjoy some pictures taken during the event.
 [http://aseigo.bddf.ca/albums/appeal2k5]