Hello

[matt]

On Thu, 18 May 2006 22:10:25 -0600
  "Aaron J. Seigo" <aseigo at kde.org> wrote:
> there is always some degree of planning going on. i will 
>caution that it is 
> pretty rare (though i have seen it happen) that someone 
>who is brand new to 
> the development side of the project is able to offer 
>design considerations 
> that are compatible with how things Work(tm) or that 
>haven't already been 
> suggested (working from a common starting point: the 
>current code base and 
> the state of the art of the desktop in general) it's 
>common to arrive at 
> similar ends.
> 
> that and due to the meritocratic way the project 
>self-coordinates, it's often 
> less than effective to attempt to influence through 
>"design" without also 
> attempting to work on the codebase, artwork, 
>documentation, etc... it's with 
> contribution that one also finds the ability to 
>influence the project 
> design-wise. there have been exceptions, but i also 
>don't want you to start 
> with expectations that lead to you being frustrated =)

Oh, I completely understand. It's not like I'm going to 
come in and throw comments on a project that I know I 
really don't understand. I've got a lot of work to do as 
far as discovering how KDE really functions, and until 
then, I wouldn't feel right telling true KDE developers 
"how it should be" whom actually know what they're doing.

> the best thing that someone new to the project can do is 
>to gain a familiarity 
> with the code and the design. and the best way to do 
>that is to start 
> contributing in some small, even trivial, way. that is, 
>in fact, exactly how 
> i started: with a single patch to the run dialog that 
>fixed a rather trivial 
> thing. it was by doing this that i gained an overview of 
>how things work; and 
> to be honest: i'm still learning =) that's probably in 
>part what keeps me 
> interested in this meta-project we call KDE ... well, 
>that and the awesome 
> people and community around it, of course.

Definitely. I will definitely take it upon myself to start 
tinkering with what is already present in the KDE 
codebase, and hopefully I can submit some useful patches.

> however you do decide to get involved is obviously up to 
>you, but simply get 
> involved. dive in, enjoy the water, it's warm. =)
> 
>> (I'd like to work on the Kaffeine project to give KDE 
>> 4 a decent video player).
> 
> they have a devel mailing list where you could start 
>doing so ...

Will do. Thanks for your help, Aaron, and I'm glad to hear 
that the KDE project is always open for new suggestions.