[Owncloud] Design and future

[Robin Appelman]

Hi,

just a small remark on "making ownCloud more javascript".
While we should definitely make the web interface more ajax, we don't
have the "freedom" to move the backend stuff to javascript,
since the browser is only one of many ways people will access
owncloud, wether it be web/card/caldav, a file synchronization program
or a mobile client,
all those ways of accessing ownCloud require the backend to be server sided.

 - Robin Appelman

On Fri, Oct 14, 2011 at 17:48, Jan-Christoph Borchardt <jan at unhosted.org> wrote:
> As I said before, I don’t have that much time anymore to coordinate
> ownCloud’s design because of my full-time volunteering for Unhosted
> (http://unhosted.org – ownCloud already implements the open remoteStorage
> protocol)
>
> Here is a set of guidelines for contribution and design:
> http://owncloud.org/contribute/development-setup/
>
> Obviously not every design decision is documented and frankly it’s a pain
> to discuss them in the chat room with new contributors or on here. The
> guidelines should offer a quick intro for everyone to be able to Do The
> Right Thing. For further reference, see my thesis about quick usability
> testing methods:
> http://jancborchardt.wordpress.com/usability-in-free-software/ – and feel
> free to read the blog posts referenced in it.
>
> It's always great to see people work on interface design as long as it
> does not copy existing broken designs or is based on personal preference.
> Marvin (h3ir) already did some interface improvements and I’d love for
> more people to do that.
> And Michael, thank you for the mail. It means a lot to me. :)
>
> So before you implement a new feature, please think about how to properly
> integrate it. Sketch it, check back on the mailing list, look if there’s
> already existing solutions you can build on. I created a repository to
> submit mockups and sketches to at
> https://gitorious.org/owncloud/mockups/trees/master
> I also uploaded the designs I in August to illustrate some of the tasks
> better. They are very rough sketches but I hope they get the idea out.
>
>
> I look forward to ownCloud apps becoming more Javascript (client-side, in
> the browser) than PHP (server-side) in the future. For several reasons:
> * Scalability: it’s easier to host, less load on the server
> * Usability: it’s quicker to use, faster feedback and no full-page reload
> * Freedom: with hosted software you have to trust the provider to not use
> malicious code. Even if it is AGPL licensed, you can not be sure they
> serve that unaltered code. Pure Jav.ascript apps can be fully inspected,
> packaged, hashed, verified and distributed independently from the original
> source.
>
> Interoperability and collaboration has always been a main interest of
> mine, especially between the great free software apps that are developed
> now, namely ownCloud, Diaspora, MediaGoblin, StatusNet, PageKite and all
> the other awesome things. We need to build more resilient networks and
> leverage the power we have as open projects, in working together and
> looking over the edge of our own activities.
>
> That’s what prompted me to do http://libreprojects.net in the first place.
> And this is why I want to focus my efforts on Unhosted now as I see it as
> a revolution of the web’s infrastructure: separating web applications from
> storage providers. Giving people freedom _with_ the ease of open web
> applications.
>
>
> That said, I will still stick around a bit to give advice here and there.
> But my goal is to get free software people in general more informed about
> good software design and user centered design. Not only in one project
> because I see the need in many. And not in many because designers don’t
> multiply. Everyone can easily start out with doing usability tests –
> assessing how people actually use the software is one of the most
> important things.
>
>
>
> Jan-Christoph Borchardt
> http://jancborchardt.wordpress.com
>
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