GSoC application draft: extenders.

[Jamboarder]

From: Rob Scheepmaker <r.scheepmaker at student.utwente.nl>
> Hi,
> 
> I've improved my proposal a bit. It can be found at
> 
> http://cripplefight.student.utwente.nl/extenders.pdf
> 
> I'm really hoping that a couple of people could spare some time to
> deliver feedback on this, since I want to have my GSoC application ready
> when the application period starts, and I want to know if I'm on the
> right track. Should it be more specific on the details? Is it 'big'
> enough for GSoC? I would like to know what you think about it.
> Any help is appreciated! Thanks in advance...
> 
> Rob Scheepmaker (pinda)

I think this would be great.  I've been thinking about working on this since
seeing some of the first KDE4 mockup proposals a few years ago.  Many applets
could take advantage of this and it would provide a great deal of consistency. 
In addition to the examples provided in the proposal, some examples that come 
to mind include:
- Clock applet display of multiple timezones (tear-off a time zone and place on the desktop)
- Battery applet display of multiple batteries, cores, etc.
- KGet downloads 
- Device Notifier applet display of different devices.

Ok so maybe not all of the above, but the framework would be great to be able
to use in ways we may not have yet thought of.

I have no say on what's 'big' enough for GSoC.  But for what little it's worth,
I'd certainly welcome this.

Hope this helps,
Andrew Lake


On Mon, Mar 17, 2008 at 05:48:07PM +0100, Rob Scheepmaker wrote:
> Hello Plasma Devs,
> 
> I want to apply for GSoC, and have written this first draft of an
> application. I would like some feedback on my proposal. I would also
> like to know if there's somewhere where I could find GSoC applications
> from last year, so that I could get an idea about what's expected.
> 
> 
> 
> Project proposal Google Summer of Code 2008
> 
> The Project:
> 
> When plasma was designed, one of the groundbreaking concepts was that of
> extenders. Unfortunately, this concept isn't implemented in plasma yet.
> Extenders would allow for a more intuitive and versatile way of
> interacting with the desktop. The idea is that so called 'applets' which
> are placed in a panel, and have little room to display all information
> they're capable of displaying, could 'extend' the panel when a user
> clicks on them, hovers over them, or when the applet wants attention.
> These extenders could then be detached by dragging them somewhere else,
> so a user could take an item of iterest, and put it somewhere where the
> user can easily monitor the item. Because a mockup says more then a
> thousand words, here are some links illustrating this concept and
> applications that could make use of it.
> 
> http://plasma.kde.org/cms/1069 (section 'extenders')
> http://kde-look.org/content/show.php/KDE+Extender+Mockup?content=30012
> http://kde-look.org/content/show.php/Tasks+Info+in+Less+Windows+(mockup)?content=33673
> 
> When plasma provides a flexible, yet easy to use interface to applets,
> and even applications, lot's of applets will use this feature, making
> the desktop more consistent, intuitive and powerfull.
> 
> This project would cover the following:
> 
> Design a easy and flexible api for extenders, so that both applets and
> applications having a system tray icon could add extender functionality
> without much coding effort. This design would of course be made in close
> collaboration with the rest of the plasma developers, to be sure it's
> flexible enough, and in line with the rest of the plasma api.
> Implement extenders. Extenders would probably be specialised applet's or
> widgets which will be contained in a special containment. Extenders
> should be sortable, detachable, and regroupable.
> Polish the visual appearence. Extenders should look like they really
> belong to the panel, or whatever other containment they're in. So panel
> borders shouldn't be visible between the panel and the extenders and the
> border should go around the extenders. Interacting with extenders should
> have an organic feel to it, so Phase should be used to animate extenders
> growing out of the panel, instead of making them appear out of nothing.
> Also, detached extenders might show some form of 'title bar' as shown in
> the animated mockup.
> Make one, or, if time allows, more proof of concept applets that use
> these extenders. Ideas for good proof of concept applets include the
> following:
>     A kuiserver applet that shows all currently running jobs (file
>     downloads, burning of cd's etc.).
>     An rss applet that can show items from feeds in extenders, and
>     where detaching an item shows the the actual post.
>     Extend kopete or konversations, so they use extenders for
>     showing incoming messages.
> 
> About Me:
> I'm a student in computer science at Twente University in the
> Netherlands. I'm currently in my third year of studying computer
> science. Besides my study I also earn some money building web
> applications. I've been interested in FOSS software for quite some time,
> but recently I got involved in the KDE project and actually committed a
> couple of improvements. I've also been working on a new rss plasmoid.
> I've learned basic c++ programming skills on my university, and because
> of my recent involvement in KDE I've also learned some basic Qt and
> libplasma.
> 
> I'm hoping to get accepted for GSoC, so I could get a more thorough
> understanding of the inner workings of plasma, and improve my knowledge
> of Qt. This would make it easier for me to commit usefull improvements
> to plasma in the future. I discovered that writing code for software you
> use and love, and being able to share that code with the world is very
> satisfying and a lot of fun. And being able to look at the code of other
> applications to see how they solve certain problems is a great way to
> learn. I'd love to be able to spend more time on writing FOSS software,
> and GSoC is an excellent opportunity to be able to do that.
> 
> The reason I chose for a KDE project is that I really like the open and
> accessible community. I also think that KDE is the most powerfull
> desktop environment around, and that it has the real potential to draw
> people towards free software. And the first thing people coming from
> other platforms will notice is the plasma workspace. Because plasma is
> such a visible part of KDE, it should be beautifull, flexible, intuitive
> and basically just amaze people. I think that the concept of extenders
> could really add to this.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Rob Scheepmaker (pinda)
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