GSoC application draft: extenders.

Jordi Polo mumismo at gmail.com
Wed Mar 19 17:35:27 CET 2008


It is similar to KPassivePopup or extensions are mean to be more permanent?
I am also a GSoC applicant and I was thinking on making a 'core' project
ideas that I am supposed to achieve and a 'desirable' that I'd like but
don't know if I'll have enough time.


On Thu, Mar 20, 2008 at 12:57 AM, Jamboarder <jamboarder at yahoo.com> wrote:

> 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<http://kde-look.org/content/show.php/Tasks+Info+in+Less+Windows+%28mockup%29?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)
> > _______________________________________________
> > Panel-devel mailing list
> > Panel-devel at kde.org
> > https://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/panel-devel
> _______________________________________________
> Panel-devel mailing list
> Panel-devel at kde.org
> https://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/panel-devel
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Panel-devel mailing list
> Panel-devel at kde.org
> https://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/panel-devel
>



-- 
Jordi Polo Carres
NLP laboratory - NAIST
http://www.bahasara.org
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://mail.kde.org/pipermail/panel-devel/attachments/20080320/b21fe8fb/attachment-0001.html 


More information about the Panel-devel mailing list