KDE/kdebase/workspace/plasma/containments/folderview

[Aaron J. Seigo]

On Monday 26 May 2008, Riccardo Iaconelli wrote:
> On 5/26/08, Aaron J. Seigo <aseigo at kde.org> wrote:
> >  > > what point someone thought that using a mostly black screen would be
> >  > > something everyone would think is cool. this isn't a turtleneck
> >  > > sweater and this isn't a beatnick party.
> >  >
> >  > Oh, please... you certainly haven't seen the theme yet,
> >
> > no, i haven't. which is pretty awesome. and by "awesome" i mean "yes, i
> > love the feeling of not knowing what it is i'll be presenting post 4.1 to
> > people as the look of plasma". the fact that i haven't raised any issues

> Oh, yes, you did. Nuno just told me. And you also said cool "for the
> two seconds you looked at it".

showing someone one element in a work in progress in passing at one meeting is 
not "seeing the product". trust me, i've done this a few times for software, 
national ad campaigns and corporate imaging. there's a lot more than passing 
it quickly by the eyes of someone.

so i think the original, "you certainly haven't seen the theme yet" assessment 
is quite accurate.

> If you want artists to stop contributing to plasma, this way of pissing off
> people with arrogance is really the best attitude you can keep. I hope

i'm sorry if you consider honesty based on real world experience to be 
arrogance. 

of all the groups of people i've ever worked with in my life, artists are the 
hardest group of people to get to communicate consistently, stay focussed and 
produce something that isn't changing every 5 minutes so that one can 
actually build a product around it. 

i get it: it's part of the creative soul. i'm not immune to it myself.

the traditional approach to that is to manage them pretty tightly; that isn't 
an option here. unfortunately, unless some of the needed direction and 
discipline can not be derived from the artists themselves, you will continue 
to frustrate, annoy and generally piss off those who are supposed to be 
working with you.

you don't want external direction? then start providing it from within. i 
think that would make *everyone* happy.

i am just as tired, if not more so, as you about this. i hate having to watch 
as closely as possible every visible twitch the artists make because there is 
no transparency to the art process. i hate having to then come out when push 
comes to shove and say, "look, this just doesn't make the grade." because 
there is no visible direction to be able to point to. i hate being told i 
don't know what i'm talking about when i have years more experience doing 
exactly this than you have, an attitude you would never accept if it was 
pointed at you.

i have been gracious, but time is running out for graciousness and results are 
starting to be needed.

so give me a way to fix it with or for you, but stop bitching about the 
current state of things because they are exactly what they are. either create 
a transparent process of art direction, or we will have to find some other 
way to come up with that.

let me state the needed solution again: "a transparent process of art 
direction".

if you are wondering what makes up this role of art direction, here's a decent 
summary if overly concentrated on commercial advertising:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creative_director#The_role_of_a_Creative_Director

> you will be
> more considerate in the future, and stop this totalitarian approach,
> where you want
> to impose your artistic idea at all costs. I really hate the kind of
> behiavour you're having lately...

how many times have i blocked artwork commits? how many times have i 
micromanaged the artists? who has been putting their hands on the wheel and 
ensuring that artwork remains viable in plasma? (honestly, i think the answer 
to that last one is, "nobody, really")

i'm sorry if it sucks, but the current state of things does not make for a 
pleasurable experience.

the reasons for that are pretty clear: there is a lack of coordinated 
direction in the art. it's been hodge podge. there has been next to no 
communication between art and devel ... these are *problems* that need fixing 
at some point in time.

> Oh, and, by the way, the current theme was designed for another layout
> which never got implemented...

which layout? maybe i'm just missing all these emails talking about these 
things, but it's a little disconcerting having but the vaguest clue about at 
least half the things that keep coming up in the conversation. "new 
theme", "new layout", ... do you see the pattern here?

-- 
Aaron J. Seigo
humru othro a kohnu se
GPG Fingerprint: 8B8B 2209 0C6F 7C47 B1EA  EE75 D6B7 2EB1 A7F1 DB43

KDE core developer sponsored by Trolltech
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