[maemo-developers] [maemo-developers] Application Catalog rewrite [was: Abuse on the ApplicationCatalog page]

[From: Jussi Kukkonen]

Tuomas Kuosmanen wrote:
> What do you guys think of such a refactoring where the *main*
> application catalog would contain software that has been "ported" a bit
> further than just "wow, it runs! Here is a package to try out!"
[ clip ]
> I am thinking of a rough outline of a process what it takes to "fully"
> port an application:
>       * basic "it works!" porting work to make it run, if changes are
>         even needed in the code itself
>       * packaging for the application installer (where to put it in the
>         menus, adding the dbus stuff to make the "starting foobar..."
>         -notifications work etc..
>       * hildonizing the UI (menus, toolbars etc)
>       * Possibly rethinking the user interface even further to make it
>         work better in a tablet environment [*]
>       * Ideally working with the original maintainer (if not the same
>         person) to get maemo-specific changes integrated upstream,
>         ideally maintaining the "maemo port" in the same code tree as
>         the original to reduce forking and making sure the port "lives"
>         with the parent project if possible.
>
> Did I miss something? Does it make sense to you to have this kind of
> "raised bar" for the main catalog?

I think this is a very good idea, but it doesn't solve the problem of
large pages: There are currently over 180 applications in
ApplicationCatalog and ApplicationCatalogWip, and the total amount will
only grow.
 If the current amount and structure of information for each application
is preserved, there _will_ be monster pages that are difficult to edit
and uncomfortable to even view on bandwidth and screen estate limited
devices (which, I imagine, are quite common in the maemo.org reader base).

The long-term solution is a https://addons.mozilla.org -like system, but
I think we can still get by for some time with a wiki. I propose the
following pages:

* "All Maemo Applications"
  All usable applications can be listed here (including the ones above).
  The list has a strict format giving every application a few lines of
  space for a 3-sentence introduction and links. All other information
  should be moved to Application-specific wiki page or outside the wiki.

* "Work-In-Progress Applications"
  All applications which are/have been worked on, but which are not
  ready for every-day use. Same format as above.

* "Maemo best-of-breed end-user applications" (name subject to change)
  Applications should pass the requirements Tuomas suggested.
  Additionally the applications should be relevant to a large part of
  the user base: Having the possibility of installing a DNS server on
  the device is great, but I still don't think it should be on this
  list... The page could have about the same amount information per
  application as the current catalog. Large images, usage info, etc.
  should be moved to other, application specific pages, though.
  This page could follow the style of the other Catalogs, but have a
  longer introduction and a screenshot.

I made a mockup of "All Maemo Applications" at
https://maemo.org/maemowiki/ApplicationCatalogMockup . Please comment
and/or modify the page.


The work needed to change to the proposed setup:
* Copy information from ApplicationCatalog and ApplicationCatalogWip to
  application specific pages (only when needed).
* Create "All Maemo Applications" and "Work-In-Progress Applications"
  (just rewrite ApplicationCatalog and ApplicationCatalogWip in the
  proposed format).
* Start the "Maemo best-of-breed end-user applications" page.

The additional work needed to maintain the proposed setup:
* Information in the best-of-breed list is partly overlapping with the
  all-applications list, and both must be kept updated.

-- 
Jussi Kukkonen
<jhkukkon at cc.hut.fi>