[maemo-developers] Screenshots to user installable GUI packages in extras-testing [was Re: External Repository and HAM]

[From: Attila Csipa]

On Monday 08 March 2010 18:43:02 Graham Cobb wrote:
> Anyway, let's leave the screenshots issue for a separate discussion!

Separated

> > On a side note I would make screenshots (where applicable) also mandatory
> > for promotion to -testing, on the same grounds as a bugtracker, but the
> > ideas/message counter is in the red zone already, so I'm going to stop
> > here... :)
>
> I strongly disagree.  The Extras-Testing process should be about safety:
> someone browsing extras should be comfortable that if they look at an app
> they can get a reasonable description, they can install it without
> endangering their device, they can remove it if they don't like it.  It is
> not about the quality of the app itself: its usability, its GUI, how well

The testing process is not *just* about safety. It's quality assurance, and 
there is a lot more to quality than just safety. For instance, we already 
handle bad or missing icons as blockers (and I believe we will agree icons and 
screenshots aren't that far in regard to safety). 

> it works, whether it is useful, whether it has screen shots, etc -- that is
> what crowd-sourced rating systems are about (the stars, the reviews, the
> comments).  Any app without a screenshot is not going to get good comments
> or make its way to the front page of the Downloads section.  Poor apps will
> drop to the bottom -- but being at the bottom does NOT mean they should be
> excluded.

And this is were we get back to screenshots - a first time application is 
almost guaranteed to have '?' there for quite a while. The interface is (from 
testing squad experience) less than intuitive for people and it takes a while 
for the images to update - usually just as much as they spend on the front 
page, effectively spending their 5 minutes of glory under a question mark. 


Regards,
Attila