[ALL] New showroom for Openmoko apps

Risto H. Kurppa risto at kurppa.fi
Fri Aug 21 11:13:04 CEST 2009


On Fri, Aug 21, 2009 at 10:44 AM, Michael Pilgermann<KichKasch at gmx.de> wrote:
> Dear all,
>
> maybe, another perspective here from an apps developer's point of view:
>
> I do believe, that we need a proper / nice directory of applications, which users may browse through. I am aware of the following repositories right now:

I agree. And I think that:
- openmoko wiki CAN be used to create a showroom but it's hard to make
it look nice. I mean nice, not just have screenshots.
- opkg.org - looks like it's not possible to develop it and we need to
start from scratch
- openmoko projects (as well ass google code, launchpad etc) is a
great platform to develope the projects but not share - as there are
so many unfinished and unmaintained projects around. And again, it
doesn't look nice nor is easy to use. -> good for devels, not users
- community updates is just a newsletter. You can't go and tell
someone to read all community updates from last 6 months to see what
apps are around
- SHR manual.. well, that's only for SHR, not a general solution for
all distros so I'd exclude it from this discussion.

-> Still I think there's a need for a platform to promote ~working
apps in an appealing way.

It's not supposed to be the 'all information about this app' page,
just a showcase that'd link to actual homepage (be it google code wiki
or openmoko wiki or gforce or whatever) with the manuals etc.

> But I think, it is not a good plattform for people to browse projects. There is a point of establishing something "inviting* here. However, I would suggest the following points:
>
> * Make it a really simple, good-looking overview of applications to browse through
> * Keep Openmoko projects as development repository - do not duplicate stuff, we have in there already (put links instead)
> * Make it possible to easily install applications (simple instructions as given in opkg.org - so we wouldn't need this plattform anymore)
> * Do not maintain another list on openmoko wiki - instead put a link there to this new directory
> * Whenever you present information about a project (e.g. community newsletter or user manuals) provide a link to the app inside this plattform instead of detailling installation instructions (they might change from one version to the next)
> * Support community input (comments, maybe voting)
> * Again: Make it beautiful and simple.

You read my mind!

> For the packaging issue - I really like the idea of boosting the process to integrate into reps / distributions. (this would btw. ease the process of installation).
> However, documentation on how to do this is really rare.

So true. This is something I'd hilight in the wiki and let all current
app devels to know: how to create the required files to get your app
to distros. But as also mentioned, it shouldn't be the devel who does
this but someone else as package/distro maintainer.

> I wouldn't spend too much time when bringing up a SHOWROOM on tricky, technical stuff. Just a plain, simple, beautiful web site (supporting categories and distributions is nice I think) and - at least for now - manual installation instructions.
> I think, every OM user is able to run 'opkg install <APPNAME>'. It would be a great step forward, if deps are resolved and so on

+1!

> Very last words:
> Please do not put anything up, when there is no time / resources to maintain it. It would be a shame to waste so much efforts

+1!



r

-- 
| risto h. kurppa
| risto at kurppa dot fi
| http://risto.kurppa.fi



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