How does that differs from a “Gnome generic application’s plugin installer lib” ?

News to me. What is that?

ethana2:

I have GUI ideas, but I have trouble expressing them in gconf keys because the panel configuration stuff confuses me and there are these things gconf-editor can’t mess with yet.

This is exactly what I want to change. I want to see it much easier for people to express UI ideas. A small amount of Python and Glade knowledge should suffice and be able to ship this to users.

Howard:

Thanks for your views, and your analogy with the plumber is excellent.

The solution for these two issues is simple: Instead of coding, we should be drawing and sharing our drawings with each other, and getting comments and feedback on them. Using Gimp, or Inkscape, it’s quite easy to create a quick sketch of a new design concept. If you post a series of sketches, you can show how a user might interact with your design – as if it were an actual working prototype. If there were a Brainstorm-type website to showcase these drawings on, you could easily attract a large audience of Ubuntu users, who would provide plenty of feedback on how well that design might be received, and how it might be improved.

Drawings are one aspect of interaction design. We should encourage this also. But I think there is real value in encouraging prototyping and delivering those prototypes to users. They are far more suitable for demonstrating real interaction.

the sharing of prototyped ideas has really helped drive innovation forward.

The purpose of prototypes is to show what can be done, and then ask a group of people if they feel it should be done (at all), or else, done differently.

Firstly, the question I think that needs asking is: “What’s the lowest barrier of entry, such that anyone with a good design idea can easily showcase it and get feedback from the greatest number of people?”

Second, I feel it’s important, as well, to take the focus off of coding, and place it on visuals and interaction flow. You expect a plummer to be able to give you running water and fix leaks, but you don’t expect them to be able to design a beautiful bathtub and faucet. Similarly, I think we shouldn’t expect programmers to necessarily be elequent at the art of good user interface design – though some certainly are.

The solution for these two issues is simple: Instead of coding, we should be drawing and sharing our drawings with each other, and getting comments and feedback on them. Using Gimp, or Inkscape, it’s quite easy to create a quick sketch of a new design concept. If you post a series of sketches, you can show how a user might interact with your design – as if it were an actual working prototype. If there were a Brainstorm-type website to showcase these drawings on, you could easily attract a large audience of Ubuntu users, who would provide plenty of feedback on how well that design might be received, and how it might be improved.

Drawings are also good because it’s a lot easier to scrap them and start from scratch than it seems to be with code. This “lack of attachment” to one’s ideas is great, because it invites greater experimentation.

I recently spoke to Ted Gould, of the Desktop Experience Team. He’s working towards creating design(dot)ubuntu(dot)com. Perhaps it will be similar to what I’m suggesting.

Just my $0.02

p>I don’t think Apple overthinks things. They just make one mistake in GUI design every few months, and they try to maintain consistency that locks them into those mistakes. To be fair, Apple’s OS is probably the best GUI that currently exists, although I very much look forward to the next K/Ubuntu releases.

I have GUI ideas, but I have trouble expressing them in gconf keys because the panel configuration stuff confuses me and there are these things gconf-editor can’t mess with yet.

One has already been started, and implemented in the DeskBar. I don’t like it, because it’s in Mono, seems too complex and is a yet-another-daemon-dowereallyneedit ?

If you’re interested in helping gritty, be sure do to digg brainstorm, launchpad blueprints and ubuntu wiki, you may find a nice number of lineguides.