[UX-WEEK 3] Names, descriptions and screenshots

[thp]

This week, we want to focus on improving application names (both in the app manager and the menu), their descriptions (mostly the one-line description available in the application manager list) and on getting the information (name, description and screenshots) on http://maemo.org/downloads/ in a better state, so that the screenshots reflect the most up-to-date version of an application, and that the screenshots are also representative of how the application looks like when "in use" (e.g. for content-creating apps, the screenshot should already contain some content or be in the middle of an editing session).

This is also for names in the applications list that are too long and are cut off because of that.

Of course, as all UX-WEEKs, this is for all applications, independent on wheter they are in Extras-Devel, Extras-Testing or Extras. Of course, content on the downloads page only makes sense for apps that are in Extras already ;)

[noobmonkey]

Ok a quick starter for me :

Desktop downloads

maemo.org theme
http://maemo.org/downloads/product/Maemo5/maemo-org/
The description needs some work!

ussd-widgete
http://maemo.org/downloads/product/Maemo5/ussd-widget/
Needs a screenshot or two.

Desktop Photo Slideshow Widget
http://maemo.org/downloads/product/Maemo5/desktop-photoapplet/
The description seems to describe the update - not the application.


Programming downloads


mad-developer
http://maemo.org/downloads/product/Maemo5/mad-developer/
Needs a screenshot.



Games downloads


nspeed
http://maemo.org/downloads/product/Maemo5/nspeed/
Description is repetetive

gltron
http://maemo.org/downloads/product/Maemo5/gltron/
No Screenshot


(Will do more later, back to work!)

[pelago]

Some useful references:

http://wiki.maemo.org/Packaging
http://wiki.maemo.org/Packaging/Guidelines

[pelago]

One-line descriptions

Some "rules" that I propose for the one-line description that appears under the package name in Application Manager:

Try not to repeat the app name. So instead of "Conboy is a note taking application", just have "Note taking application". Harder with something like "Countdown Timer" though!
Use sentence case. That doesn't mean it needs to be a proper sentence, but it should start with a capital letter, and no need for other capital letters after than apart from for proper names and acronyms.
Do not end in a full stop (period).
No need to mention Maemo or Fremantle or N900 or similar. Exception: Turkish localization, to make it clear this is a localization for Maemo itself.
Make sure not too long. I'm not sure how many characters but enough so that it doesn't get cut off in Application Manager in landscape mode with the default font size.
Avoid jargon like "GUI", or technical stuff like what language an app was written in, or what libraries it uses. Exception: "PyQt4 Demo" and "PyQt4 Full install".

Here are some apps that "break" these proposed "rules":

Repeat name of app:

capsule
Conboy
De-Lite
Desktop Activity Manager
easypark
eCoach
free42 - suggest just "HP look-alike RPN calculator"
FriendStatus IM Statuses Aggregator
healthcheck
Lybniz
maelstrom
Mancala
nako
OpenVPN Applet
orrery
Password Safe
pygtkeditor
Pyrecipe
Sensitive Motion
SeriesFinale
Time Workshop


Not sentence case:

belltower
Conky
fbreader
feedhandler
FeedingIt
Gonvert
healthcheck
Hex-a-Hop
Irssi
Leafpad
liqflow
liqtorch
MediaBox Media Center
msid
OpenVPN
Personal Dataplan Monitor
Personal IP Address
PrBoom
Pyrecipe
Recorder
Sensitive Motion
Sopwith
TouchSearch


End with a full stop:

100boxes
AccDisplay
Attitude
battery-eye
bluezwitch
Cellular Modem Control Buttons
Conboy
Copernicium
cpumem-applet
DateToday Home Desktop Widget
Desktop Command Execution Widget
Desktop Photo Slideshow Widget
DiceJinni
easypark
eCoach
evopedia
Flashlight
freecell4maemo
Gnuplot
healthcheck
Hermes
Kandis
KMPlayer
Load Applet
Lybniz
MaStory
mclock
MooBox (several!)
Nameday Applet
OpenVPN Applet
proximityd
pygtkeditor
pypianobar
Queen BeeCon Widget
RAW Viewer
recaller
StockThis
stopish
Storage Usage
TabletBridge
Thai fonts
Tickstill
Time Workshop
TouchSearch
Tuner
Turkish localization
uremote
Wifi Switcher
worldtv99
XChat IRC Client


Too long text:

adflashblock-css
ncalc
OMWeather
Pedometer Home Widget
Petrovich
sleeper
witter


Mention Maemo, Fremantle, N900 etc.:

Array Theme
battery-eye
Desktop Photo Slideshow Widget
Easy Chroot
Easy Debian
feedhandler
FM Radio Player
free42
freecell4maemo
gPodder Podcast Client
All livilSteel themes
mauku - suggest just "Micro-blogging client"
MMagnetic - suggest "Interpreter for text adventures by Magnetic Scrolls"
Mplayer
msid
ncalc
Ogg Support
OMWeather
PicoDrive
Pidgin Internet Messenger
pygtkeditor
Reflect Theme
vncviewer
XChat IRC Client
xournal


Jargon:

blubbels
Conky - suggest just "Highly configurable system monitor"
fAPN
fm-boost
GUI frontend for rsync - suggest something like "Synchronise folders locally and remotely"
OpenSSH Client
OpenSSH Server - for both of these, most people have never heard of rlogin, rsh etc.
pypianobar
QStarDict
recaller


Other problems:

DialCentral - ends with double-quote
DiceJinni - "dices" should be "dice"
fschedule - ends with colon
mad-developer - not at all clear what this is!
mclock - suggest "including" instead of "incl."
PackageView - ends with comma
pypianobar - doesn't explain what pianobar is (i.e. Pandora client)

[Jaffa]

The one-line description comes from the first sentence of the control file's Description field. I thought Debian's policy was that this was of the form:


Description: One-line summary, shorter than 72 characters.
Further description.
.
Wibble.


However, that appears not to be the case:

http://www.debian.org/doc/debian-policy/ch-controlfields.html#s-f-Description

A bug raised against Hermes would be much appreciated.

[anidel]

xournal

I've updated mine.
Removed "Maemo" mention and using:

"Application for note taking and PDF annotation"

Aniello

[paulkoan]

Does this data feed through to the application manager? If so what is needed imo is a consistant way of providing information about what an updated app updates.

[Ken-Young]

One-line descriptions

Some "rules" that I propose for the one-line description that appears under the package name in Application Manager:

...
Do not end in a full stop (period).
...

Here are some apps that "break" these proposed "rules":


I agree these are good ideas, except for the prohibition of full stops (periods). If your description is a complete sentence, what's wrong with ending it with a period? I think a full stop is useful, because without a full stop, it is not as clear that the description has not been truncated.

[qole]

Pelagio: I noticed you mention my chroot apps as unnecessarily mentioning Maemo, Fremantle, or the N900. Why should I not mention it? These scripts are very tailored to Fremantle.

[ZogG]

Pelagio: I noticed you mention my chroot apps as unnecessarily mentioning Maemo, Fremantle, or the N900. Why should I not mention it? These scripts are very tailored to Fremantle.

Maybe because it is available only in maemo5 repository anyway

[thp]

Does this data feed through to the application manager? If so what is needed imo is a consistant way of providing information about what an updated app updates.

A XB-Maemo-Upgrade-Description (http://wiki.maemo.org/Maemo_packaging#Maemo_upgrade_description) control file field exists, but it's a really bad solution. It's not in any way related to the already-existing Debian changelog file (which provides upgrade descriptions) and it's not cumulative. We've discussed this on the mailing list some time ago, but I can't find the link right away. Basically, the problem is that you see only the changes of the *latest* version. Assume a changelog goes like this:


1.0 - Initial release
1.1 - Changed color of application icon
2.0 - Massive rewrite; config file is removed
2.1 - Minor bugfixes


Now, if a user has version 1.0 installed and then the application manager sees 2.1 and shows it in the upgrades. All the user sees is "Minor bugfixes", which would only be true if the user would be upgrading from 2.0 to 2.1, but in this case, the changelog should display all changelog messages (1.1, 2.0 and 2.1) starting from the currently-installed version. XB-Maemo-Upgrade-Description does not provide a way to do this.

To make a long story short: Avoid using XB-Maemo-Upgrade-Description and fill the debian/changelog file with good information, just like a normal Debian Developer would do. These changes are already shown on maemo.org/packages, and maybe the Application Manager will pick it up in the future.

[pelago]

I agree these are good ideas, except for the prohibition of full stops (periods). If your description is a complete sentence, what's wrong with ending it with a period? I think a full stop is useful, because without a full stop, it is not as clear that the description has not been truncated.

It's just a visual thing - most of the one-line descriptions don't end in a full stop, which I feel looks nicer. If the other proposed "rule" about not having the one-line description being over a certain length is enforced, then we needn't worry about truncation.

Pelagio: I noticed you mention my chroot apps as unnecessarily mentioning Maemo, Fremantle, or the N900. Why should I not mention it? These scripts are very tailored to Fremantle.

I was mainly talking about the user experience when browsing within Application Manager. By definition the user will only see things listed there for Maemo/Fremantle/N900, so the one-line app description does not need to mention it.

[thp]

Pelago: Do you think you can post your guidelines on the maemo.org Wiki as a subsection to the "UX" wiki page, just like the icons? I think improving and editing these is easier on the Wiki, and a wiki page is also more visible and easier to link to than a forum post. I like your ideas, btw :)

[qole]

Pelagio: I noticed you mention my chroot apps as unnecessarily mentioning Maemo, Fremantle, or the N900. Why should I not mention it? These scripts are very tailored to Fremantle.

Maybe because it is available only in maemo5 repository anyway

Well, I was worried about the fact that I have identically-named but incompatible apps in the OS2008 repositories, as well. So I was trying to avoid any confusion and heartache when people were clicking on "Install" from the maemo.org download pages.

As it turns out, 99.9999% of N900 owners don't even know that there were any other versions of the OS or any other previous devices that ran Maemo, so I shouldn't have worried at all.

[Khertan]

Ouch other strange ...

As PyGTKEditor is specifically design for Maemo ... i don't think i should remove it too ... strange rules ...

[pelago]

Please be aware that I'm not imposing any rules, just making suggestions.

My thought process is that the average user browsing the list of apps to download via the Application Manager doesn't care whether an app is specifically designed for Maemo or a port from elsewhere. I feel that the one-line description need only say what the app actually does rather than that saying that it is "for Maemo" etc. The longer description can include more background information if you want.