UX meets Code: the work in progress thread [Archive] - maemo.org

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qgil

2009-11-26, 10:12

After a long discussion (http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php?t=33719) we have an agenda more or less settled. Now it's time to make things concrete and prepare the weekend. The more you prepare in advance the better use you will make of your Long Weekend and the easier will be for people to help you out.

http://wiki.maemo.org/Maemo-Barcelona_Long_Weekend/UX_meets_Code

At the end I am proposing 6 projects for main focus and plenty more time for no-agenda, which means more time for work without any main activity taking the little stage.

Arabella is coordinating the UX meets Code and she will explain you in more detail what is the idea with these 6 projects. Basically we want to concentrate efforts aiming to get a clear Before/After result, and improve the developer/UX documentation based on all the learnings.

For the rest of developers with projects in your hands: go to the wiki page and add yourselves! Explain or link to the relevant information about your project, where you are and what are you trying to achieve. The better you explain the situation to a potential UX specialist the easier for them will be to help you straight away.

anidel

2009-11-26, 10:26

Great, I was thinking to prepare some material to help UX experts better understand what I am trying to achieve, what is missing in Xournal and my ideas so far to solve those.

I'll work on it this week end.

EDIT: below I've thrown in some info.

Aniello

thp

2009-11-26, 21:36

As Daniel already mentioned (http://talk.maemo.org/showpost.php?p=393661&postcount=155), the maintainers of the two projects that are scheduled (https://wiki.maemo.org/Maemo-Barcelona_Long_Weekend/UX_meets_Code#Projects) for Sunday have their departing flights (https://wiki.maemo.org/Maemo-Barcelona_Long_Weekend/Travel#Departure) early, which might be a problem if you require us to be physically available during the session.

Quim suggested we propose something here (http://talk.maemo.org/showpost.php?p=394366&postcount=162): If it's still possible to change the schedule at this point, making Saturday change topics with Sunday could help. Aniello (from Xournal) leaves on Monday according to the travel page.

darabella

2009-11-27, 12:37

Hi thp-

Does anyone know about the developers of Mappr? Are they also leaving on Monday as well? I don't want to run into the same problem if we switch days and then we can't work on Mappr...

darabella

2009-11-27, 13:24

conny

2009-11-27, 13:27

MaStory should be in the extras. http://maemo.org/packages/view/mastory/

EDIT: I think the video editor does not exist yet.

thp

2009-11-27, 13:52

Does anyone know about the developers of Mappr? Are they also leaving on Monday as well? I don't want to run into the same problem if we switch days and then we can't work on Mappr...

From this post (http://talk.maemo.org/showpost.php?p=385191&postcount=17) it looks like "Mardy" is working on the Fremantle port of Maemo Mapper, but I was not able to find him on the travel page. Maybe the person that represents Mapper can tell you more :)

Trying to track down MaStory and video editor, anyone know where I can find more info for these?

AFAIK Video Editor for Maemo 5 does not exist yet, but according to Quim (http://talk.maemo.org/showpost.php?p=367041&postcount=85), PiTiVi (http://www.pitivi.org/wiki/Main_Page) is the application that is being used as a basis for the Video Editor.

VDVsx

2009-11-27, 16:02

From this post (http://talk.maemo.org/showpost.php?p=385191&postcount=17) it looks like "Mardy" is working on the Fremantle port of Maemo Mapper, but I was not able to find him on the travel page. Maybe the person that represents Mapper can tell you more :)

He's a Nokian by the info in the registration page, should be easier to track from inside :D.

yerga

2009-11-27, 19:42

MaStory is available in Extras or here: http://maemo.org/downloads/product/Maemo5/mastory/

anidel

2009-11-29, 22:23

So far I've found the installs for four of the six applications: gPodder, liqbase, Maemo-Mapper, and Xournal.

Trying to track down MaStory and video editor, anyone know where I can find more info for these?

The reason I am asking for more information is I want all of us to have a chance to install and play with the most updated versions before suggesting further UX improvements.

I can speak for Xournal.
Latest version is of course the one in extras-devel.

Xournal is a port of the well know desktop application with the same name. You may want to play with Xournal on a regular Linux desktop to see how many tools and settings are missing from the UI (and that I want to bring back in the Maemo 5 version).

All of the code is there, what's missing are the UI elements.

They can be easily grouped in Tools, Journal and Settings main 'areas'.

I've thought of several ways to bring them back:

* a button on the toolbar that brings up a new window with Tools elements. The window has a menu that would let users switch to the Journal window or the Settings window back and forth.

* different toolbars with different actions on them. Clicking on a button will select that action (like it does now), clicking a selected action would bring an "option" setting dialog for that particular action.
Each toolbar would have a visual way to indicate you can switch between different toolbars (for example '<' and '>')

* no toolbars at all, screen fully dedicated to the notes.
Sliding the finger from the border will make a toolbar/<whatever UI element> slide from the border (like the Mouse mode in Browser).
This new UI element will then either follow the "different toolbar" solution or the "stackable windows" one.

Aniello

anidel

2009-11-29, 22:24

darabella

2009-11-30, 15:08

Hi guys-

Thanks for the info :)

We're checking out on the device 5 of the apps as mentioned in the wiki page, with the exception of Video Editor since there's not anything installable yet, but will check out the PiTiVi

I just had a talk with the rest of the UX specialists that are coming out for the Long Weekend, and because of scheduling difficulties we need to keep the day structure as it is, so Friday Concepting, Saturday Usability and Sunday Graphics.

However, for the devs working on gPodder and MaStory, it's sad that you need to leave on Sunday! A couple of the Maemo UX guys will be in touch with you directly soon on how we can work around your flight schedules.

darabella

2009-11-30, 15:56

BTW, I've been hashing out the agenda with the UX guys and we'll be starting each day off with some basic concepts you'll need to know, followed by workshops focused on specific projects, and then after that intensive UX work on any applications. Will update the agenda soon!

krebbix

2009-12-01, 07:06

Hi,

I will host the concepting session on Friday. It would be great if the authors of Liqbase and Video Editor Zaheerm could provide some additional information about Liqbase Calendar and Video Editor beforehand. I am mainly interested in your ideas and visions and already exisiting material.

Jan

mardy

2009-12-01, 07:30

The reason I am asking for more information is I want all of us to have a chance to install and play with the most updated versions before suggesting further UX improvements.

Hi! Sorry for missing from the discussion so far! :)
I'm the developer of the fremantle port of MaemoMapper. About my participation to the sessions, I will also leave on Sunday morning, so it would be great if the mapper session was not rescheduled. :)

Arabella and others: the version of MaemoMapper that you found is most likely a straightforward port of the diablo version: it works, but it's very different from the version I'm working on right now. I'm working hard in these days to get my branch in a barely usable state, and I hope I'll be able to release it in extras-devel before the UX meets code. Tonight or tomorrow, most likely.

I've quickly written an agenda for the session here:
http://wiki.maemo.org/Maemo-Barcelona_Long_Weekend/UX_meets_Code/MaemoMapper
(the page is linked from the session program)

Ciao,
Alberto

darabella

2009-12-01, 07:54

I've quickly written an agenda for the session here:
http://wiki.maemo.org/Maemo-Barcelona_Long_Weekend/UX_meets_Code/MaemoMapper
(the page is linked from the session program)

Hi Alberto-

Thanks for the info here. All of the other developers who have a project listed as one of the 6 projects, let me know here or give me a wiki link if you also have other specific things you'd like to have looked at in your app, or have suggestions! It would be good if we had advance knowledge of what you're looking for beforehand :)

In regards to the actual agenda, we came up with the following:

First 1 hour - 1.5 hours explanation of the UI concept (Concepting, Usability/Interaction, Graphics), and we'll split into groups for workshopping on that specific topic and discuss the projects within that context.

Then groups focusing either on one of the two specific projects of the day, or breakout groups with the Maemo UX specialists to help with iteration/execution, witha focus on the day's topic.

As mentioned before, I can't switch the day's topics around, but for the developers of gPodder and MaStory, we'll have people around to work with you specifically on your projects before you leave.

darabella

2009-12-01, 07:58

Hello-

I want to make sure I have the representative developers correct for the below apps. If the information is incorrect or if there are multiple developers, please let me know!

Liqbase Calendar (Lcuk) http://talk.maemo.org/member.php?u=15861
Video Editor (Zaheerm) http://talk.maemo.org/member.php?u=25103

Mapper Alberto (mardy) http://talk.maemo.org/member.php?u=23660
Xournal Aniello (Anidel) http://talk.maemo.org/member.php?u=3094

Gpodder (Thomas Perl) http://talk.maemo.org/member.php?u=9673
MaStory (Daniel Martin Yerga) http://maemo.org/profile/view/yerga/

zaheerm

2009-12-01, 08:30

With regards to the video editor, bilboed the author of pitivi is also an important contact there. I was just the one who posted the concept on the previous thread and am willing to put development effort towards getting it there.

RevdKathy

2009-12-01, 08:33

Just to warn you all. I'm not the developer of anything. I am the one who will be sticking her hand up at extremely regular intervals and and asking "What do you mean by that?" ;)

zaheerm

2009-12-01, 08:38

So for the video editor, these are the obvious use cases come to mind:

User takes a video with his phone, before he shares it he wants to cut uninteresting bits out of the video and overlay a sound track.

User has a little free time while on holiday, he wants to do a simple slideshow of his photos from his trip.

User took 10-12 videos while on holiday, he wants to cut like in first use case and merge them into 1 compilation video with title intos in between and maybe mix in some tourism videos of the various places that were downloaded from the internet as the intros to each of the real video segments.

bilboed

2009-12-01, 10:09

Hello-

I want to make sure I have the representative developers correct for the below apps. If the information is incorrect or if there are multiple developers, please let me know!

Video Editor (Zaheerm) http://talk.maemo.org/member.php?u=25103

You can add me for Video Editor http://talk.maemo.org/member.php?u=25920

bilboed

2009-12-01, 10:16

Hi,

A couple of points regarding the video editor project.

No, there is no video editor currently. The whole idea is for me (and other GStreamer/Maemo developers) to tell you what's available from a code point of view to write a video editor, and for you (UX) to tell us what you would like it to do, how you want it laid out, etc... and lay down the foundations of a video editor.

I'm the creator of the PiTiVi video editor, as well as the maintainer of the GNonLin non-linear GStreamer plugins and a core GStreamer hacker. Yesterday, I have made public the work I have been doing over the past few months which *greatly* simplifies the creation of a video editor. You can read more about it in my blogpost : http://blogs.gnome.org/edwardrv/2009/11/30/the-result-of-the-past-few-months-of-hacking/

Feedback, comment welcome before the session.

krebbix

2009-12-01, 10:28

Hi Zaheerm and Bilboed,
Did you already check other apps? If so, what did you like and what comparable feature would you like to see in your video editor as well, besides of those what you mentioned?
What are the names or links of the other apps you were checking?

Bilboed, thanks for the link to your blogpost :-)

lcuk

2009-12-01, 12:06

Hi
liqbase calendar is being looked at
I am just dealing with some niggles in the package for the calendarbut will have these sorted by this evening and will push new packages to the builder.

the calendar has not changed outwardly since I last pushed to the repository but this will be a standalone package.

here is the very quick overview of the calendar,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AeVPddxHW84

and I was sent some additional concepting notes which might help

http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php?t=33327

it will be there tomorrow

qgil

2009-12-01, 12:08

- User has a song or a voice audio track, has a video and wants to overlap both.

- Sepia & scratched film filter, anyone? :)

zaheerm

2009-12-01, 12:14

for video editor:

user wants to rotate the whole video

catangel

2009-12-01, 12:26

Hi all!

I'm Kirsi and I will be presenting Interaction design and usability evaluations to you on Saturday. I will also help with the design and usability of Mapper and Xournal applications. Thank you, Mardy and Anidel, for the pre-information.

conny

2009-12-01, 12:29

User has a screencast video and wants to draw some explanatory arrows, circles, text etc. on top of it. Wants that drawing to be part of the final video.

RevdKathy

2009-12-01, 21:20

Video: opening Title sequence and credits at the end without having to hold up a piece of card in front of the camera.

Reiterating the sound dubbing.

Intergrating several clips (simple glue together). Cut off unwanted frames.

Oh, and airbrush all performers so they look like Hollywood superstars. ;)

anidel

2009-12-01, 23:42

anidel

2009-12-01, 23:44

About Video Editor:

insert videos into another (or attach to the end) and apply transition effects.

dmj726

2009-12-02, 00:51

I would actually like being able to start editing video on the phone and then move the project over to an equivalent editor on the desktop. I can think of several reasons for this.

catangel

2009-12-02, 06:26

Thanks Kirsi!

Do you need more info?

Anidel, I don't think I need more information at this point. However, I'm not yet sure, if I'm able to use the Xournal in Unix computer. Have to see what I can do about it. But at least I've seen some images of the 2full version" so I have some kind of understanding of what you want.

anidel

2009-12-02, 08:48

Cool! Thank you..

I have it on my computer, I'll show it to you in Barcelona.

darabella

2009-12-02, 09:16

Quim suggested we propose something here (http://talk.maemo.org/showpost.php?p=394366&postcount=162): If it's still possible to change the schedule at this point, making Saturday change topics with Sunday could help. Aniello (from Xournal) leaves on Monday according to the travel page.

I just wanted to say that we have managed to change the travel around between the usability/interaction and graphics days, so we can do graphics on Saturday and usability/interaction on Sunday.

Mardy, I see what you're saying here

I'm the developer of the fremantle port of MaemoMapper. About my participation to the sessions, I will also leave on Sunday morning, so it would be great if the mapper session was not rescheduled

so I'll that make sure that Kirsi (catangel) and the other Maemo UX Specialists spend extra time with you on Saturday.

upe

2009-12-02, 10:53

darabella

2009-12-02, 13:11

Just popping over to say that I've updated the UX Meets Code agenda and schedule over at the event page here: http://wiki.maemo.org/Maemo-Barcelona_Long_Weekend/UX_meets_Code

catangel

2009-12-02, 13:33

so I'll that make sure that Kirsi (catangel) and the other Maemo UX Specialists spend extra time with you on Saturday.

As I'm only arriving at Saturday evening (around 20:20), I can't help in that day. I hope other specialists are ready for help Mardy. I'll will provide the material gathered in Sunday to Mardy.

lcuk

2009-12-02, 13:39

hey,
i pushed the first version of the standalone liqcalendar to extras-devel last night along with a few other things :)

the calendar is totally standalone, it needs to be sat within a widget to be usable nicely (as indeed many liq* modules would suit), I will discuss that over this weekend and get the principles correct for pushing others.

yerga

2009-12-02, 15:27

Hey!

I'm Ulla, the host(ess) of the Graphic design session. I'd be happy to hear from Gpodder and MaStory devs. Would you have wishes on topics that would be most beneficial for your application cases on saturday? Or is there anything else you would like me to know? Thanks for any input!

As a total novice in the whole issue of UX/UI/Graphics/etc. and having never been in a similar session, I think it would be great some feedback on what we might expect from the session.
Then we will be able to point what stuff in the applications have more importance, so we can use better the available time.

mardy

2009-12-02, 15:34

As I'm only arriving at Saturday evening (around 20:20), I can't help in that day. I hope other specialists are ready for help Mardy. I'll will provide the material gathered in Sunday to Mardy.

That's better than nothing, but I was hoping on something more interactive... :(

krebbix

2009-12-02, 15:40

Hi Mardy,

I will do the concepting session on Friday and I am sure there will be time to look at your application as well.

Jan

upe

2009-12-03, 07:03

As a total novice in the whole issue of UX/UI/Graphics/etc. and having never been in a similar session, I think it would be great some feedback on what we might expect from the session.
Then we will be able to point what stuff in the applications have more importance, so we can use better the available time.

Hey yerga,
Well, although it's completely ok to be a total novice, I hope you won't feel like one after the happening :)
About the session, it can cover any topic within the graphic design field. I'll then think through how much of it we can deal with within the given time window. So when you look at you application, how does it look to you? How would you like to improve it? Is the application icon your crucial issue? Are there unclear icon mettaphors? Or do you feel it's general looks should be something else? Is it just coloring? Or is the area you'd like to improve somewhere deeper in the application?
From the group session you can expect to get many ideas and advice on your graphical issue. Afterwards I can give you more hands-on consultation if you like. I hope this clears things a bit.

thp

2009-12-03, 09:41

I'm Ulla, the host(ess) of the Graphic design session. I'd be happy to hear from Gpodder and MaStory devs. Would you have wishes on topics that would be most beneficial for your application cases on saturday? Or is there anything else you would like me to know? Thanks for any input!

Hey, I'm the maintainer of gPodder. Here are some ideas and areas where I think gPodder could be improved, but I'm most likely routine-blinded, so I might be missing some areas where gPodder needs graphic help. Also, it's a long wishlist - feel free to prioritize ;)

Episode actions (http://thpmaemo.blogspot.com/2009/11/experimental-maemo-5-ui-gpodder-episode.html) for quick access to play/download/delete (just a concept right now, and joppu has created icons (http://talk.maemo.org/showpost.php?p=391618&postcount=22) already)
Application icon (http://repo.or.cz/w/gpodder.git/blob_plain/HEAD:/data/gpodder.svg) (color correction, simplified version for the other icon sizes (16x16, 22x22, 24x24, 26x26, 40x40, 64x64), corrections to outlines, etc.. - I'd like to keep the basic idea, though)
Non-annoying background for the main window (http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2626/4010163423_993248ef64.jpg) (I'd like to keep the buttons, though)
Default cover art (placeholder) for podcasts that don't have one (example list with missing cover art (http://www.flickr.com/photos/63684846@N00/4010928642/))
Icons for downloads list (possible states: queued, downloading, finished, failed, cancelled by user, paused)
Icons for episode status (possible states: normal, downloaded, downloading, deleted, new - these can be different for audio/video. also, there are emblems that are overlaid and describe some additional states: unplayed, locked (deletion prevention) and missing (file is listed in database as downloaded, but cannot be found on disk))
Graphics for download count/unplayed count/etc.. (see this screenshot (http://www.flickr.com/photos/63684846@N00/4010928642/) for an example, although they are generated in code (http://repo.or.cz/w/gpodder.git/blob/HEAD:/src/gpodder/gtkui/draw.py) using cairo atm)

Depending on the time we have, maybe there's also space for getting some graphics done for Panucci (http://panucci.garage.maemo.org/), which already works (http://maemo.org/packages/view/panucci/) on Maemo 5 (Extras-Testing). This would mostly be for graphic buttons, maybe combined with the alternative portrait mode (http://thpmaemo.blogspot.com/2009/11/experimental-maemo-5-ui-alternative.html), so that Panucci can be integrated with gPodder, and provide a nice podcast listening experience with resuming support (the built-in media player does not do this (https://bugs.maemo.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1129) atm).

upe

2009-12-03, 11:34

@ thp,
Thanks! There's even room for choice, great.

mgimpl

2009-12-03, 13:21

That's better than nothing, but I was hoping on something more interactive... :(

I'm Martin, hi everyone.

There will several UI and Graphics people at the event that help you out with the app. I, for one, am happy to help if there is anything I can do.

pycage

2009-12-03, 13:24

I'm Martin, hi everyone.

There will several UI and Graphics people at the event that help you out with the app. I, for one, am happy to help if there is anything I can do.

This is great! Thanks! :)

yerga

2009-12-03, 14:06

Hey yerga,
Well, although it's completely ok to be a total novice, I hope you won't feel like one after the happening :)
About the session, it can cover any topic within the graphic design field. I'll then think through how much of it we can deal with within the given time window. So when you look at you application, how does it look to you? How would you like to improve it? Is the application icon your crucial issue? Are there unclear icon mettaphors? Or do you feel it's general looks should be something else? Is it just coloring? Or is the area you'd like to improve somewhere deeper in the application?
From the group session you can expect to get many ideas and advice on your graphical issue. Afterwards I can give you more hands-on consultation if you like. I hope this clears things a bit.

Thanks. Yes, it does.

Here is my feedback about what things can be more important to improve in MaStory:
A new application icon. I did the actual one, so you can see the results ;)
In Settings screen there are three buttons: Accounts, General, Media. It would be nice to use some nice graphics for this functions and remove the buttons (similar to the main screen of the application)
There are a bunch of small icons in a kind of toolbar when writing a new post. Some icons don't tell to the user very well what is the action of the button (for example, tags/categories or preview).
It would be very nice to improve these icons or even create a new iconset for this functions (and the ones in the "HTML tags" screen)
In total are 28 icons, so I don't know if I'm asking too much ;)
I'm open a new feedback and new ideas

darabella

2009-12-08, 14:04

A big thanks to everyone who participated!

If you still need help with your app from a UX perspective, feel free to join up to #maemo or #maemo-ui on irc.freenode.net - a lot of the folks who came out for the weekend are on IRC and can help you out!

Adele: aSIMULAtor or aSIMULAter
Steffen: sthalme
Martin S: Martin
Jussi: jmaaniit
Martin G: MartinG
Jan: krebbix

To all of you asking about the slides: I'll be putting the slides on slideshare and elsewhere online shortly, and will tell you where to find them!

Good luck with all of your future development :)

VDVsx

2009-12-08, 23:48

I started a feedback thread about the long weekend here: http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php?p=417690

Please share your thoughts :)

darabella

2009-12-17, 13:46

If anyone's still confused about conceptual design by the way, I just put this online: http://www.forum.nokia.com/Technology_Topics/Design_and_User_Experience/Conceptual_Design.xhtml