[Gimp-developer] hesitant about compiling a list...

[peter sikking <peter mmiworks net>]

guys,

a couple of days ago Bruce appeared on irc and we had a chat.
(Bruce is now subscribed to this list)

within a minute we were talking about whether GIMP has a list
of known UI design issues. as far as I know we do not have one,
it is certainly not part of gui.gimp.org.

(I am not talking about a bug list, with nuts and bolts issues,
I am talking about a list of medium level to big-picture
issues and to-dos. the kind of design tasks I pick for my
teaching are medium size ones, see
<http://blog.mmiworks.net/search/label/teaching> )

Immediately I realised this list is missing and that there
are real benefits to maintaining a list like that:

- a clear list of design tasks to pick one from for
people who want to contribute or run projects in
interaction design;

- GIMP as a project says clearly ‘yes, we know we have problem
with XYZ in the UI.’ this can make certain discussions a lot
shorter, by pointing at the list. also I feel that _part_ of the
‘GIMP has so far to go’ feedback that the 2.8 release gets is
caused by us not communicating ‘yes, we have problems.’

- coordinating between open technical project work (GEGL
migration, etc.) and interaction design project work.

- the big picture concerning UI becomes clearer because it is
written down.


so far so good. but while talking to Bruce I realised that there
are a couple of side effects to this list that make me hesitate to
just go and get started with compiling it:

- just thinking of what I can contribute to this list, I know
that this list is _not_ going to be short. also because all the
issues that I can put on it are ‘medium level to big-picture,’
none of them are going to be trivial to solve. thus my hesitation
is what this is going to make GIMP look like, and if the definitions
of open worked where meant to stretch this far.

- all of the issues that will end up on the list have been
created by contributors to GIMP. some of these issues have been
created 10 years ago, some of them last month. I wonder what it
will feel like to GIMP contributors when something they just made,
almost ‘immediately and automatically,’ (at least, feels like that
to them) ends up on the UI issue list.

so I would like to hear some opinion on this.

    --ps

        founder + principal interaction architect
            man + machine interface works

        http://blog.mmiworks.net: on interaction architecture