[Gimp-web] Plug-in Registry (was: Check static.gimp.org)

[Akkana Peck <akkana shallowsky com>]

On Tuesday, November 10, 2015, Pat David <patdavid gmail com> wrote:
> I was mostly considering the prior use cases for the registry that made it
> helpful/handy.  I came up with these broad thoughts:
>
> 1. Allow registered users to post content:
>     a. Post new scripts/plugins with attachments and versioning if possible
>     b. Post comments on other items
> 2. Allow embeds, attachments, versioning history, and possibly wiki-like
> editing on the pages based on user permissions.
> 3. Allow easy moderation/administration of topics/comments/users (important
> as there are limited people available to police things).
>
> Honestly, the more I think about it, the more it seems like it might be
> better served by something like discourse (you can see the instance I'm
> running over at discuss.pixls.us to see what I mean).

First, what is the purpose of having a registry?

As a user, I think of the registry as a way to find plug-ins that
solve whatever problem I'm trying to solve right now.

As a plug-in author, I think of it as a place I can put my plug-ins
where users might be able to find them easily, and secondarily as
a place to get feedback about them.

But the previous registry was set up more like a discussion forum,
like it was intended to be a community people that read regularly.
If you tried to search for a plug-in, what you got was a bunch of
discussions containing your search terms, and *maybe* intermixed
with the discussions might be a few entries that were actually
plug-ins. I found it so hard to use as a user that I lost motivation
to put my own plug-ins there.

I've periodically seen discussions in the past about having a
registry that GIMP could actually talk to: you could search
for plug-ins by keyword within GIMP itself, and even download and
install those plug-ins, something beginning users have trouble with.
Of course, that's a whole separate discussion (there are rating and
malware issues, as well as details like how you build C plug-ins and
check API compatibility) and might be better done by a separate
program: but it can never even be possible without a place to
register plug-ins in a standard way.

For that, you'd want a registry that has a few fixed fields:
- Plug-in name
- Author (and a way to contact the author)
- Short description: what does the plug-in do?
- Most recent downloadable version, with date and version number
- Language it's written in, with a link to a clear page on how
  to install plug-ins written in this language on various platforms
- Long description (feature list, instructions on use)
- Image to show what it does (at least one, maybe several)

Offering discussions in addition to those fields is nice. (Please,
with email notifications! Something a lot of forum sites, and the
previous registry, don't seem to do very well.) But the discussions
aren't the point: there are already quite a few GIMP discussion
forums and mailing lists. Meanwhile, there is no place to register
plug-ins in a clear and findable way -- let alone a registry that could
some day offer an API and maybe even be integrated into GIMP itself.

        ...Akkana