A call to action

["Gerry Chu" <gerrychu bigfoot com>]

It seems like our great little mailing list and the hitsquad have been for
quite a long time swept into the backwaters of GNOME development.

Here's the beginning of a file dialog thread on gtk-devel-list:
http://mail.gnome.org/archives/gtk-devel-list/2000-August/msg00241.html

Here's an announcement of a new file dialog with screenshots:
http://mail.gnome.org/archives/gtk-devel-list/2000-August/msg00251.html

And here's the sourceforge page: http://sourceforge.net/projects/gtkfilesel/

No mention at all of us.  No mention of whether the developers cared about
ui issues.  And this isn't the first time we have been left behind.

I guess it brings that infamous old free software addage to mind: if you
want it, code it yourself.

I think some core GNOME developer (eazel?) needs to organize the mailing
list, the hitsquad, and developers to commit to a written down process on
how new ui designs for GNOME / GTK programs and widgets are going to be
finalized into _release_ form.  I think our mailing list is a great resource
for bringing together users and novice to expert ui designers--anyone who
cares about how GNOME appears to the end user together.

Once in a while, there's an misguided article about GNOME has no ui-team, no
ui-standards page, etc, etc.  And then I think: wait--what's this person
talking about?  We have the hitsquad, we have this mailing list, he have...

But we don't have anything to show for it.  The mailing list has high
turnover, nothing from the hitsquad has been integrated, and eazel has
dramatically changed the decision-making structure of the GNOME community.

Ideas?  Comments?  Arlo?

Sincerely,

Gerry Chu
gerrychu bigfoot com

Oh, yeah, please think about electing some person who says they care about
ui to the GNOME foundation, and hold them accountable for their commitment.