Re: [gnome-love] Enhancement of the gnome-search-tool

[Christian Sasso <christian sasso gmail com>]

Hi, happy new year to all lovers (gnomers or else)!

I read the document <http://library.gnome.org/devel/platform-overview/stable/> initially posted by Murray, and here is my feedback.

From <http://library.gnome.org/devel/platform-overview/stable/who-should-read.html.en>
- "It will provide an overview how you
  can use" -> "It will provide an overview OF how you
  can use"

From <http://library.gnome.org/devel/platform-overview/stable/platform-core.html.en>
- One has to click the "Section 3.2 ― Virtual File System" link to know that GVFS is deprecated.

From <http://library.gnome.org/devel/platform-overview/stable/graphics.html.en>
- there is no mention of Clutter <http://clutter-project.org/>

From <http://library.gnome.org/devel/platform-overview/stable/platform-ipc.html.en>
- it doesn't mention that today D-BUS is considered a better choice than the Bonobo/CORBA duo
- I should be mentioned that Bonobo/CORBA still have a niche not covered by D-BUS, and explained what that is
- it should be mentioned that Bonobo/CORBA are powerful but difficult technology to master

From <http://library.gnome.org/devel/platform-overview/stable/session.html.en>
- is libgnomeui deprecated?
- the link to GnomeClient points to an API reference style page: nothing wrong with that, but a tutorial on the same subject would be welcome

From <http://library.gnome.org/devel/platform-overview/stable/keyring.html.en>
- there are no deeper links explaining the technology to developers (API reference, tutorials etc)

From <http://library.gnome.org/devel/platform-overview/stable/control-center.html.en>
- again, there are no deeper links explaining the technology to developers (API reference, tutorials etc)

From <http://library.gnome.org/devel/platform-overview/stable/window-manager.html.en>
- same as above: no links to tutorials

From <http://library.gnome.org/devel/platform-overview/stable/other-bindings.html.en>
- link <the GTK+ bindings page> is broken

Random comments:
- no Anjuta links
- no links to books
- is there a tutorial about drag'n'drop that is getting linked from somewhere?
- why not have a page whose sole purpose is to link to deprecated technologies? instead than having the info scattered all over the place?

Regards, chris

On Fri, Dec 11, 2009 at 12:09 PM, Shaun McCance <shaunm gnome org> wrote:

On Fri, 2009-12-11 at 11:11 -0800, Christian Sasso wrote:
> Hi Murray,
>
> this looks like a good introductory page. I skimmed through it quickly
> and I noticed that at least sometimes even deprecated stuff is
> explicitly mentioned:
>
> [...] In previous versions of GNOME, the GnomeVFS library was used for
> access to files and folders. While GnomeVFS provided many of the same
> features, including transparent access to remote folders, it had a
> number of limitations which have been addressed in GIO. GnomeVFS is
> deprecated and should not be used in newly written code, although it
> will continue to be supported throughout the GNOME 2 lifetime. For
> information on GnomeVFS, see GnomeVFS - Filesystem Abstraction
> Library. [...]
>
> and about Printing:
>
> [...] Work is currently underway to integrate printing directly into
> GTK+, providing a cross-platform print API that all applications can
> use. While the current GNOME print framework will be deprecated once
> GTK+ supports printing, API and ABI stability guarantees ensures that
> it will continue to be functional and supported throughout the GNOME 2
> lifecycle. [...]
>
> But in general I agree that the page doesn't seem relentless in
> pointing out what NOT to use. For instance, the page links to
> documentation about Corba and Bonobo, that if I understand correctly,
> nobody should use anymore (I may be wrong: it has been a long time).

The Overview has, unfortunately, not been updated much
since I initially wrote it.  It's definitely due for an
overhaul, especially for Gnome 3.  I've been doing some
planning, but it hasn't hit the top of my todo list yet.

Christian, I'd be very interested in any other thoughts
you have after reading the Overview.  Reader feedback is
very helpful.

--
Shaun