[ubuntu-art] [Ubuntu-Art]Theme Teams. Moving Forward. Making Stuff!

Thu Jan 3 08:42:17 GMT 2008

On 03/01/2008, Who <mailforwho at googlemail.com> wrote:
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~
> This is quite lengthy. If you can't read it all but are interested
> then try just to look at the bits with ==?== in front of them -
> they're questions that I hope as many people in the art-team as
> possible should answer...
>
> Wiki Page:
> https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Artwork/Incoming/Hardy/Alternate/ThemeTeams
>
> If anyone thinks sabdfl needs to know about this then please forward it to him
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~
>
> Hi all,
>
> Given the recent discussion about frustration in moving things forward
> and the team not really having direction, I think it might help if we
> organised ourselves a bit more...
>
> I think we have the talent and enthusiasm in the team to get great
> stuff out if we do it right!
>
> So, I have a suggestion: A few years back we organised a system where
> we had 3 'Theme Teams' that took charge of developing themes to be
> packaged separately and be available in Universe. This wasn't without
> it's troubles, but did produce some nice work. I think we should do it
> again. It seems very unhelpful to suggest something like organisation
> and then leave it alone, so I've expanded below...
>
> ~~~~~~~~ Proposal ~~~~~~~~
>
> Here are the 'rules' I propose. Please comment on them.
> * These theme teams would _not_ be developing default themes - and
> should not be under the illusion they are
> * The teams should _aim_ to create complimentary themes, not too similar
> * A theme team will develop or COMPILE at LEAST gtk theme, metacity,
> gdmsplash, background. Usplash and icons would be ideal (for icons,
> compiling seems much the better option)
> * We're talking about making FUNCTIONING themes, not mockups!
> * The process needs to MEET DEADLINES. If we want to be available in
> Universe _for the release_ (which we might already have missed the
> chance to do - what do people think?) then meeting deadlines at every
> stage of the way is essential.
> * Each theme team needs a leader to collate and co-ordinate things.
> * The themes will rock!
>
> ==?== What do you think of these ^ ?
> ==?== Should we aim to do these for Hardy or Hardy + 1?
>
> I think we should aim to have 2 or 3 theme teams - so as not to spread
> experience and time too thinly. For this we need people with time,
> enthusiasm and knowledge about themeing to come forward and agree to
> be leaders of these Theme Teams. These people don't necessarily have
> to be designers, but they do need to be prepared to make sure the team
> is meeting the deadlines and producing work. If you think you've got
> what it takes, step up!
>
> ~~~~~~ Getting Started ~~~~~~~
>
> This brings me on to how I think we can start. We still don't have a
> better tool than the wiki, which is a shame, but not a big problem!
> https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Artwork/Incoming/Hardy/Alternate/ThemeTeam
>
> For the first stage, I've created a page where anyone who wants to
> lead a theme team can enter a description of what they want to do.
>
> https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Artwork/Incoming/Hardy/Alternate/ThemeTeams/ThemeProposals
> People who want to join the team can 'sign up' and we can go from
> there. It makes sense to me to either vote on these ideas, or
>
> ~~~~~~~~ Leadership/Decision Making ~~~~~~~~
> We need leaders for theme teams, and they need to be prepared to make
> things happen :) These leaders will have the final call on their
> theme's design.
>
> They could either design a theme, or compile a theme form existing
> components, or a bit of both
>
> ==?== Do we decide leaders and teams based on a vote, by which teams
> most people want to contribute to, or by some other means (decision by
> sabdfl, Kwwii?)
>
> ==?==Want to be a LEADER?
> So, if you've got a theme you'd like to develop - have a think about
> being a theme team leader. I did the job for the Blubuntu Theme some
> releases back, it was a lot of fun and VERY rewarding! To get an idea
> of what is required of you, it might help to look at the Blubuntu wiki
> pages I made. I found it to be an excellent way to organise the
> work...
>
> https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Artwork/Incoming/Blubuntu - they give the best
> idea of what is involved.
>
> This time around there will be more commitment in packaging than last
> time! Any other people who have done it before, please chime in...
>
>
> ~~~~~~~~ Timescales ~~~~~~~~
>
> I've put a draft timeline for THIS process on the Wiki page I made
> https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Artwork/Incoming/Hardy/Alternate/ThemeTeam
>
> First deadline is JAN 5th - DO WE WANT TO DO THIS
> == ? == Well, do we?
>
> ~~~~~~~~ Launchpad ~~~~~~~
>
> ==?== How do we integrate correctly with Launchpad?
>
> It would seem that the existing *-look themes have separate packages
> for each thing - so I gues we should do this. We need to work with
> Launchpad to comply with the process for getting new packages accepted
> in to Universe (see
> https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UbuntuDevelopment/NewPackages )
>
> Please, can someone advise on this - shall we speak to Dan Holbach?
>
> ~~~~~~~ The End! ~~~~~~~~
>
> Wow, finally.
>
> Please comment, please step up!

I think is exactly what we need.

To all the new people around here - please pay attention to Who, he
has been around here for a good while and knows the drill. Creative
energy and collaborative shoulder-padding is not going to get us
anywhere.

I have been on the art team since Hoary and I can attest that we have
consistently been failing our mission.

We came close to the real deal once, was it Dapper?, where we got a
few community themes, bundled, but not enabled, by default. This
happened solely because of two things:

 * A few people stood up and took responsibility for creating themes
 * Daniel Holbach saved our asses with a lot of packaging work we
really should have done our selves

I think it would be very valuable to have a "History Page" on the wiki
outlining the success and Failures of the art team. That would
probably help to make it clear how we are doomed to repeat history
unless people step up an take responsibility.

I, myself, do not have the time to take responsibility over a theme
for Hardy, but I can probably help put that History Page together,
being sort of an old fart around here...

Cheers,
Mikkel