[ubuntu-art] Moving things forwards.

[Kenneth Wimer]

Hi all,

I have been on vacation for the last few weeks and unfortunately offline as my 
parents decided that the internet is too modern for them and no longer have a 
connection. Between spending my holidays with my family and my parents I have 
tried to sneak off to the coffee shop to at least read some of my mails every 
couple of days. I will be travelling back home tomorrow and arrive late 
Saturday evening so expect some answers to the thousands of emails I have 
missed until now. Many of the basic questions have now been answered and we 
can begin to move forward in earnest - remember though, we are not going to 
change the theme for Hardy radically as it is the last of the LTS cycle 
(stated in previous mails, launchpad blueprints, irc, etc). Anyway, more 
later...

--
Ken

On Saturday 29 December 2007 00:03:04 Andrew Laignel wrote:
> I've been subscribed to this list for a few months now, and have been
> slightly disappointed at how things are progressing.  I have seen quite
> a lot of good ideas go by, with people saying 'yes, I like that' and
> then it disappears into history and someone else posts something and it
> all starts again.  There seems to be a mockup->post->dissappear cycle.
>
> I think it's the result of their being no actual official input, and no
> officially managed archive of contributions.  There is the wiki, but
> each entry could be anything from a photograph of a sketch to a complete
> mockup.  It's also hard to know when anything new has been added without
> checking each link individually each day.
>
> At this point I think what is really needed is an official voice to have
> a look at all the contributions, group all the viable ideas in one place
> and then say why each idea is good/bad and what the official opinion on
> it 'making it' as the default theme is.  It would provide an excellent
> reference point on whats already been done, and what is being looked for
> in an official theme.
>
> I like to think I am fairly good at design but I have no idea if my
> current mockup is anything like anything that could be official.  I
> cannot work on problems and refine it to meet the specifications if I
> have no idea what they are and I see this symptom in quite a lot of
> posts - the designer simply stops due to a lack of direction.
>
> I do not think it would take much to refine the wiki slightly with the
> current potential candidates and run them past Mark, or at least someone
> official so they can say a bit about each one and what is
> liked/disliked.  At the least it would spur people on to improve on
> things and respond to the comments.
>
> One of the most important parts of a design brief in my opinion is a:
> the brief, and b: liasing with the clients at various stages to make
> sure things are going the way they like.  We just seem to be missing
> both of these and seem to be just spinning our wheels. There is a lot of
> talent on this list and the wiki, and its a shame to see it
> under-utilised. :(