Idea: To have oversight of (or at least be made aware of) highly visible projects.

[Matthew Paul Thomas]

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Hello H S

H S wrote on 23/06/09 18:26:
> 
> I posted this to the Ayatana Team list (ayatana at lists.launchpad.net),
> but they suggested it was better suited to you.  You can see the
> original at https://lists.launchpad.net/ayatana/msg00395.html
> 
> "The second task is developing the desktop to improve the user
> experience, both by improving the usability of our existing desktop
> and developing innovating new interface concepts." --
> https://wiki.ubuntu.com/DesktopTeam
> 
> Shouldn't that mean that the Desktop Experience Team should have some
> oversight, or at least, be made aware of, certain highly visible
> projects?

You are, quite understandably, confusing three different teams:

*   the Ubuntu Desktop team
    <https://launchpad.net/~ubuntu-desktop>

*   the Canonical Desktop Experience Team
    <https://launchpad.net/~canonical-ux>

*   the Canonical Design Team
    <https://launchpad.net/~canonical-dx-team>.

(Probably the best way to resolve this confusion is to rename the
Desktop Experience team, but no-one has yet come up with a good name for
them.;-)

> For example, the slideshow that will show during the Ubiquity install
> for Karmic
> (https://launchpad.net/distros/ubuntu/+spec/ubiquity-slideshow) will
> be the first impression that many new users will have of Ubuntu.
> Shouldn't the Desktop Experience Team at least keep an eye on - and
> at most, lend some design and communication skills and polish to -
> this project?

That's more of a job for the Design team. :-)

>                If left to their own devices, I'm afraid the project
> will only produce a very 'rinky-dink', amateurish outcome that will
> not leave a good first impression.

That's a reasonable concern; the current design looks rather awkward.
The Design team is aware of this, but we haven't had time to get
involved so far.

> I've already tried to lend my design opinions at
> https://lists.launchpad.net/ubiquity-slideshow/maillist.html, but to
> little or no avail. :-(

Some quick feedback:

Your mockups look like definite improvements over the current layout,
well done.

I suggest having *one* illustration per slide, and making that
illustration look non-rectangular (i.e. have a largely transparent
background). Three small rectangular pictures makes it look like a game
show.

Since the slide show flips from slide to slide automatically, and since
you're *installing an operating system* and likely to be concerned about
disrupting that process, making the slideshow interactive at all is
probably inappropriate.

> I could suggest other projects as well, but I'm curious what people
> think. Shouldn't The Desktop Experience Team have some level of
> participation in highly visible (to the end-user) projects, so that
> good, consistent, well-designed 'look and feel' is persistent
> throughout the Ubuntu experience?

Like every other team involved with Ubuntu, the Design team has limited
time. So part of our challenge will be to help other Ubuntu contributors
learn design processes and principles to use themselves.

Thanks for helping out!

Cheers
- --
Matthew Paul Thomas
http://mpt.net.nz/
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