Guidelines draft: Apps and launchers

[Elad Alfassa]

On Tue, Aug 19, 2014 at 11:21 PM, Josh Boyer <jwboyer at fedoraproject.org>
wrote:

> On Tue, Aug 19, 2014 at 3:51 PM, Elad Alfassa <elad at fedoraproject.org>
> wrote:
>
 <snip>

> > As always in policies, mandatory items are marked with the words "must"
> and
> > "must not", the rest is nice-to-have.
> >
> > App launchers in Fedora workstation *must*:
>
> This doesn't really seem specific to Workstation.  We should aim for
> distro-wide first, so other products have a similar look and feel.  If
> they need to deviate, they can do so later.
>

I do have other product specific things here.
This policy is written with two facts in mind:
1) Fedora's default desktop offering is Fedora Workstation.
2) Fedora Workstation uses GNOME by default.

As such, if the WG would decide to switch desktops, this policy will need
to be re-evaluated.
Furthermore, this policy does not aim to apply to all applications in the
distribution. It's meant to apply to anything we include by default in our
default desktop product.
If other applications want to follow it it'd be great, because it will
improve user experience, but I can't force them to.


>
> >  * Have a unique 64x64 launcher icon (the same icon MUST NOT be used for
> one
> > default launcher).
>
> I don't understand the "default launcher" follow on, nor why it isn't
> it's own bullet.
>

It's a typo.
The same icon must not be used for more than one application launcher that
is installed by default.
We can't enforce non-default apps to have unique icons. This is there
because it's clarifying on the word unique.

<snip>

> >  * Installable and removable independently from within GNOME Software,
> > unless part of the "core applications" set, in which case they must NOT
> be
> > removable.
>
> This last bullet seems product specific.  That might be an addendum
> per-product, since the "core applications" are going to likely vary.
>

Same comment as I said before. If other products or spins want to base on
this policy, they can copy it and make the changes they need.


>
> > Default apps in Fedora Workstation *should*:
> >  * Have appdata metadata (soon to be turned into a must).
> >  * Have a good reason for being included in the default set, especially
> if
> > not considered part of the core desktop experience by the GNOME upstream.
>
> Uh, I kind of object to this bullet.  This is a Fedora policy/product,
> not a GNOME one.  If Fedora sees a non-GNOME application as part of
> the core desktop experience, it shouldn't have to justify it based on
> what upstream GNOME thinks.
>

If we install it by default and GNOME thinks it's core then having it
removable would hurt our user experience. We can't have users removing
Software itself, for example.

>
> >  * Start in under than 10 seconds (on modern hardware).
>
> That seems difficult to enforce/police.  What happens if an app meets
> everything else but then fails to do this?  Do we then yank it out?
> Who's going to sit there with a stopwatch and time every app?  I
> realize this is a should, but it seems unnecessary.
>

It's a "should" item. It will make UX better. It's not something you can
enforce, and therefor it's not in the must column.
It's included because it's something many people don't pay much attention
to, and if an app takes a long time to start (that is, show any UI, in case
of libreoffice or similar big apps, a splash screen is fine) we should
consider removing it from the default set or at least prioritize fixing it.

-- 
-Elad Alfassa.
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