[Lumiera] Interesting Video: "Why Linux Desktop Linux Sucks"

[Tim M]

Joel,

Going back to the previous topic of spec docs for the Lumiera gui, I
do think that the previous articles you linked to show the need for a
solid roadmap and specifications for the application GUI and front end
features.  I'd be happy to do the write-up for it, in collaboration
with you and the other developers and to take the public input for the
gui and help sift through the good and bad ideas and integrate them
into the overall gui specifications.

I have to agree with the speaker in this video that although there are
several different editing apps for linux, none of them are up to snuff
for professional (or even hobbyist) editing work, so I'd personally
like to see something that can fulfill that need.  I think (or at
least hope) that Lumiera has potential to achieve this, but it is hard
to tell without clearly defined design specs for the gui.

I think the ideal would be to have a set of wiki pages which act as
the specifications document which start with the big picture and drill
down into individual components.  The structure would look something
like this:

Overall GUI --> Menu Options --> Individual Panels --> Panel
Components (icons, menus, etc) --> Individual Component Features (if
separate page is called for)

...with interlinked pages showing relationships between different
features and components.  As new features enter the planning stage, we
could simply add new pages in the relevant location for the new
feature, allowing the spec document to be an easily modified, growing,
'living' document.  It should be open to anyone for reading, but
closed for editing to only certain individuals in order to avoid the
"too many hands in the pot" issue.

Another option would be to use a single document or set of documents
containing the specifications which could be exported as a PDF or
similar document.

If you're open to havnig a spec doc, I'd be happy to start work on it
as soon as we have some sort of framework in place for it.  Cehteh
mentioned something about using asciidoc but I haven't looked into
that yet to see if it would fit the needs for a GUI spec doc, since
the use of graphical elements will be critical to making the document
as useful as possible and simple text might not suffice.

It would also be useful to include specifications for proper time code
behaviour, supported project formats and resolutions, and other
important items which aren't necessarily features specific to the GUI
itself but will need to be specified at some point because they have
an important impact on the final product.

-Tim