Screenlets.org online

[RYX]

Hi everyone!

I am happy to announce that the new screenlets-website (http://screenlets.org) is finally online. I thought it'd be a good start to have a wiki-based site which can be extended by a forum or other sections later. Everyone is invited to add his/her own screenshots showing his/her screenlets-powered desktop. Also feel free to add things to the FAQ as you please. All other pages are protected for now.

Screenlet developers [especially looking at whise :)] can now add their screenlets to the user-repository. They can't upload it yet, but they can create a nice info-page with low effort (and I beg you all to do so and keep it updated). If you want to have your screenlets hosted on screenlets.org, contact me via PM and I can upload them for you (please only if they are stable enough).

As a sitenotice I'd like to add that the screenlets-code finally "found its new trunk" at launchpad. Currently only the development-version is available there, but throughout the next few weeks I'll try to get some sort of development timeline and blueprints up ... Maybe the more active developers can get their own branches where they work on their own screenlets and we can merge them into the main branch for a release. There are some awesome things we can do (I am still getting used to bazaar, but it seems very powerful).

(NOTE: Please do NOT post bugs on launchpad yet!!!!!!!!!)

:)

[delfick]

cool :D

one problem though http://delfick.storage.googlepages.com/screenletsWebsite.png

EDIT :: now it works :D

nice site, thnx RYX :D

[whise]

nice site , however i think you should make it more simple to post 3rd party screenlets , seams kinda confusing , thats just my 2 cents :)

[jamesey]

great site. I can't wait until "business" is "booming"

[plun]

Really nice :D

[RYX]

nice site , however i think you should make it more simple to post 3rd party screenlets , seams kinda confusing , thats just my 2 cents :)
Can it be more simple than entering the name in a box and hitting enter? :)

No, seriously - what do you think is confusing? You mean the wiki code? It is a first solution, maybe I'll write a small special page that allows uploading and submitting in one go. First contact with a wiki feels a bit "alien" ... but it's extremely easy (just read some small tutorial on wiki code first) :D

(Thanks everyone :))

[Forlong]

Great. Well done.

Is it possible to change the situation with www.screenlets.org? That's pretty confusing.

[RYX]

Thank you. And thank you for noting that issue. I'll try to contact the server owner so he can correct the redirection of the www subdomain ... This may take a day or two, but I'll try to solve this.

:)

[plun]

First contact with a wiki feels a bit "alien" ... but it's extremely easy (just read some small tutorial on wiki code first) :D



Well...... http://tinymce.moxiecode.com/ :p "WYSIWYG".....;) :o

http://drupal.org/project/tinymce

:)

[RYX]

All those browser-based WYSIWYG-editors are nice, though I find them kinda slow. But I will try to find the piece of CSS I removed that caused the original editor in the wiki to disappear (I reduced the size of the CSS by about 70%, the editor somehow got lost in that :)).

I originally wanted to use drupal, but it would have taken much longer because I never used it before. I was kinda familiar with the wiki, that's why I chose it (also the idea of a wiki just fits best into an open-source project). The design/layout/icons took me two days and the content took another one ... with a CMS I would have still been on the look for suitable modules.

(Wiki-code is like the "wedding" of programming and webdesign ... especially the Template-system in mediawiki is pretty cool and fun to use once you understand that it is just like a big function-call ... )

[plun]

.

(Wiki-code is like the "wedding" of programming and webdesign ... especially the Template-system in mediawiki is pretty cool and fun to use once you understand that it is just like a big function-call ... )

I just took drupal as one example how to integrate TinyMCE.

In my mind I have no difference between CMS and wiki, "wiki" is just a name...but I know a lot of users which disagree... :cool:

:)

[RYX]

That's true. A wiki is just a kind of "open" CMS where anyone is inivited to contribute. It doesn't have such a "stay away if I don't know you"-attitude like other CMSes :D ...

[whise]

sorry to say but the site is not really very functional , it should go more in the same line as widgit sites , showing screenlet pictures in the main screenlet download along with their name , that way i wont have to click in the screenlet to see its preview , and also separating them by category , one other thing it should also link to this forum

[RYX]

Yes I know, but it currently just works around the limitations of the wiki ... I don't really like the way the category-pages look either :)

I want to create some better category-overview and a more comfortable upload page, but it still needs some time and thinking. If you have an idea, let me know ... :D

[nomego]

It feels like I'm the only one posting screenlets to screenlets.org? ;(

[nomego]

I have created updated version of my screenlets at screenlets.org.

Is there a way to see recent changes on that site?

So people know that new versions have been released?

[RYX]

Thank you :) ... The only way to see recent changes is the "last modified" note at the bottom of the page yet.

I am still trying to find out where I can download Remora from mozilla (it is the software they use for their extensions-repo). I'd like to use it for the third-party screenlets because it seems to be exactly what we need. If someone has a link, please let me know ...

[rememo]

Hi,

hope this helps:

svn co http://svn.mozilla.org/addons/trunk/ /opt/yourpath


Found it here: http://wiki.mozilla.org/Update:Remora_Server_Requirements , seems like there are also some installation instructions in there. However I don't know anything about all this webstuff ;)

[RYX]

Thanks, that's what I looked for :) ... Pretty difficult to find, maybe that's why not many projects use it yet.

[RYX]

I had a look at it and tried it on my localhost. I think I know why not many projects use it, it is extremely hardcoded/branded for mozilla and really looks like they not intend to ease its distribution (yet?). Also it is not really lightweight, it is a very huge system with hundreds of files ... Shortly said it is exactly what you see when you visit addons.mozilla.org - including all data, menus, images, ...

[davim]

why aren't all screenlets posted here -> http://hendrik.kaju.pri.ee/screenlets/ also in screenlets.org???

And what about https://blueprints.launchpad.net/screenlets/ ?? it looks like it isn't being used :( no blueprints, no bugs.... it should be advertised on screenlets.org

[whise]

personally i would much radder have something like http://gnome-look.org/ as a template for this then a wiki , but i authorize people to post my screenlets there as long as you clearly state that i am the author

[RYX]

Only to mention, gnome-look is something I had in mind, too ... But it is quite some effort to create such a platform and all existing software I tried wasn't much satisfying.

I thought about creating my own application for creating project-communities - a system that allows users to register, post extensions and discuss those extensions (somewhat similar to Remora from mozilla, but much more lightweight and less "moz-branded"). I think there is a major need for such an application, especially since any tiny OSS-project gets its own extension-database ...

But it is quite some work. Even when using a RAD-framework like cake or symforge it will take some months to have a usable and bug-free system (except I win in the lottery, then I'm ready in a week or two :D) ...

:)

[teolemon]

I've discussed about Remora with Pascal Chevrel. The Mozilla guys are very busy, and it seems they had a hard time coding it. It's heavily hacked and hardcoded for performance reasons.
They're pondering atm which path they should take to translate the descriptions of their extensions (the current systems stores everything in a database, as opposed to po files) as the process is currently cumbersome.
Their idea would be to include all the informations in the extensions directly, and enable the web app to extract things to display (I'm unsure whether the translations should be stored in the extension itself or in the webapp, but the nice solution would be to store it in the extension, import it to the system, and then enable translations within the system with an export mechanism for the extensions devs , so that they can merge the translations back)

Basically, Pascal said that given the current situation, Mozilla hadn't enough resources to extend Remora to the same universality that Bugzilla has for instance.

However, Openoffice.org is reusing Remora for its Extension system , so we might see some improvements.


So I was wondering whether we could start an openextensions.org project that would first do a study of the existing webapps, list interested projects (eg: Mozilla, OpenOffice.org, The Gimp, Pidgin/Gaim, Adium, Screenlets,GNOME...), would make blueprints, and then implement them , reusing whenever possible existing code.

The idea would be to federate all developers from various projects using extensions to create a common base, plus customized branches for their needs.

[teolemon]

Now a page in the Wiki
http://screenlets.org/index.php/ExtensionsMarketplace
Feel free to expand it.

[RYX]

I like the idea and I had a similar thought (I even had the same domain-name in mind :D) ... And you're right, there is an essential need for a better way of managing, collecting and maybe even sharing plugins and extensions among OSS projects.

I think, if done right it could become a very important and widely-used platform for the whole open-source world. But it would need to be well structured and designed, the current look and layout of Remora is not as user-friendly as it should be. Also we would need to invite and involve as much projects as possible, right from the start. It would be great to create such a platform as a united effort between a lot of different open-source projects and communities and create it to fit everyone's needs.

I am quite used to CakePHP (which is the base of Remora) and web-developpment in general, so I think I could give a hand at organizing and realizing such a platform. We just need to clearly describe and plan how it should be designed and what it should offer.

:)

[TheShadowZero]

am i the only one for whom screenlets.org just doesnt work?

[teolemon]

@TheShadowZero: It seems to work here.Try to clean your cache and make sure there's no problem with your modem (I had similar problems on some sites with my Fon router)

@RYX:Have you managed to make it actually work ? Was the database already filled ?
We may try to set up Remora to match our needs, then improve it step by step (by removing hacks, branding...) and send the patches upstream (I've got the names of the devs working on this)

[RYX]

It looks like a mirror of the mozilla extensions repo - with all content if I remember correctly. I'll have a look at the code again, I am not entirely sure whether it is easier to write something from scratch or to clean up and unbrand Remora ...

[teolemon]

I've received an answer from The Gimp Registry dev:

Hi Pierre,

the registry source code is not publicly available. Frankly, it is so
old and crufty, you wouldn't want to use it.

However, I have recently undertaken an experiment to redo the registry
based on Drupals Content Construction Kit and Views, see here
http://registry.gimp.org:81/
It was really easy to do and required no custom code at all. I would
recommend that kind of approach for any future sites like it.

[teolemon]

I got the names of the Remora guys:
Wil Clouser and Mike Morgan for Remora
Seth Bindernagel for all the Community-based initiative. (If we decide to create a community to improve Remora)