[Qgis-developer] ideas for developpers

[Borys Jurgiel]

Tim:
> After 1.0 goes out we will hold such a brainstorm and plan the vision
> for generation 2.0 of QGIS and how we can adapt it to make it more
> than a GIS viewer but rather a GIS with analytical capabilities. The
> original idea for 1.0 was originally to buld a competent data browser.

Yes, I know, but these analytical capabilities may be provided also in 1.0 by 
plugins, and next gradually moved into the core. For me, python scripting is 
nice introduction to Qt and QGis api, so I don't think it's a double effort.

Tim:
> I prefer to move away from column style UI which I think is not so
> friendly. To me it would be better to expand the detailed item
> delegate I wrote for the C++ plugin manager to include a place next
> to each plugin title to indicate if new versions are available. When
> QGIS starts we should check background thread when qgis starts go off
> and see if new plugins are available and give the user a 'soft
> notification' (like an indicator on the status bar that when clicked
> will open the manager and download updates).

Martin:
> Right, approach without columns looks to be more user friendly, a good
> example is firefox plugin manager...
> Though I'm not sure if we're able to put all these enhancements to
> trunk until feature freeze.

We can move the upgrade notifications to the Manager, but I think the 
Installer should remain as a separate (though much more connected) window. 
There are more and more repositories around;) and user should be able to 
manage them. Also I can switch the Installer to such list view as the Manager 
has and try to rewrite it in C++, but first I want to implement all the 
features planned before. It's almost finished now and should be completed 
until the freeze.  

There is one reason to leave notifications in the Installer - ability to 
freely enable/disable monitored repositories. Otherwise the Manager should 
have quite expanded settings tab. I don't know... But if you're implementing 
the notifications in the Manager, let me know to remove them from the 
Installer! :)

Good night,
B.