[Qgis-psc] Proposal to do initiate a dev project for each QGIS release

[Nyall Dawson]

On 30 June 2015 at 17:44, Andreas Neumann <a.neumann at carto.net> wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I would like to propose that PSC initiates a small project for each future
> QGIS release, in addition to our bug fixing initiative.
>
> I would propose projects that are important to QGIS or our infrastructure,
> but are not easy to "sell" for organizations who typically pay for feature
> development.

Great idea! Can I make a suggestion too? I think QGIS should fund a UX
expert to review our software, and come up with ideas for large UX
improvements in future versions. Here's my rationale:

- while open source projects attract a lot of developer attention,
there's almost NO usability experts who donate their time to open
source. Developers aren't experts in this field... some of us may be
OK at designing dialogs, but a lot of time we'll just throw options
and widgets anywhere that's easy and move on. Given that we've seen no
interest from professional usability experts so far, I think it's
something we'll have to fund as a project.

- Our competitors are moving ahead with non-traditional interfaces,
such as ribbon interfaces. I'd hate for us to be left behind on this
front. (I'm not convinced that ribbons are the way forward, but
exploring non-traditional interfaces should be something we start to
explore now and plan ahead for...)

- for a time GIMP had a team of usability experts reviewing and
creating mockups for interface and tool improvements. This made a HUGE
difference to the polish and usability of GIMP. (Unfortunately it
appears that the partnership is over now, but that's another reason
why I think we'll need to fund something like this rather than rely on
volunteers).

- it's not something that a 3rd party is likely to sponsor

Nyall