Re: [libreoffice-design] Requirements for extension site

On 10/13/18 7:52 AM, Heiko Tietze wrote:

> these insights we created a new document for a new hosting platform. The
> document is shared on
> https://nextcloud.documentfoundation.org/s/E5RX5xK6jxQPLdK and open for
> discussion.

Responding here, cause it is easier for me.
(Not sure why the site let me download it once, without logging in, but
when I tried to downloading it from my main system, it insisted on a
password. And of course I failed the ReCapcha.)

(For starters, why on earth is everything "default style"?  All markup
done manually‽‽‽ )

> If an extension is broken would be reported by users not the author.

Some authors are pro-active, in determining if their extension is broken
in a new version of LibO.

There are also edge cases where an extension may run:
* Only on one platform; Eg: Windows, but not Linux or Mac OS X. Android,
but not Linux, Windows, or Mac OS X, etc.
* Only with a specific language User Interface.  IIRC, JILT is an example;
* RUn only when another extension is also installed.  By way of example,
CMath requires CMathCAS to be installed.

> Most of those are already in the metadata of an extension.

Neither the current collected set of meta data, nor the set proposed
within the document include every datapoint from Dublin Core, nor of its
successor. If metadata is to be provided, at least do Dublin Core, if
not its successor.

> homepage. Is this really needed?

Yes.
It isn't uncommon for developer/creator to use something other than
their email address for:
* providing alpha/beta versions of extensions/templates;
* feedback mechanism, be it a mailing list, or bugzilla or something else;
* Additional documentation;

For when the extension, or template appears to be abandoned, the
homepage as oft as not:
* states that the extension is no longer being developed, maintained, or
supported;
* has switched to commercial distribution and support only;
* However, there is at least one vendor who declaims all knowledge of a
LibO extension for their product;

> Categories: Would strongly recommend to change this into single
selection of category (dictionary, clipart, color palette...) with
single selection and scope (Writer, Calc..) with multi selection.

In essence I agree.
There are a couple of corner cases, but they can be solved as they come
up. Off hand, the only three examples I can think of, are an Accounting
package, and a Project Management Package, both of which utilise Base,
Calc, and Write, and a Business Startup package, which either utilises
Calc, Impress, and Write, or just Impress and Calc.

No extension may have more than one top level category.
Do templates delivered as an extension belong under "extension" or
"template"? Examples can be found at
http://sourceforge.net/projects/ooop/files/Extension/2.4.0.4/ .

I've seen reference to a corporate house style that appear to include
colour palettes, dictionaries, fonts, and templates for Write, Calc,
Impress, Draw, Math, and Base. If anything along those lines escapes
from their corporate guard, simply make "House Style" a top level category.

> Logo:
As a user, I like seeing the logo, because it makes it more apparent if
I found the extensions/template I want.
By way of example, there are two extensions that assist with Greek
characters _Ancient Greek_ and Polytonic Greek_.  In a pinch, they sort
of overlap, but for writing in Biblical Greek, the former is slightly
more functional. Telling a Bible Study class that they want the
extension with a red logo makes it far more likely that everybody in the
class will get the "correct" extension.
On the flipside, both Simplified Chinese Punctuation bar, and
Traditional Chinese punctuation bar use the same logo.   Really hard to
differentiate between the two, by logo alone.
Furthermore, as oft as note, taht logo is the identifier on whichever
toolbar it places itself upon.

> Extension most certainly contain a description of themselves.

They do, but as oft as not, that description is inadequate. By way of
example:
* Which versions of GedCom does the GedCom Import extension support?
* Which playback devices does the Transcriber extension support?
* Which Braille printers does ODT2Braille support? (Ignoring that that
extension appears to be abandoned.)

> If the release would be a property of the project we could remove a lot
of needed interactions.

At the expense of requiring yet more volunteers, and cash, perhaps
setting up extensions.git.libreoffice.org that is used exclusively to
create extensions, templates, palettes, fonts, clip-art, etc. that is
used by LibO should be done. This way, if the item has the appropriate
license, a LibO volunteer could take over maintaining the item.  Umm,
maybe not extensions, per se, but certainly templates, sound-effects,
and all the other things that are deliverable as .oxt files.
Either a bot, or an individual could walk through each project, flagging
it for missing items ---- license.md, readme.md, metadata.md, etc.

> Publishing Data, Expiration Date, Why?

Publishing date can give one an idea of which version of LibO it should
work with. Expiration date, is because sometimes an external API that
the extension relies, closes, with an announcement made months, or even
years before. I'd give an example, but thanks to the miracle of
simultaneous hard drive failure, I can't. (In backing up my hard drive,
both drives simultaneously failed, thereby losing all of the extensions,
and notes I have on them, for roughly the past decade. (Four TB flew
into the digital aether. ) A similar thing happened when I previously
tried, and failed to back up a storage drive. That time I lost my notes
from circa 2001 through circa 2010.)

> Categorization: Language: single, multi. Why should the release differ
from the project.

After I've drawn a mockup, and written dummy code that demonstrates how
it works, I'll submit an RFE to redesign/redo the entire language
selection. Rounding, there are 1.07E+010 possible combinations.
First step is to make it easy to jump from any combination to any other
combination, in three or less hops, whilst providing no more than 7
choices per hop.

Anyway, getting back to the topic, there are templates for languages
that are not found in any of the ISO 639 # lists, that use writing
systems not found in any variant of ISO 15924 # lists.  If those were to
be uploaded to the template, or extension side of things, they would, by
necessity, different from the project.

> Totally unclear to me. Add new > "Extension linked release" and
"Extension release".

This gets back to Extension s designed for use with specific templates.
If you don't have the template, the extension won't work, and if you
don't have the extension, the template won't work.  There are two or
three combinations in either the LibO or AOo repository. (The
aforementioned Accounting, Project Management, and Business Startup
packages could be squeezed into this group, as an example, but they are
a slightly different case.)

> publish, re-release, and hide releases

This is when there is an issue with something within the item, that can
probably be easily remedied. By way of example, a DMCA take down notice.

> Adrian wants to cut, copy/paste, delete and rename a release. Don't
understand this feature. Is it about the additional info?

This mainly has to do with forks, but can occasionally be due to
internal mis-naming.

Also, sometimes as in my _Graphology Templates 0.6_ release, I had half
a dozen individual templates, as well as one very big template. Being
able to cut/paste/rename can be useful. However, this type of thing is
probably better done on a development site, rather than the distribution
point.

####

My main rant is for extensions that neither identify themselves once
installed, nor provide any clues as to what functionality they bring to
the table.

For some extensions, once installed, there is nothing to tell what they
are supposed to do, unless one plays with them.
My pet peeve is extensions that create their own toolbar, and call it
_Add-On 2_ (Anaphraseus is one culprit. This gets into design flaws made
by extension creators.)




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