GNOME’s Allan Day has announced the launch of a new development project aimed at fixing ‘the small bugs [in GNOME] that ..undermine the overall experience.’
The initiative sounds similar in purpose to Ubuntu’s successful ’100 papercuts project’ which ran the course of several development cycles.
As with ’100 Papercuts’, GNOME’s ‘Every Detail Matters’ will provide a way for new developers to easily contribute to the ‘fixing’ process.
“Every bug featured in the initiative is something that will make a real, noticeable difference.” writes Day in his blog post announcing the project.
“Furthermore, you can be assured that support will be on hand, whether it is through patch reviews or design advice.”
‘Every Detail Matters’ will be split into various ’rounds’. The first round, which will focus on bugs in GNOME Shell’s ‘Activities Overview’, runs from December 1st through March 19th 2012.
Amongst the 35 bugs already listed for fixing in the round are those affecting: –
- Workspace Switcher
- Window Picker
- The GNOME Dash
- Keyboard navigation of windows in Overview
Potential
The potential for ‘Every Detail Matters’ to iron out the kinks in the GNOME desktop is huge.
GNOME Shell, much like Unity, has its fair share of critics. ‘Every Detail Matters’ will give those critics the chance to get involved in addressing their concerns; the proverbial chance to ‘put up or shut up’.
The exercise should also provide eager new developers who are keen to begin contributing to open-source with a structured, worthwhile and rewarding experience.
For more information on ‘Every Detail Matters’, including links to details on how to get involved, see the GNOME Wiki page @ live.gnome.org/EveryDetailMatters
