<GSoC’22 @GNOME = “My open-source quest”/>
I am Pooja Patel, a UX designer, and developer. I have recently graduated with a degree in Computer Engineering. I was fascinated by the fact that design and technology when amalgamated can create a huge impact on our lives. This served as the impetus for me to start my quest to humanize technology.
How and why GNOME?
In my college, every PC had Linux on it. I had always heard that Linux was much more challenging to use than Windows but I was surprised by its intuitive UI. My first experience with Linux turned out to be much better than I had anticipated. The clean and minimalistic UI complemented by the stunning visuals allured me. On researching further I found that the user interface was created by an open-source organization called GNOME. This meant that anyone could contribute to their projects. This excited me and I dug deeper, looking at their projects and trying to find a project that I could contribute to.
I came across a project that was worked on by Clarissa Lima Borges in GSoC 2020 called “GNOME Websites Framework”. The project aimed at creating a UI library for the GNOME Website ecosystem to develop visually consistent websites and reduce the development time for creating new websites. Going through her work further drove my interest in bringing the project to fruition.
I started contributing to a few small issues and started going through the codebase and interacting with the community. The project mentors Claudio Wunder and Caroline Henriksen and the overall community was super welcoming. Their help and insights helped me devise better solutions to issues. Soon, I learned that the project was a part of GSoC-2022.
I had heard about GSoC from one of my peers who had participated in GSoC earlier. The idea of working on a project for three months while interacting with one of the most talented and vibrant open-source communities sweetened the deal. For the next month, I focused on contributing to several issues, interacting with the community, and drafting my proposal on how I would like to take the project forward.
So let’s dive into the what, why, and how of the project
What?
My project “GNOME HIG CSS Library” formerly known as “GNOME Websites Framework” has evolved since the release of GNOME 40. The goal of the project is to create a CSS library for various GNOME websites, i.e evaluating, designing, developing, testing, and documenting elements and components such as buttons, paragraphs, links, and headers, following the revised GNOME Human Interface and Visual Identity Guidelines(HIG) Evaluation.
Why?
Currently, GNOME has several websites under its umbrella. It is vital to ensure homogeneity and consistency in the design of these websites to improve the overall experience of users, visitors, and contributors. The project would allow developers to update existing GNOME websites or create new ones with a congruent visual identity. In addition, the project will facilitate the creation of a flexible interface that is both usable and inclusive to drive user success.
How?
The project has an exhaustive three-step workflow:
- Inventory/Evaluation Phase: Variations in individual elements and composite components from each website are recorded to ensure all alternates are captured.
- Iterative Design/Mockup: Mockups are created for each evaluated component considering all the possible variations encountered during evaluation. The mockups will be subsequently iterated upon after review and deliberation with the Design Team and other project stakeholders.
- Development and Testing Phase: The final approved mockup will be implemented in TailwindCSS. The element/component will be documented and tested. Once the implementation is approved and all tests pass the element/component will be incorporated into the framework.
The library will be built primarily on the foundations of TailwindCSS, a utility-first CSS framework for rapidly building custom user interfaces. Its quick prototyping process and flexibility while designing a website have made it one of the most popular CSS frameworks on the market in less than two years. This will enable developers to rapidly create new websites or update existing ones efficiently and with lots of flexibility.
GSoC starts with the community bonding period. This is a 2–3 week phase where I interacted and communicated with various people from the design team to know more about their work and their thoughts about how we could make this project a success. In my upcoming blogs, I will discuss my work in the coding phase in detail. I would like to thank my mentors who have been a constant support and believed in my capabilities and the work I perform.
GSoC for Designers?
There is a notion that only developers can participate in GSoC. This is absolutely not true. Anyone interested in UI/UX or interface design can with a little knowledge of development can contribute to open-source projects.
The determining factor for getting into GSoC!
Willingness and Dedication. These are the two determining factors required to crack GSoC. Yes, it sounds really generic, however, this is golden advice. Interact with the community, share your ideas, go through the codebase, volunteer for bug fixes, and work diligently and consistently on issues!
GSoC and contributing, in general, might seem daunting at first but it really isn’t. Reach out to me for any help or suggestions by email at pooja724patel@gmail.com
This was my first blog for my GSoC series. Please comment and leave a clap if you liked the article. Thank you soo much for giving it a read, have an amazing day!!
