If you are interested in a 3-in-1 plugin Concept UI/UX Design Only ... (date'N'time_weather_calendar_plugin) !

[aiamuzz]

@CareF ...

as you already know ... the option to create plugins for the dde-dock is available for all ... and as Deepin Desktop Environments community and user base grows ... more and more plugins will be developed by many ... but unlike apps ... plugins have a very limited space for use, unlike apps(which can be installed endlessly) ... while the apps are visible and usable from the launcher ... the plugins are accessible ONLY if they are enabled ... you can install many, but you can enable only as many as the space on the dock ... and those numbers are definitely in single digits ...

I believe with for 3 out-of-the-box plugins (shutdown, date, and onboard) on the dock ... there may be space for only an additional 3 more at the most ... that is if you want the dock to look like a dock and not a panel spreading end to end of the screen with more plugins.

Having established above, that there is very limited real estate(space on the dock) available for dde plugins ... i have been working on a new UI/UX(design only) for a new plugin all together since a few days ... sharing it with you now through this commit

date'N'time_weather_calendar_plugin Concept UI/UX Design

In this concept you can see that i have tried to accommodate 3(Weather, Time'N'Date & Calendar) plugins in a single one ...

Please find the concept UI/UX design in this commit for viewing ... note that i am raising this commit only to discuss and share this 3-in-1 plugin concept/idea with you ... to see if you are interested in collaborating with me to develop it in your free time ...

The intention behind this idea/concept is to be the top plugin for DDE hence the functionality of 3 plugins in 1 ...

This is the UI/UX design of the said concept ...

This is the size comparison of the menu to the current weather plugin menu ...

Analog Clock for the Time Plugin

Please find ready-to-use analog clock items(images) in the UI_UX concept forlder of this commit branch ... You can find design elements for the analog dial , minute and hour hands required to program a fully functional analog clock plugin out of them.

Let me know if you will be willing to collaborate with me in developing this Concept / Idea ... **I can provide complete design support required for this project !!! **

there is no hurry ... i know you are a student ... i am ok with you working in your spare time between studies ... and i could work in my spare time between my work schedule ...

Cheers.

[aiamuzz]

the UX/features will be as follows ...

• It will have the ability to add a maximum of 4 places for the time and weather information.
• the plugins default menu will display weather information only for 1 place ... the other 3 places will sit at the bottom as analog clock icons displaying their respective times zones.
• clicking on any of the clock icons at the bottom will replace the weather info of the current place in the center of the menu.
• this way we can switch between the 4 added places to view the details about their time and weather information.
  ;
  ;
  ;
  ;
• further you can see a calendar icon on the top left corner.
• clicking on this will take you to a calendar menu.
• here one can view the calendar back and forth to the required month
• there is a weather icon(analog clock) on the top left corner to go back to the default weather'N'time menu.

for now ... have thought of so many options to start with ...

[CareF]

This is very interesting!

The first thing I have to say is, I was doing this because it was winter break. Doing this on my spare time will mean that it really cannot be hurry, in terms of months. If you think that's too slow, feel free to tell me and turn to other developers.
At the same time, as I said before, the original developer (sonichy) didn't program the software in a way that I prefer. I need to do some adjustment before adding any further features, so that the code will be under better control in terms of software engineering.

If you still would like to contribute, here's something I think we can start with:

1. Do you have any idea how this should look like under "efficient mode"?
2. Honestly I don't have any experience to work UX designers, so I for now don't know exactly what I will need. Let me know if you have any previous experience working with other developers and know what's the typical work flow.
3. The popup bubble applet style (color, round corner, etc) is provided by deepin, which I don't think I should change, but what's in it I believe is achievable. They are typically arranged in table-like grid layout. So it will be very helpful if I know positions and column/row sizes.
4. Do you have any experience with css? This is how Qt define the style. If you have previous experience http://doc.qt.io/qt-5/stylesheet-reference.html#list-of-property-types mybe helpful. Otherwise, just ignore it for now. I would assume it's mostly needed for font and background of those parts.

[CareF]

I just found that deepin updated the API of plugins: linuxdeepin/dde-dock@7a5501e published today.
For now, I believe dock plugin is still an experimental feature and deepin seems not planning to make it upward compatible. So what you may see is you lost all plugins that's not updated.

I am using a Linux distribution with very aggressive update strategy. Not sure if the update has been pushed to deepin's distribution.

[aiamuzz]

This is very interesting!

thanks glad you see potential ...

The first thing I have to say is, I was doing this because it was winter break. Doing this on my spare time will mean that it really cannot be hurry, in terms of months. If you think that's too slow, feel free to tell me and turn to other developers.

I am in no hurry ... NP at all ... in fact if you are willing i would prefer we go slow ... FYI i am a graduate in CS(year 2000) ... a long time ago ... currently i am a full time designer with a lot of interest in getting back to coding ... hence i prefer the slowness ... Could you provide me your telegram ID/skype ID ... i would like to discuss the pace of this project privately.

At the same time, as I said before, the original developer (sonichy) didn't program the software in a way that I prefer. I need to do some adjustment before adding any further features, so that the code will be under better control in terms of software engineering.

In fact i was hoping we create a new project repo and start from scratch ... and i hope to learn along the way ...

If you still would like to contribute, here's something I think we can start with:

of course all the way along

1. Do you have any idea how this should look like under "efficient mode"?

I just check how the other plugin vary in efficient mode ... and i believe except the size of the icon on the dock and efficient mode nothing's different ... so we can use a static icon there which isn't a functional clock.

2. Honestly I don't have any experience to work UX designers, so I for now don't know exactly what I will need. Let me know if you have any previous experience working with other developers and know what's the typical work flow.

No ... this is my first ... don't worry we'll figure it along the way ... there is a coder deep down in me so it kind of understands the requirements which will aid us along the way.

3. The popup bubble applet style (color, round corner, etc) is provided by deepin, which I don't think I should change, but what's in it I believe is achievable. They are typically arranged in table-like grid layout. So it will be very helpful if I know positions and column/row sizes.

A STRICT NO to changing the popup bubble(menu) !!!
we need to use as much of deepins UI elements ... i believe strongly that everything should be in balance and it can be achieved only if we stick to deepin's UI/UX definition the above UI/UX is inspired by the overall deepin design philosophy ...

Not to worry ... I'll provide all the support as far as the grid is concerned ... i'll adapt this current preview design to the best grid possible ... like i said even if i don't code ... i intend to educate(with your help of course) myself a 100 % ... I hope to at least pick up things to the extend that i can read every line of code and understand it !!! ... look forward to your support on the same.

4. Do you have any experience with css? This is how Qt define the style. If you have previous experience http://doc.qt.io/qt-5/stylesheet-reference.html#list-of-property-types mybe helpful. Otherwise, just ignore it for now. I would assume it's mostly needed for font and background of those parts.

No ... I graduated out on old technologies(BASIC, Cobol, Pascal and Fortran) ... but i hope to pick along ... as we go ... hence the request for a slow pace ... getting back to coding is the ultimate goal !

[aiamuzz]

I just found that deepin updated the API of plugins: linuxdeepin/dde-dock@7a5501e published today.
For now, I believe dock plugin is still an experimental feature and deepin seems not planning to make it upward compatible. So what you may see is you lost all plugins that's not updated.

I am using a Linux distribution with very aggressive update strategy. Not sure if the update has been pushed to deepin's distribution.

oh ... ok ... i hope to learn and pick along the way ...

If you allow ... i'll work on a road map ... setting milestones that will be easier for me to pick up and learn things as we move ... **so you can expect the least burdensome path here given your academics being the TOP priority ... looking at how efficiently you crunched the theme option on this plugin, i hope the milestones will be breeze for you ** ... 😊

If you provide me your telegram ID or skype ID or any other ID of your choice i'll open a new account and we can collaborate over it !

[aiamuzz]

We could continue our conversation on this topic on one of the IM's (telegram/skype/ any other of your choice) privately

my telegram ID is @aiamuzz you can find me on https://t.me/deepin ... if you have your own group on it i can connect to you from there and you to my chat !!!

[CareF]

Just FYI, I got a chance to have a look at openweathermap API, and I think it might be helpful for detailed UI design, for what's the available information I can get:
https://openweathermap.org/forecast5

[aiamuzz]

Just FYI, I got a chance to have a look at openweathermap API, and I think it might be helpful for detailed UI design, for what's the available information I can get:
https://openweathermap.org/forecast5

Yes sure ... just tell me what additional pices of information can be grabbed from openweathermap.org ... depending on what all we like to display i can try to accommodate that into my design.

can you create a telegram ID ... i guess all this discussions we could have privately ?

[CareF]

I sent you a telegram message on Jan. 10th and I didn't get any reply... @CareF