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Ask HN: How can I contribute to Open Source as a Designer?

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11–18 of 18 posts

Re: Ask HN: How can I contribute to Open Source as a Designer?

#11
Joomla! is also a great CMS (Content Management System) with huge user base you could help to improve and is in constant development so you will definitely have a lot to contribute with there.

Have a look at http://people.joomla.org/groups/viewgroup/119-Joomla+UX.html and one of the group admins there will definitely help you to get on track.

Re: Ask HN: How can I contribute to Open Source as a Designer?

#12
post #11

Joomla! is also a great CMS (Content Management System) with huge user base you could help to improve and is in constant development so you will definitely have a lot to contribute with there. Have a look at http://people.joomla.org/groups/viewgroup/119-Joomla+UX.html and one of the group admins there will definitely help you to get on track.

In your opinion, what are Joomla's greatest weaknesses?

Re: Ask HN: How can I contribute to Open Source as a Designer?

#13
post #12
post #11

Joomla! is also a great CMS (Content Management System) with huge user base you could help to improve and is in constant development so you will definitely have a lot to contribute with there. Have a look at http://people.joomla.org/groups/viewgroup/119-Joomla+UX.html and one of the group admins there will definitely help you to get on track.

In your opinion, what are Joomla's greatest weaknesses?

I used Joomla! for over a year and loved it! Only because I knew nothing better. Not playing fav here but Joomla ain't the way to go.

Security flaws, buggy core, bad performance, paid plugins. WordPress knows better man!

I can choose, right?

Re: Ask HN: How can I contribute to Open Source as a Designer?

#14
Try http://art.gnome.org/, I mean I find the gnome UI in ubuntu pretty depressive (Its better than the previous versions but still not perfect). Try making skins for the ui that make it look better. I mean seriously, what can brown/orange skins do for you do for you?

Re: Ask HN: How can I contribute to Open Source as a Designer?

#15
You could contribute to making decent Gtk themes.

Gnome tends to be the face of Linux, as it's the default desktop for Ubuntu & Fedora, so the way gnome looks is the way Linux looks.

Now, Gnome uses Gtk for widgets, and in my opinion, Gtk is inherently flawed, and it will probably never look as good as Aqua. But I definitely see room for improvement. If more graphics designers get involved, it's more likely that Gtk will get "fixed", where by "fixed" I mean it will evolve to a form where it can compete with Aqua.

Re: Ask HN: How can I contribute to Open Source as a Designer?

#16
post #15

You could contribute to making decent Gtk themes. Gnome tends to be the face of Linux, as it's the default desktop for Ubuntu & Fedora, so the way gnome looks is the way Linux looks. Now, Gnome uses Gtk for widgets, and in my opinion, Gtk is inherently flawed, and it will probably never look as good as Aqua. But I definitely see room for improvement. If more graphics designers get involved, it's more likely that Gtk…

Good point man. To "fix" it all that we need to fix is: type rendering. That's the MAJOR difference between MAC OS and Windows or Windows XP and Windows 7 or MAC OS, Windows and Ubuntu (haven't used Fedora, new around here)

If we can pull this one off - good type will begin to fix the design. It will tell you when things are off.

Writing an open letter / blog post about it!

Re: Ask HN: How can I contribute to Open Source as a Designer?

#17
post #15

You could contribute to making decent Gtk themes. Gnome tends to be the face of Linux, as it's the default desktop for Ubuntu & Fedora, so the way gnome looks is the way Linux looks. Now, Gnome uses Gtk for widgets, and in my opinion, Gtk is inherently flawed, and it will probably never look as good as Aqua. But I definitely see room for improvement. If more graphics designers get involved, it's more likely that Gtk…

Good point man. To "fix" it all that we need to fix is: type rendering. That's the MAJOR difference between MAC OS and Windows or Windows XP and Windows 7 or MAC OS, Windows and Ubuntu (haven't used Fedora, new around here) If we can pull this one off - good type will begin to fix the design. It will tell you when things are off. Writing an open letter / blog post about it!

The problem with font rendering is (or, was) patents, not technology. Freetype can render text as nicely as OS X does. But, for a very long time, this was disabled by default.

http://freetype.sourceforge.net/patents.html has links to the patents. Which have apparently expired.

Re: Ask HN: How can I contribute to Open Source as a Designer?

#18
post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Good point man. To "fix" it all that we need to fix is: type rendering. That's the MAJOR difference between MAC OS and Windows or Windows XP and Windows 7 or MAC OS, Windows and Ubuntu (haven't used Fedora, new around here) If we can pull this one off - good type will begin to fix the design. It will tell you when things are off. Writing an open letter / blog post about it!

The problem with font rendering is (or, was) patents, not technology. Freetype can render text as nicely as OS X does. But, for a very long time, this was disabled by default. http://freetype.sourceforge.net/patents.html has links to the patents. Which have apparently expired.

Now we know why we love Open! Anyways, now that they have expired we can do better, right? I am getting Ubuntu 10.4 let's see how nice it is with fonts!

Cheers mate1

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