I sometimes wonder if UI/UX passes on open-source tools would be better with very explicit "experimental forks" that keep with upstream when they can. Over time, the successful fork starts to get more traffic from regular users and re-merges. It might save time compared to long debates without much agenda.
Re:Open Source Design
by indigochill on Wednesday March 16, 2022 @03:00PM
(#30702610)
I'm fairly firmly of this opinion (though I only have a little experience working on large open-source projects). Sure, there can be productivity loss in developing in parallel vs developing a consensus, but nothing highlights the strengths and weaknesses of a design like actually implementing and using it.
The challenge for end-user focussed design is that it is very resource intensive to develop parallel UIs (and for many devs they are the least fun thing to implement), whereas it is not that much of a problem to add an additional parameter to a command line program.
> I sometimes wonder if UI/UX passes on open-source tools would be better with very explicit "experimental forks" that keep with upstream when they can. Over time, the successful fork starts to get more traffic from regular users and re-merges.
Probably the best example of this approach is the Firefox (originally Phoenix, then Firebird) origin story:
Re:Open Source Design
by throw_m239339 on Wednesday March 16, 2022 @03:12PM
(#30702756)
Blender also used to be closed source. Blender foundation had to crowdfund the source code to make it open. I was already using Blender in 1998 when it went freemium and it was already quite evolved, I didn't feel like the UI was bad compared to 3DS Max or Lightwave.
Two very different examples: Blender and Audacity (pre-acquisition). Blender was able to pull off something spectacular with 2.8, a full rethink of UI, controls, even app structure. But Blender is basically a company, with full-time employees, it's just that their output is open-source. Audacity, as far as I know, didn't have full-time employees. And as it grew in features, it never had any significant UI cleanup. Menus just grew, icons were tacked on. It might change now that they have been acquired.