Building the Perfect Audio Editor

Jono Bacon blogs about the new Audio editor project he is trying to kick of. Jono has done some really nice design and planning work and I really hope he manages to get this project of the ground. It is sad that they are stuck using Windows for recording their LUG Radio show. So any developers out there who want to get involved in a really cool multimedia project should head over to Jono’s page to read up and then get in touch with Jono about contributing.

Making stuff look good

These mockups
with proposals for what GNOME could/should look like have caused some stir. Currently they do some stuff not yet possible with GTK+, but I think they are a great starting point for current and potential GTK+ developers to get an idea of what kind of features to add to upcoming GTK+ releases. I think mockups is the only plausible way to get an idea of what theming features are worth going after.

10 thoughts on “Building the Perfect Audio Editor

  1. Oh my deity. Those mockups are really frighteningly attractive. Where is the discussion taking place? I haven’t seen anyone else linking to them.

    – Chris

  2. These mockups are a nice direction that would make Gnome more attractive. They have a professional almost Maccisch look.
    Now that there is cairo, somthing like this is what Gnome needs.

    -relikwie

  3. Hi guys,

    I just wanted to say that if GNOME implemented these mocks I believe it will be N#1 in terms of look and cuteness. But also the mockups show a point about the proportion of information to screen size used – GNOME/GTK+ just waste space ridiculously. I’ll be writing a paper about this after my exams are over so I’ll want to hear the opinion of others. I think the mockups show perfectly how to cram a lot of information into a small screen size and still being sexy & easy on the eyes.

    Regards

  4. I guess I’m a rare exception then since I don’t particularly like those mockups. I’m afraid that they would lose a lot of their magic once actually implemented as a theme. I do like some of the ideas though, especially the regarding the panel.

  5. Once again Jono Bacon makes a design document, but now he makes them for GNOME after no-one listened to him when he made them for KDE.

    I doubt python would be able to do the realtimeness that is required for multitrack recording applications, but he is welcome to try (or try to get someone else to do it for him). I’m sure the Ardour guys might laugh at him.

  6. Very nice mockups. I like the menu/toolbar compact style, though I’d prefer the menu on the left and the toolbar on the right.

  7. Firstly, thanks for posting the link Christian. :)

    Secondly, thanks for the kind comments from the folks on here. The design is still not 100% complete, but is developing well. Its a credit to the Inkscape developers for making a numpty like me be able to make nice mock-ups. :)

    Finally, Iain – not entirely sure what the problem is. These are just mockups and ideas, and if someone else feels they are useful, they are welcome to implement them. I am not going to complain if no-one feels inspired to do so. In any case, I don’t remember ever creating any mockups like this for KDE, so I don’t quite get your point. If you want to throw criticism at someone, why not leave your email address email me personally so we can discuss it?

  8. Damn, I forgot to actually answer a couple of the points. :P

    First point is that it should be pointed out that the mockups are not really intended to be implemented as a theme – I just used Inkscape t indicate how the interface would be constructed. Although, if someone thought a theme like this could be fun, by all means go ahead. :P

    Chris Cunningham – the discussion about the editor is taking place in a few places. Firstly onthe LUGRadio Forums (http://forums.lugradio.org/viewtopic.php?t=1071&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0) as well at the Wiki page (http://wiki.lugradio.org/index.php/JonoEdit). There has also been a Trac setup (http://jasonfield.com/trac/public) where there is a Subversion repository for the code too.

    Milen – certainly let me know when you have written the paper. I would love to offer some comments. :)

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