Color palette

To the casual observer, one way to tell about the progress of work on aspects of KDE 4.0 is to look at the topics on KDE blogs.

Maybe that's not the most precise measurement, but I'm not quite finished with the Real Time (tm) KDE Completion Gauge for each section of KDE. In fact, even though I'm 39.27% complete with the gauge, it only thinks that it's 19.88% done. I digress....

Moving from daydreaming to brainstorming to discussion to architecture to library work...we're now seeing some UI and presentation layer work. Recent blog entries show great progress on KDE games, KDE edu apps, anti-aliased network monitors, updated list selection sexiness, requests for Kalzium images, etc.

As a friendly reminder, the Oxygen team has a color palette that they've been using in all new KDE imagery. I hope that as application maintainers move to interface work, it's second nature to consider this color palette to ensure UI consistency.

Sure, there are situations where an application might appropriately reference other colors (like the blinKen game), but don't forget HIG/CIG. More to come.

Q++ and Purchasing Power

Back in November, I made up a term called "Q++" in the kde-promo mailing list in discussing how to improve our familiarity and appeal. The idea was based on the media Q-score concept here in the States.

A recent slashdot link reminds me that life is often indistinguishable from the Onion.

Robber barons/tycoons/industrialists turned philanthropic in their latter years to both appease their guilt and to bolster their legacy and reputation for future generations. Apparently, it worked then and it works now.

Don't misinterpret me; I'm in no way condemning or minimizing the actions of the Gates Foundation. But don't ask me to discuss motive. The good news? I still believe that genuine Q++ can't be bought so easily, and as the KDE community continues to give and flourish I have little doubt how we'd fare on a "Reputation and Public Opinion Survey".

Back, if only for a single day (gulp)

Clee mentioned in passing today that he had reactivated my blog. My last post was on Sept 17th. I wonder how many people will have flashbacks of the cataclysmic destruction my blog caused. Helpful caring and competent therapists are ready to assist any trauma you may endure.

I'm dipping my toe in the blogging water again now *and* testing advanced concepts such as multiple paragraphs (baby steps people). Will it output an unformatted HTML stream? Will it give my last 9,437 blog posts in a surge? We'll reach the exciting conclusion in about 9 minutes after I hit 'Publish' when Planet refreshes.

If this post looks absolutely ordinary, I'll take the credit. If it tears the fabric of the Blog Space Continuum (tm), blame Clee and his evil robots.

Handcuffed

I leave for aKademy in 5 days and still no love and no improvement in Blogger Beta. That upgrade was a steaming pile of crap. For those that have yet to upgrade, I salute you. Stay strong and stay on the old version.

So here's my final test. I've changed syndication to handle the first paragraph only. My hope is that even even this feeble Google product can display a simple paragraph with no formatting or mark-up, then people can follow the link and read the rest at my actual blog site, that I'll link to here to test mark-up in following paragraphs.

RAS

Really Annoying Syndication. Frustration level reaching escape velocity. Want some free BR tags because Blogger beta and Planet software don't play nicely? I've got plenty. No parsing whatsoever - unbelievable.

Testing 1,2,3

The move to Blogger beta was brutal, and I apologize and behalf of lame Blogger migration efforts for the blog flood on my last post.

So, just dipping my toe back in the blogging water to see if this software successfully posts. Why oh why can't everyone be as techincally savvy as Paris?

Update: Well, that just clearly sucks. For those people that can render HTML/CSS/XSLT/Latex in their head on the fly, I'm sure my post looked perfect.

Fundraiser Halo Effect

Now, based on most internet news stories, you shouldn't use the term "halo effect" without referring to an iPod. And according to most teenagers, I should instead use the word "affect" instead. And acording to Alanis Morissette, I should misuse the term completely. Great news Alanis, this isn't really a halo effect by definition, but it's also not like a traffic jam when you're already late.

Why am I using the term "halo effect" in reference to the hardware fundraiser 5 weeks ago? Because the initial fundraiser was originally intended for a week, but we're still seeing the effects of heightened donations for August. Further, anyone who gives to a non-profit or charity (whether KDE or otherwise) is at least temporarily angelic in my book. Maybe for a next fundraiser we can give out halos shaped like gears?

Twenty days into August, and we've received nearly 1,500 euros (that in part to a very large singular donation) already. Well above the monthly averages before the hardware fundraiser.

Thanks to individuals and organizations alike for their rcent donations. Within the next day or two, you'll get an update on the Dot about how our new bugs.kde.org server is progressing.

UPDATE: Stupid blogging software! Blogspot decided to move my acount to some new beta version. Which of course means "ruin everything." I apologize for the flood of unformatted entries. I'll work with clee to clean this mess up.