GSoC 2012 : Pidgin Plugin Website

[Nikhil Bafna]

Hi.

I am Nikhil Bafna, a fourth year Computer Science undergrad.

I am interested in the idea to develop a website for pidgin plugins.
Currently, there is a lot of friction in browsing through the plugin list
and finding plugins that would enhance a user's pidgin experience. Though
an open source app, majority of the users are not coders and this has to be
kept in mind while designing the user interface.

I suggest building something on the likes of the chrome web store for
google chrome extensions.

Some of the possible features that I could think of building are -

1. Rating the plugins, so that the users know the good ones from the
not-so-good ones.

2. Much easier browsing experience, sorting by recency, popularity, rating.

3. Information whether the plugin work on linux or windows or both. Given
that the majority users are non-coders, it is a frustrating experience to
be taken to the developers website to find out that the plugin might not
work for your platform.

4. Much improved search.

5. Separate page for each plugin, with detailed information about the
plugin, installation instructions, screenshots, and user comments.

6. Download the plugin from the site, rather than being re-directed to the
developer's site.

6. Separate user and developer accounts.

7. Developers can upload new plugins and modify information on their
existing plugins.

8. Newly uploaded plugins go through a community based moderation process.

9. Responsive design that scales down to mobile phones.

10. Integration with the pidgin client.

11. Of  course, all of this will require work on the backend as well, which
I propose to do in python + django.



These are just initial ideas and i am sure more could be though upon on
further discussions.

I made a rough initial page of what the plugin site might look like -
http://i.imgur.com/JfNKt.png

As the size of the display scales down, the website automatically adjusts
for that display site, so that, a separate mobile version need not be made.
Here's what the page looks like on a smaller display -
http://i.imgur.com/GZHB2.png
http://i.imgur.com/HPI3u.png

This are just screenshots, and I will soon uploading the site online so
that the progress could be seen live.


Regards,
Nikhil Bafna
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