[GSOC 2013] Easy plugins with a website

[Bhaskar Kandiyal]

Hi everyone,

I'm Bhaskar Kandiyal a second year student of Masters in Computer
Applications.

I would like to pursue the project idea of 'Easy plugins with a
website' for Pidgin. I have a few ideas in mind of a new plugins
window for Pidgin as well as a plugins website for plugin authors to
submit their plugins.

I have created a few mockups [1] for the plugins window and I'm hoping
for some feedback on them. Here's a short description:

* Plugins Tab: It would list all of the installed plugins (much like
the current implementation) and an option to easily enable / disable /
uninstall the locally installed plugins.

* Get New Plugins Tab: Here we have two options, either we download a
list of available plugins and show them in a list view or open up the
plugins website in a web view and handle the (pidgin:// ?) protocol for
installing new plugins. The mockup currently shows a list view.


As for the website is concerned, taking some tips from
addons.mozilla.org. We can have a plugins.pidgin.im for the website.
Here are some of the features I've planned:

* We can have a system where the plugin authors register and submit
their plugins for review and once the pidgin developers / reviewers
accept the plugin it will be available for everyone to download.

* Support for uploading new versions of the plugin

* Pidgin would register a protocol handler (pidgin:// maybe?) so users
can install plugins right from the website as well.

* And all of the basic functionality a plugins website has
(Categories, Searching, Ratings etc.)

I hope I'm not too late in proposing this idea. I have exams so I have
very little time :)

Feedback on this is very much appreciated!

Cheers,
Bhaskar Kandiyal

[1] -
https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B-owBEoEQANeNDhzQUo4RDFndDA&usp=sharing

--
Bhaskar Kandiyal
IRC: gastly @ Freenode