This is a draft in progress. I'll start filling in some user interface ideas for maemo blog here.. //tigert

Requirements

What does the software need to do?

MaemoBlog/UserInterfaceSketches will have some l33t asc11 4rt..

Basic "thesis"

  • The software should not ask unneccessary questions, but rather should try to "JustWork?(tm)" as much as possible.

Basic use case

  • The main use of MaemoBlog is to write blog entries when moving around. There are good tools for the same task when sitting on a desk using a regular computer. MaemoBlog focuses on the mobile use.
  • The user can set categories ("tags") for posts, and add new categories if needed.
    • Adding categories is not supported by any of the blog xmlrpc APIs
  • The editing should be doable in "wysiwyg" fashion, perhaps using a HTML editor that allows addition of hyperlinks and basic basic formatting (bold, italic, etc) - any advanced editing like tables etc are out of scope. HTML source editing can, if desired, be accessible through a menu, but should not be visible in the basic user interface.
  • Should support several accounts, users might have several blogs they want to update.
  • It should automatically open the written entry in the web browser after publishing for reviewing.

Additional ideas

  • The blog should support inline images as well. It would be nice if images could be scaled automatically to smaller size.
    • The size should default to something like 450 pixels wide, maintaining aspect ratio.
    • The blog account configuration would have advanced settings to change this to another size if needed.
  • Offline use would be nice too. Perhaps this should follow in a later version once the initial work has been done.