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<div id="smartTemplate4-template">Hi Kent. / James<br>
<br>
Well we have been knocking about the idea of replacing the HTML
editor (which is currently the generic component from m-c) of
Thunderbird for years and it always been deferred to some day in
the future. Also there have been numerous suggestions of
integrating other existing editors. Without a dedicated developer
I am very much doubtful this is ever going to be fixed within the
scope of a bugzilla bug.<br>
<br>
<br>
Might this be in scope for a team of five people? If you think it
is suitable, I could dig out some of the conversations and
suggestions that were made and collate them. I would also offer to
work as a design reviewer / adviser for this particular task as I
think it is very important for the future of Thunderbird.<br>
<br>
just an idea,<br>
Axel<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
-- <br>
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<b class="myName" style="text-shadow: 1px 1px 2px #DDD;
transition:font-size 0.5s;"><a
href="mailto:axel.grude@gmail.com">Axel Grude</a></b>
<br>
Software Developer
<br>
Thunderbird Add-ons Developer
<span style="color:#666666; font-size:xx-small">(QuickFolders,
quickFilters, QuickPasswords, Zombie Keys, SmartTemplate4)</span>
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AMO Editor <img style="margin-top: 1em; float: right;
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<div id="newHeaderAG1" style="font-size: x-small; padding:1em;
background-color:rgba(220,220,240,0.4); border-radius:3px;"> <b>Subject:</b>
Fwd: Re: Thunderbird Project as 3rd-year Engineering Group
Project<br>
<b>From: </b>R. Kent James<br>
<b>To:</b> Tb-planning <br>
<b>Sent: </b>Tuesday, 02/02/2016 22:38:59 22:38 GMT ST +0000
[Week 5]<br>
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<p>I've had some discussions with James Quilty about major student
engineering projects involving Thunderbird. Here is his
proposal, and he is asking for specific suggestions of
appropriate projects.</p>
<div class="moz-forward-container">
<pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">--
R. Kent James
Chair, Thunderbird Council
@rkentjames</pre>
<br>
-------- Forwarded Message -------- <br>
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Hi Kent,<br>
<br>
Here's the proposal I made for a 3rd-year engineering group
project working on part of Thunderbird, edited for coherence.
I'd be happy for this to be forwarded to a mailing list for wide
consideration.<br>
<br>
The <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://ecs.victoria.ac.nz/">School of Engineering and
Computer Science</a> at Victoria University of Wellington runs
group projects as part of its project management course. The
School has students from three specialisations, Electronics and
Computer Engineering (ECEN), Software Engineering (SWEN) and
Network Engineering (NWEN). I'm running these courses from this
year.<br>
<br>
I'm looking for suitable projects for a team of 4-6 students
which could run across our academic year (March-October) with a
workload of about 5 hours per week for a total of around 150
hours. Both figures are per student. The purpose of the project
is to give the students practical experience in applying the
project management tools they are learning about in<br>
lectures. An achievable but challenging project for SWEN (and
NWEN) students would be really good - this is where I thought a
Thunderbird project might be appropriate.<br>
<br>
<div class="moz-text-html" lang="x-unicode"> To give you an idea
of what students have been able to produce last year in a
half-year project, please see the <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://wainz.org.nz/">WaiNZ</a> homepage. The map UI
and the Android, iPhone and Windows Phone apps were all
produced or refined in a half-year project. I'd like something
with similar scope for 2016, just run across the full year. If
you want to know what kind of background the students have by
3rd year, please see the SWEN and NWEN course descriptions on
the School's homepage. One relevant course SWEN students may
take in 3rd year, for example, is a course in UI engineering.<br>
<br>
Any project for the students would have to be "SMART":<br>
<ul>
<li>Have goal or end-point that can be specified and refined
through student discussion with the client. For example, a
project involving the completion of a coherent set of
bug-fixes and/or enhancements. </li>
<li>Produce measurable/testable effect - something that can
be observed in Thunderbird.<br>
</li>
<li>Be reasonably achievable in about 150 hours per student
(about 900 hours for a team of six students).</li>
<li>Delivered by/at the end of a single academic year.<br>
</li>
</ul>
What I have in mind when I write "coherent" is bugs or
enhancements all related to, say, one component of
Thunderbird. It shouldn't be a grab-bag of miscellaneous work,
nor a year experiencing "business as usual" in Thunderbird
development.<br>
<br>
An example, (somewhat trivial and completely focussed on my
own niggles with Thunderbird) would be a project to complete a
set of bugfixes and enhancements to the Attachment pane UI for
incorporation in an upcoming release. There are a set of bugs
and RFE's already filed, and it's a reasonably self-contained
part of the UI.<br>
<br>
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It's not important for the students to write new code for
brand-new functionality. Some code maintenance and migration
is perfectly fine, even a desirable experience, but I do think
it's important that their projects are not dominated by
migration or bugfix work. If it were, then I fear there could
be limited opportunity for them to practice project management
and/or they will lose interest.<br>
<br>
Other projects up for offer in 2016, to give two examples for
context, will be (1) making a DIY laser cutter with a usable
software and network interfaces, and (2) making a 3-in-1
oscilloscope, function generator and digital multimeter with
undergraduate-friendly UI for use in our teaching labs.<br>
<br>
What I am asking from you for a Thunderbird project is for a
useful project of about the right scope and difficulty to be
identified, for a
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1-page high-level spec to be prepared before 29 February (NZ
time!) and for someone to commit to being acting as the client
for the project over the year. I'd anticipate a time
requirement of 1-2 hours per week over the course of the
project to interact with the project team to answer the usual
questions clients are asked (usually clarifying what the
client actually wants).<br>
<br>
One thing the School does advise external clients for these
sorts of undergraduate projects is to not rely on the student
team to produce a 100% functional working result, and to not
entrust them with a project which is mission-critical. That's
not to say that we haven't had some very successful projects
in the past.<br>
<br>
I'd love to hear ideas that people involved with Thunderbird
development would have after considering what I've written
above and I'd really like to have a Thunderbird project as
part of our group project work this year!<br>
<br>
Regards,<br>
James.<br>
<br>
<pre wrap=""><div class="moz-txt-sig">--
Dr. James Quilty
Senior Lecturer
School of Engineering and Computer Science,
Victoria University of Wellington,
P.O. Box 600,
Wellington 6140,
New Zealand.
Phone: +64 4 463 5233 ext. 4090
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