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<p>I doubt replacing the editor is a good group project. It's not an
easy task, and the work load would not appear easy to split up.
You'd have to take many many steps until you make it work at all,
and it requires a lot of familiarity with the code. <br>
</p>
<p>Ideally it should be a lot of smaller related bugs so that you
can move forward and feel you achieve something.</p>
Maybe a group could take on dissecting the document in <a
href="https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1243449">bug
1243449</a> (improving usability of encryption)?<br>
<br>
-Magnus<br>
<br>
<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 03.02.2016 11:21, Axel Grude wrote:<br>
</div>
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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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style="text-shadow: 1px 1px 2px #DDD; transition:font-size
0.5s;"><a moz-do-not-send="true"
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> <br>
AMO Editor <img style="margin-top: 1em; float: right;
box-shadow: 1px 1px 2px rgba(20, 20, 20, 0.4);"
moz-do-not-send="false" class="myLogo"
src="cid:part3.D3226689.15AE52BC@iki.fi" alt="Get
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<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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<blockquote class=" cite"
id="mid_c1eeb643_e57e_9fc1_11bd_df5fc2d52ee5_caspia_com"
cite="mid:c1eeb643-e57e-9fc1-11bd-df5fc2d52ee5@caspia.com"
type="cite">
<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>
<br>
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>
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 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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