Free usability design software for linux

Java::Import::Design is the design of the Java::Import Module.

MOTIVATIONS

The original motivation for writing this module came out of a project I was working on during my previous employment. We had built a system in which a major part was implimented using EJBs on a J2EE server. In addition, we had a large component of the system, that already existed, and was written in Perl. We did not want to scrap our Perl work but it was becoming more tedious to maintain two implimentations as more and more things were being added to the system.

So, we decided that the major pieces of business logic would reside on the J2EE server and the Perl would be modified to make calls to the server. After some time and experimentation we began to realize that the memory footprint as well as the amount of time needed to make calls to the server using existing Perl to Java integration sulutions were just not acceptable. We therefore set out to find some other way. We tried all sorts of things but in the end we couldnt find anything that met our requirements and therefore decided to keep the origional system of doing things.

While at that job we never did find a suitable way to integrate our two systems. However, the problem still haunted me. It wasnt until the end of my career at that company that I saw an announcement for Googles first Summer of Code. It just so happened that as Google was announcing their brand new program that I had begun to play with the GNU GCJ suite of Java tools and came up with the idea of taking advantage of their ability to natively compile Java code for use with Perl. This may not have been a new idea but I couldnt find anything that would help me so I decided to write and submit a proposal to Google. Well, I was accepted and you now have Java::Import.

When I began to work on this project I started by creating my own namespace instead of stepping on the toes of the other existing Java/Perl integration project, Inline::Java. I did this primarily because I wanted a clean slate on which I could fully explore the nuances of GCJ, in particular its CNI interface. As I worked my module started to evolve into its own beast and at that point it seemed locigal to keep my own namespace. It is not my intention to replace Inline::Java and I still think that in te future much of the work I have done can be used by Inline::Java as an option to use GCJ specific functionality.

Alternity is a multi-protocol instant messenger program for Linux. Currently Alternity only supports AIM, but has been designed to add others in the future. The project was started with two specific goals, functionality and usability.

I found in my wanderings of Linux and open source software, that many have great features, yet are not user friendly. Those that are user friendly have no features and are often poorly written. This project was started to bridge that gap, specifically with instant messenger programs.

Graph-includes creates a graph of dependencies between source files and/or groups of source files, with an emphasis on getting readable and usable graphs even for large projects.
Graph-includes project is meant to be an helper tool for a refactoring effort. Usability of the dependency graphs are currently improved by customizable grouping of several source files into a single node, and transitive reduction of the graph.
Enhancements:
- Ported to non-Unix platforms (tested on Windows).
- This release has finally implemented/fixed node group coloring.
- A default path for system-includes lookup has been added.

Althea IMAP (Internet Message Access Protocol) e-mail client for X Windows. The design goal was a stable e-mail client with the richness of usability of Microsofts Outlook, Qualcomms Eudora, and Cyrusofts Mulberry.

Installation:

Type the following commands:

# unzip and untar althea-x.x.x.tgz
tar xvzf althea-x.x.x.tgz

# make and install the program
make
make install

Zirconium Desktop Environment is a new low resource desktop shell optimized for usability.
Zirconium Desktop Environment operates on the philosophy that the desktop environment needs to stay out of the users way and provide the quickest access to the functions that are truly needed from a desktop shell.
Principle Zirconium Desktop Environment design goals:
- Very easy navigation by taking advantage of the corner effect by placing the icons for the 2 most critical functions (program launcher and window switcher) in the top corners.
- Minimal use of on-screen real estate. This is accomplished by "recycling" the window title bar by overlapping the already minimal on screen furniture on top of the title bar when a window is maximized.
- Eliminating the "system tray". Instead of using a pixel wasting systray icon to communicate status to the user programs are expected to use the ZDE Notification Daemon to sent small unobtrusive notifications to the user when something of note occurs. The ZDE Notification Daemon uses the SOAP protocol for universal compatibility and network transparency.
- Web integration. An (optional) backdrop manager based on the embedded Gecko engine from Mozilla is provided to provide for "Weblets" to run on the desktop. The ZDE session manager also provides a SOAP API that can be accessed by signed or expressly permitted Weblets to access the ZDE system.
Components of the ZDE system:
Corner Menus.
The left corner menu opens up the Program Launcher. Note that the Program Launcher is a custom navigation window and not a pop-up style menu. The Launcher window closes when an item is activated or the mouse pointer leaves the window.
The right corner menu is a list of open windows for window switching. It is a standard GTK pop-up menu.
Mini-Bar.
In the top center is the Mini-Bar that shows essential items like the time, volume control, battery and network status. The Mini-Bar is the same height as the Title Bar of a window so that when a window is maximized the title bar is partly covered by the Mini-Bar.
Notification Daemon:
When a SOAP message for a Notification arrives the Notification pop-up appears briefly. When not shown the very edge is visible in the lower-right. Mousing over the edge makes the Notification appear again and the mouse leave event closes the notification making it very simple to dismiss a notification by just mousing over it. Clicking the visible edge will open a Notification History window showing all notifications that have been logged during the session.
Window Theme:
The Window Manager theme needs to make special allowances for the way ZDE is arranged. The title bar needs to be 22 pixels high and the controls need to be 22 pixels away from the ends of the title bar to allow for the corner icons.

libgnome is a GNOME library.

The GNOME project provides two things: The GNOME desktop environment, an intuitive and attractive desktop for end-users, users, and the GNOME development platform, an extensive framework for building applications that integrate into the rest of the desktop.

GNOME is...

Free

GNOME is Free Software and part of the GNU project, dedicated to giving users and developers the ultimate level of control over their desktops, their software, and their data. Find out more about the GNU project and Free Software at gnu.org.

Usable

GNOME understands that usability is about creating software that is easy for everyone to use, not about piling on features. GNOMEs community of professional and volunteer usability experts have created Free Softwares first and only Human Interface Guidelines, and all core GNOME software is adopting these principles. Find out more about GNOME and usability at the GNOME Usability Project.

Accessible

Free Software is about enabling software freedom for everyone, including users and developers with disabilities. GNOMEs Accessibility framework is the result of several years of effort, and makes GNOME the most accessible desktop for any Unix platform. Find out more at the GNOME Accessibility Project.

International

GNOME is used, developed and documented in dozens of languages, and we strive to ensure that every piece of GNOME software can be translated into all languages. Find out more at the GNOME Translation Project.

Developer-friendly

Developers are not tied to a single language with GNOME. You can use C, C++, Python, Perl, Java, even C#, to produce high-quality applications that integrate smoothly into the rest of your Unix or Linux desktop.

Organized

GNOME strives to be an organized community, with a foundation of several hundred members, usability, accessibility, and QA teams, and an elected board. GNOME releases are defined by the GNOME Release Team and are scheduled to occur every six months.

Supported

Beyond the worldwide GNOME Community, GNOME is supported by the leading companies in Linux and Unix, including HP, MandrakeSoft, Novell, Red Hat, and Sun. Find out more at foundation.gnome.org.

A community

Perhaps more than anything else, GNOME is a worldwide community of volunteers who hack, translate, design, QA, and generally have fun together. Find out more at GNOME Developers site.

DeskScribe is a suite of tools for recording a users desktop activity in usability testing scenarios.

It captures the mouse pointer at 200 frames per second, so I would advise against running it on devices powered solely by a battery, for extended periods of time. Currently, it only captures and logs mouse activity data. The log format is completely compatibile with that of LogSquare.

The deskscribe logging application runs as a system tray icon. From here, you can start and stop the logging, or quit the application. In the future, it will eventually be able to log key presses as well as capture the screen in video formats.

LX is a community-driven Web site program in which users can share links, post on forums, send private messages to one another, and more.

LX is written with performance, security, standards, and usability in mind.