9 potentially New Gnome Apps!

In upcoming Gnome (3.8) we will see 4 new Apps -Videos(?), Photos, Music, Calendar. The first 3 corresponds (together with Documents) in Files Views (and an integration is expected here) while Calendar will be integrated with GS Calendar.

However there are some more interdependent Apps on the table..  

Potential Applications

Description: Some applications that would be nice to have, but aren’t necessary for a reasonable core user experience. These aren’t planned for 3.8 yet, and they might not arrive.

1. Backup

Description: A tool that allows someone to backup and restore their data and settings. Backup hasn’t been designed yet.

Backup Design Page

2. Break Timer

Description: A simple break timer application, largely designed to replace the keyboard break functionality that was removed from GNOME Control Center prior to 3.0.

The primary role of this application is to allow people who suffer from repetitive strain injury (or carpel tunnel syndrome) and similar symptoms to schedule breaks within which they do not use the device.

Backup Design Page

3. Screencast Recorder

Description: Screencast Recorder is a tool to create more sophisticated screen captures that might include annotations, audio commentary, webcam feed of user’s face as an overlay or cut.

Objectives

• Record the entire screen
• Record a single window
• Record a rectangular area of the screen
• Record a separate external video feed that matches the time of the main stream.
• Review and edit the recorded video (stream cuts, overlays).
• Sharing. Upload the video somewhere (youtube, vimeo…)

GS embedded screencasting (Ctrl+Alt+Shift+”R”) can be better :)

Screencasting Recorder Design Page

4. Polari

Description: Internet chat (IRC) client for GNOME

Mockup Wireframes

Objectives Talk in chat rooms Save history Clearly identify “mentions” Allow easy access to history Remember last used rooms Offer sensible list of networks Detect links posted in the room and display them Support saving or sending transcripts Native GNOME 3 notifications Integrated pastebin support Integrated bugzilla support File transfers Support for 20+ rooms and private chats Contacts integration (display servers, nicks and availability in GNOME Contacts)?

Empathy also supports IRC so if ever that Apps makes it into Gnome it will make sense to be launched from Empathy.

Polari Design Page

5. Money

Description: A simple, clean, beautiful view for your cash income, expenses and balances. Any user have incomes and expenses.

Objectives

Create an interface to easy manage your cash.

Primary

• Information about
  • Accaunts status
  • Stores spends / incomes
  • Categorie sepnds / incomes
  • Products spends / incomes
• Display cash status as
  • Circle diagram
  • Graph diagram
  • Table
• Easy transfare
• Repetition transfares

Secondary

• Search products and categories
• Easy settings

Money seems quite optimistic and tries to clearly compete with the powerful GnuCash, at least in the casual everyday use.

Money Design Page

6. Reads

Description: It would be nice to have a simple and elegant replacement for using Files to show a “Reads” or “Texts” directory containing all text based content not-created or worked on by the user. (ebooks, emagazines, guides, etc)

*Reads renamed Reads from Texts!

Objectives View recent local Texts View online/cloud Texts (Wikis, Amazon, Scribd, etc) Search through Texts Store a reading list / todo list – and provide reminders See new Texts shared by friends (Scribd, amazon, View Texts full screen Print Texts Select favorites Set/Goto Bookmarks Provide simple anotation. View informations about writing : date of publication, editor, authors etc.

Reads is clearly distinct from Documents and its cloud future plans seems impressive specially with Wiki online view and sharing capabilities!

Reads Design Page 

7. Reader’s Notebook

Description: The purpose of this application is to help users to keep informations about publications (articles, ebooks, books etc.). It might interest not only academics, but any one who likes books and readings and want to reminds about them.

Objectives

• Take notes on publications.
• Manage collections
• Share collections and notes on publications.
• Use publications references to quote in papers.
• Search for new publications and adding them.
• Import local files (ebooks, pdf etc.) and references (Zotero, bibtex etc.).

Design hasn’t started yet., but it seems a just more advance App than Gnome Notes.

Reader’s Notebook Design Page 

8. Getting Things Gnome

Description: To-Do and Task Manager.

• Redesign GTG to fit the Gnome Core Apps HIG requirements
• Reducing the program to one top-level window
• Eradicate some Usability Flaws

    

ToDo Task Manager Design Page     GTG Design Page

9. To Do

Description: A simple to do list application that syncs with Google Tasks.Simple to do lists – shopping lists, a list of tasks, basic Scheduling.

To Do Design Page

Overview

First of, the above are *just* tentative designs and are not included as official Gnome goals or features -at least for now. Money, Reads, GTG and Screencasting Recorder seems quite promising, and they can fit into Core Gnome in my opinion.

While these Apps are “potentially included” in Gnome, there are so many new Apps to come, -apart from Videos, Music, Calendar, Photos – like Usage, Oops, Lockdown-just to recall some of them- that together with an SDK will try to offer the Gnome OS experience.

What is common between all Gnome Apps, is that they are trying to break the all-in-one paradigm into smaller distinct Apps, which are integrated with the “rest” system and they can talk between them.  Also the context selection pattern of Gnome seems to work quite well, alongside with new Menus as these are defined in Gnome HIG.

About Cloud possibilities? Well, Gnome is definitely trying to be a Cloud Ready Desktop, but as long as Cloud Services will not be free or while they require strict authorizations, we can’t expect much.

*Please check the links under every App on Gnome Live to learn more!