[Mailman-Developers] Interested in - Better User Settings Management

[Florian Fuchs]

2013/4/15 Sneha Priscilla <24.sneha at gmail.com>:
> Hey everyone!

Hey Sneha!

> I had introduced myself earlier on this list but I guess I can do it again.
> :)

Sorry about that -- and thanks for writing again!

> I'm Sneha Priscilla, a final year undergraduate CS student from
> Bangalore, India. I was a previous Summer of Code student for Systers
> last year and I have in the process,  worked with a lot of Mailman
> too.
>
>
> I am especially interested in Postorius and would like to implement
> one of the following ideas this summer:
> 1.Better User Settings Management
> 2.Design interface "themes" for specific types of list
> 3.Enhance list style capabilities

> The one I am most interested in is 'Better User Settings Management'.
> I'd like to know if it's a feasible idea for this summer and how
> important is it on the list of project ideas for Mailman this year?

It is certainly a priority in Postorius, because it's one of the last
missing features (and we're about to add a very simple version of it
in order to be able to release a new beta soon). The core's
architecture allows very fine-grained changes to a user's settings,
like (but not limited to) the ones described on our ideas page.
Because of that complexity, one very important aspect of this project
is to come up with interface ideas that will not leave people confused
(or how Terri described it: the "user interface nightmare"). So I
think it could make for a very interesting summer project, both on the
architectural as well as on the coding side.

Overall I'd say it's probably one of the more important project ideas,
although that definitely depends on who you ask. ;-)
Also, it's a bit difficult to categorize the project ideas in
"important" and "less important" ones. Even a project idea that hasn't
been in the center of our attention can suddenly become very important
if we receive a great application for it.

> Also, since this is something which could also serve as an important
> Systers project, is it viable to be joint mentored by Systers and
> Mailman?

Not officially. We'd have to decide if Systers or the PSF would be the
"official" mentoring org.
That being said: What's the harm in more than one person giving advice
to a student? As long as there is one person who is formally in charge
and is committed to keep the ball rolling.


Cheers
Florian