pedrohttps://amplifi.casa/~/Pedro@fediverse.blog/atom.xml2021-03-30T09:58:03.968376+00:00<![CDATA[FixFest at Collabora]]>https://fediverse.blog/~/Pedro/fix-fest-at-collabora/2021-03-30T09:58:03.968376+00:00pedro.silvahttps://fediverse.blog/@/pedro.silva/2021-03-30T09:58:03.968376+00:00<![CDATA[<p dir="auto">Last week we had a Fixfest at Collabora where anyone could stop any further development and solve one of those pet bugs that you would like to see it fixed but still didn’t get around to do it. Basically is a nice way to improve and polish corners :) . Here is what I was able to pick and fix:</p>
<h2 dir="auto">Improve look and feel of notebookbar when on a tablet</h2>
<ul dir="auto">
<li dir="auto">when opening a document (before pressing edit button) the document name looks butchered</li>
<li dir="auto">Fix menu layout when going from landscape to portrait</li>
<li dir="auto">Fix centre alignment</li>
<li dir="auto">Safari is setting old safari-styles and overriding ours</li>
</ul>
<p dir="auto">This actually ended up to also benefit desktop: <a href="https://github.com/CollaboraOnline/online/pull/1869" rel="noopener noreferrer">PR#1869</a></p>
<h2 dir="auto">Remove unnecessary duplicity when using Notebookbar mode</h2>
<p dir="auto">While fixing this also took the opportunity to fix other layout related issues:</p>
<ul dir="auto">
<li dir="auto">Remove duplicated of “Field” (Fields dialog)
<ul dir="auto">
<li dir="auto">Retain bigtoolitem</li>
<li dir="auto">Remove menutoolitem with label</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li dir="auto">Fix alignment of remaining field items
<ul dir="auto">
<li dir="auto">Group it in two groups</li>
<li dir="auto">Vertically so to use notebookbar space more efeciently</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<p dir="auto"><a href="https://github.com/CollaboraOnline/online/pull/1810" rel="noopener noreferrer">PR#1810</a></p>
<h2 dir="auto">Fix button sizes</h2>
<ul dir="auto">
<li dir="auto">Close https://github.com/CollaboraOnline/online/pull/1212
<ul dir="auto">
<li dir="auto">brings regressions</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li dir="auto">Come up with better fix
<ul dir="auto">
<li dir="auto">consistent sizes between classic and NB</li>
<li dir="auto">also fix bigger hover status on those buttons</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<p dir="auto"><a href="https://github.com/CollaboraOnline/online/pull/1848/" rel="noopener noreferrer">PR#1848</a></p>
<h2 dir="auto">Draw: NotebookBar: Fix Print control and Add download as PNG</h2>
<p dir="auto">Draw was missing direct download as png. I also took the opportunity to add some more improvements:</p>
<ul dir="auto">
<li dir="auto">Make it as bigtoolitem instead (to be consistent with the other apps)</li>
<li dir="auto">Make use of command</li>
</ul>
<p dir="auto"><a href="https://github.com/CollaboraOnline/online/pull/1808" rel="noopener noreferrer">PR#1808</a></p>
<p dir="auto">There was also time to do some much needed patch porting and review/test.</p>
]]><![CDATA[Templates- ftw!]]>https://fediverse.blog/~/Pedro/odf-templates/2021-03-19T11:47:58.192785+00:00pedro.silvahttps://fediverse.blog/@/pedro.silva/2021-03-19T11:47:58.192785+00:00<![CDATA[<p>Uff so many things happening and not so much energy or time left to write about them! While working on Collabora Online (and directly or indirectly on LibreOffice) many nice things have been happening (I will hopefully find time to write about them). Today, let’s focus on templates!</p>
<p>Context:</p>
<ul>
<li>Adfinis sponsored a cool LibreOffice template contest
<ul>
<li><a href="https://adfinis.com/en/blog/libreoffice-template-contest-2020/" rel="noopener noreferrer">https://adfinis.com/en/blog/libreoffice-template-contest-2020/</a></li>
<li><a href="https://blog.documentfoundation.org/blog/2020/12/10/libreoffice-template-contest-win-awesome-prizes/" rel="noopener noreferrer">https://blog.documentfoundation.org/blog/2020/12/10/libreoffice-template-contest-win-awesome-prizes/</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>I was part of the jury </li>
<li>We received many exiting submissions
<ul>
<li><a href="https://blog.documentfoundation.org/blog/2020/12/10/libreoffice-template-contest-win-awesome-prizes/" rel="noopener noreferrer">https://adfinis.com/en/blog/winners-of-the-libreoffice-template-contest-2020/</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>While discussing with Nicolas and Heiko we thought it could be a nice idea to start a series of posts on templates
<ul>
<li>Intro</li>
<li>Tips and tricks for each application (Writer, Calc, Impress)</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<p>This is the first blog post originally shared on <a href="https://design.blog.documentfoundation.org/2021/03/11/templates-ftw/" rel="noopener noreferrer">LibreOffice Design Team Blog</a>:</p>
<hr>
<p>Templates can seem daunting and overly complex as any new concept. Hopefully this series of articles will help to understand and clarify some of your worries. If you have never heard of templates or if, for any reason, you tend to avoid them- this is for you. Already working with them in your workflow? Cool, so read up and revisit some of the reasons why you rock. Templates for the win!</p>
<h2>Template who?</h2>
<p>Designing a document every time you need to do a write up, present something or do your accounting doesn’t sound smart or even reasonable. The solution is to use templates:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>A template is a model document that you use to create other documents. For example, you can create a template for business reports that has your company’s logo on the first page. New documents created from this template will always have your company’s logo on the first page.
<a href="https://nextcloud.documentfoundation.org/s/BqZrc5KpLYao4Ed" rel="noopener noreferrer">Getting Started with LibreOffice 6.4, pp. 71</a></p>
</blockquote>
<p>Not a designer? No need to be one to create a template, a template might be just what you need to bring some peace of mind and confidence to your documents as they will force consistent formatting and structure in a re-usable fashion. Remember, you can always</p>
<ul>
<li>use an <a href="https://help.libreoffice.org/6.4/en-GB/text/swriter/guide/template_create.html?DbPAR=WRITER#bm_id3149688" rel="noopener noreferrer">existent document to create a template</a></li>
<li>or even get fresh new ones from the <a href="https://extensions.libreoffice.org/" rel="noopener noreferrer">LibreOffice Extensions web site</a>.</li>
</ul>
<h2>What do they store</h2>
<p>Formatting and structure to re-use or share</p>
<ul>
<li>Formatting: Page styles, Paragraph styles, Character styles, Table styles, Frame styles, List styles, Cell styles, Drawing styles, Presentation styles</li>
<li>Structure: Outlines, Shapes, Placeholders, Automatic Fields, Page Styles, Master Slides</li>
</ul>
<p>Yes, but when using other office suites changing a template too often or mixing it would lead to troubles? Don’t be afraid, you will find that templates in LibreOffice are quite stable and not an afterthought (actually all documents in LibreOffice are based on templates).</p>
<h2>Tips and tricks on how to template</h2>
<p>Templates have their own set of extra options and menus that normal files do not have. Thus they offer extra functionality and flexibility while preventing headaches with inconsistent documents and repetitive tasks. Stay tuned for the upcoming articles where we will be taking a deep dive on how you can improve your workflow and save time with templates.</p>
<p>Originally post on <a href="https://design.blog.documentfoundation.org/2021/03/11/templates-ftw/" rel="noopener noreferrer">LibreOffice Design Team Blog</a></p>
]]><![CDATA[Writer: Register-true]]>https://fediverse.blog/~/Pedro/writer-register-true/2020-07-03T10:37:10.782848+00:00pedro.silvahttps://fediverse.blog/@/pedro.silva/2020-07-03T10:37:10.782848+00:00<![CDATA[<h1>Register true - improving usability</h1>
<p>Writer will have better labelling, additional information and hopefully increased discoverability on all <em>Register-true</em> options.</p>
<h2>What is it and how it works currently</h2>
<p>According to the <a href="https://help.libreoffice.org/6.2/en-US/text/swriter/guide/registertrue.html?&DbPAR=WRITER&System=WIN" rel="noopener noreferrer">Libreoffice help</a> Register-true is:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>[...] a typography term that is used in printing. This term refers to the congruent imprint of the lines within a type area on the front and the back side of book pages, newspaper pages and magazine pages. The register-true feature make these pages easier to read by preventing gray shadows from shining through between the lines of text. The register-true term also refers to lines in adjacent text columns that are of the same height.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>This feature is laid out via a group of options located both on Page Style dialog and Paragraph dialog that allows the user to:</p>
<ul>
<li>Set a specific line spacing (leading) according to a paragraph style to a page</li>
<li>Choose which paragraph styles should follow that ^ line spacing. This will not alter any paragraph style but merely ignore it's individual line spacing in favour of the line spacing set in our Page Style dialog.</li>
</ul>
<p><img src="https://fediverse.blog/static/media/F0123684-BF5E-07F2-B848-6D77C8A81EBE.png" alt="LibreOffice Writer: Page Style and Paragraph dialog and the Register-true feature"></p>
<h2>Motivation</h2>
<p>My motivation to try to clarify this feature and to keep it consistent throughout the dialogs is three-fold:</p>
<h3>I Love it</h3>
<p>As far as I know, LibreOffice (and its supported versions: e.g.: Collabora<sup>1</sup> Office) is one of the few of its kinda with this type of capabilities. On top of that you can work with it straight from a web browser! This and other advance features have been available on <a href="https://www.collaboraoffice.com/collabora-online/" rel="noopener noreferrer">Collabora Online</a> for quite some time now. And that's awesome! I just love that we have this extremely powerful feature at our disposal right here right now.</p>
<h3>Terminology</h3>
<p>All things considered <code>Register-true</code> is a term that I do understand and remember to hear it from typographic shops and newspapers but it normally works as an adjective to signify that something is aligned (from front to back) and not as a label, descriptive term or option. Another interesting argument can be made for the confusing aspect of the term itself, specially for the average (non-designer) user. Thus decreasing the level of technicality and increasing the visual aids (via tooltips) might be a good improvement.</p>
<h3>Consistency</h3>
<p>Different terms are used in different places and are disconnected from the terminology already known by the user.</p>
<table><thead><tr><th> Dialogs </th><th> Notes </th></tr></thead><tbody>
<tr><td> Page style: Register-true & Referenced style </td><td> no additional info, no mention of paragraph style anywhere nor line spacing </td></tr>
<tr><td> Paragraph: Indents & Spacing: Register-true & Activate </td><td> no additional info, no relation with line spacing or page </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<h2>Research & Discussion</h2>
<p>So the next step was to try to come up with something a little bit more semantic and consistent while adding any visual aid in the hopes of making it easier to understand and more inviting. To be able to do this it was crucial to research and discuss with other fellow community members.</p>
<ul>
<li>How this is lectured in typography courses and how it appears in graphic design and typographic books: Baseline grid</li>
<li>How register-true is define according to the <a href="http://docs.oasis-open.org/office/v1.2/os/OpenDocument-v1.2-os-part1.html#__RefHeading__1420116_253892949" rel="noopener noreferrer">Open Document Format for Office Applications (OpenDocument) Version 1.2 </a></li>
<li>Past discussion on the origin of the choice of that term in <a href="https://listarchives.libreoffice.org/global/users/msg22554.html" rel="noopener noreferrer">the LibreOffice mailing lists</a></li>
<li>Taking into account that even advanced LibO users, when asked, might know this feature exists. And as some of kind of feature to avoid "kind of obscure option that you should switch otherwise you might forgot that is there it it will interfere with your paragraph styles". I hear these both in person (notably in the last LibO Con) as well as in chat rooms.</li>
<li>Initiate the proposal / discussion by filling a <a href="https://gerrit.libreoffice.org/c/core/+/96424" rel="noopener noreferrer">ticket</a> on Bugzilla</li>
</ul>
<p><img src="https://fediverse.blog/static/media/D481E433-7E5F-CCB4-DF9D-34FFB7D43417.png" alt="Research for the TDF 127279 register true improvements"></p>
<ul>
<li>Page from the book Thinking with Type by Ellen Lupton, InDesign screenshot</li>
<li>Meggs' History of Graphic Design (mine is the 5th edition) also mentions baseline multiple times</li>
<li>The Elements of Typographic Style by Robert Bringhurst (mine is the 4th edition) has also some mention of baseline (also leading and vertical motion)</li>
</ul>
<h2>Agreed proposal & patch</h2>
<p>With all the valuable input from: Heiko Tietze, V Stuart Foote and Olivier Hallot, I have adjusted my proposal and we have arrived to an agreement. I submit a patch with these changes :) and it has been merged into <a href="https://gerrit.libreoffice.org/c/core/+/96424" rel="noopener noreferrer">core:master branch</a> (it will be probably cherry-picked eventually to older version, specially once we have the translations.)</p>
<p>Here is how it looks currently on master (note: this might have changed already since we are talking about a fast passing branch)
<img src="https://fediverse.blog/static/media/60AA8C92-866F-1477-566E-C2282617F3A4.png" alt="TDF 127279 register true improvements cherry-picked to 6-2 locally"></p>
<blockquote>
<p>All paragraph styles with the option "Page line spacing" checked will be affected, assuming the line spacing defined here. This will align them to an invisible vertical page grid, regardless of their font size, so that each line is the same height.</p>
</blockquote>
<p><em>Tooltip</em></p>
<p><img src="https://fediverse.blog/static/media/D25CE721-B74C-FCB2-D823-BA34DABC2DC7.png" alt="TDF 127279 register true improvements paragraph dialog on master"></p>
<hr>
<ol>
<li>Where I currently and happily work : )</li>
</ol>
]]><![CDATA[Try the new GIMP!]]>https://fediverse.blog/~/Pedro/try-the-new-gimp/2020-05-10T20:06:49.436156+00:00pedro.silvahttps://fediverse.blog/@/pedro.silva/2020-05-10T20:06:49.436156+00:00<![CDATA[<h1>Try the latest GIMP in any distro</h1>
<p>GNU Image Manipulation Program - GIMP</p>
<p>Are you</p>
<ul>
<li>in a Long Term Support GNU/Linux distribution and the current GIMP version sitting in the official repositories is ancient and you want to have a peack into <strong>development</strong>?</li>
<li>or you are in a non-LTS distro and the current GIMP version is not as ancient but still you want to try the newest and perhaps help with <strong>testing</strong>?</li>
</ul>
<p>So this article is for you :)</p>
<p><em>¡This is not a tutorial on how to get the latest stable version of GIMP!</em></p>
<h2>PPA</h2>
<p>I’m skipping this because even using Personal Packages Archives (created by the community) you will still be slightly behind the latest builds. Nevertheless there are many tutorials on the web pointing to <code>https://launchpad.net/~otto-kesselgulasch/+archive/ubuntu/gimp</code> (for ubuntu) PPA where you will find Ubuntu source packages to be built and published as an apt repository by Launchpad.</p>
<h2>Flatpak</h2>
<p>Amazing way to get your software via this universal app format. Flatpak makes it easy to install software by bundling all the necessary dependencies as part of the app you are trying to get, in this case GIMP. And you can even install plugins there by placing them under:</p>
<ul>
<li>~/.var/app/org.gimp.GIMP/config/GIMP/2.10/plug-ins</li>
<li>/app/share/gimp/2.0/plug-ins</li>
</ul>
<p>well.. almost all of them because G’MIC still does not run under flatpak due to the lack of QT support which is a requirement for G’MIC plugin. Moreover you will still be slightly behind the development if your purpose is to just try and latest and help with testing, filing bugs etc..</p>
<h2>Snaps</h2>
<p>Same inconvinient as Flatpak.</p>
<h2>Appimage (continues integration)</h2>
<p>There is an AppImage that is built on CentOS 7, using a custom Docker container that provides all the required up-to-date dependencies. The whole build process is automated with Travis CI. A cron job is scheduled to run on a weekly basis and builds the git HEAD version of BABL/GEGL/GIMP. The updated AppImage package is automatically uploaded to the continuous release page. Ding Ding! You can now test easily a very recent version of GIMP and G’MIC works as well as the other plugins! And all these while having still your stable GIMP version installed side by side ;)
<a href="https://github.com/aferrero2707/gimp-appimage/tree/master" rel="noopener noreferrer">Repository by aferrero2707</a></p>
<p>You can either add the plugins manually by Extracting the appimage or you can install via the <a href="https://github.com/aferrero2707/gimp-plugins-collection/releases/tag/continuous" rel="noopener noreferrer">bundle plugins release page</a></p>
<h3>Manually</h3>
<ol>
<li>
<p>Start by heading over <a href="https://github.com/aferrero2707/gimp-appimage/releases" rel="noopener noreferrer">The release list</a> and downloading the latest from within the <code>Assets</code> group;</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>In your terminal, navigate to the folder where you have the appimage for example:
<code>cd Downloads/</code></p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Then Extract the appimage with</p>
</li>
</ol>
<p><code>./GIMP_AppImage-git-2.10.19-20200508-x86_64.AppImage --appimage-extract</code></p>
<p>You will now see a folder with name : <code>squashfs-root</code>. You can run GIMP from there by:
3.1 Making sure that the file has permission to be executed <code>$ chmod a+x AppRun</code>
3.2 Double clicking in it</p>
<ol start="4">
<li>Final step, download your plugins and place them under:</li>
</ol>
<p><code>/home/[yourusername]/.config/GIMP-AppImage/2.10/plug-ins/</code></p>
<p>For example for <a href="https://gmic.eu/download.shtml" rel="noopener noreferrer">G’MIC download</a> the latest version from their website and copy the <code>gmic_gimp_qt</code> in the above location.</p>
<h3>Automatically (installing the bundled version)</h3>
<p>by Carmelo_DrRaw</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I have re-introduced the AppImage packages that bundle several GIMP plug-ins, because several people have asked for them.
It is still possible to install and update the plug-ins separately, as explained [here] (GIMP AppImage plug-ins moved to a separate repository 16). In this case they will take precedence over the bundled ones.</p>
</blockquote>
<p><a href="https://discuss.pixls.us/t/gimp-appimage-continuous-integration/1959/561" rel="noopener noreferrer">discussion over pixls.us website</a></p>
<h1>Testing and reporting</h1>
<ol>
<li>Be kind and make sure you have searched before reporting a duplicated bug ; )</li>
<li>Head over <a href="https://www.gimp.org/bugs/" rel="noopener noreferrer">GIMP.org/bugs</a> it's a good place to start</li>
<li>Report or help other by adding valuable info: <a href="https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/gimp/issues?label_name%5B%5D=OS%3A+Linux" rel="noopener noreferrer">GIMP GitLab:Linux</a></li>
</ol>
<p>Oh and of course you can also help by donating to the GIMP project:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.gimp.org/donating/" rel="noopener noreferrer">GIMP.org/donating</a></li>
<li>Fund GEGL development by <a href="https://www.patreon.com/pippin" rel="noopener noreferrer">showing your support to Øyvind Kolås</a></li>
<li>Fund directly <a href="https://www.patreon.com/zemarmot" rel="noopener noreferrer">Jehan Pagès and the project ZeMarmot</a></li>
<li>Or simply by showing your appreciation either via mailing lists, socila media or direct email to the team : )</li>
</ul>
<p><a href="https://gmic.eu/" rel="noopener noreferrer">G'MIC</a>:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://libreart.info/en/projects/gmic" rel="noopener noreferrer">G'MIC Donations</a></li>
</ul>
<hr>
<p>Header Image: Screenshot used in the <a href="https://www.gimp.org/news/2020/02/24/gimp-2-10-18-released/" rel="noopener noreferrer">Tools now grouped by default section from GIMP 2.10.18 Released - GIMP</a></p>
<p>Check the status of the <a href="https://travis-ci.org/github/aferrero2707/gimp-appimage" rel="noopener noreferrer">CI build</a></p>
<p>Appimage is already in the <a href="https://appimage.github.io/GIMP/" rel="noopener noreferrer">AppImageHub</a></p>
]]><![CDATA[FOSDEM 2020]]>https://fediverse.blog/~/Pedro/fosdem-2020-make-online-yours/2020-02-03T12:14:54.710133+00:00pedro.silvahttps://fediverse.blog/@/pedro.silva/2020-02-03T12:14:54.710133+00:00<![CDATA[<p>This years FOSDEM was great! Having the opportunity to say hi to so many friends and geek away into the sunset was just so cool :)</p>
<h2>Awesome talks</h2>
<p>Such a myriad of different things to choose from led me to miss many of them. From one building to another it was difficult to keep up but here are a couple that you would definitely enjoy:</p>
<ul>
<li>The marvellous story lesson by Michael: <a href="https://fosdem.org/2020/schedule/event/libreoffice_turns_ten/" rel="noopener noreferrer">LibreOffice turns ten and what's next Lots to learn, and get excited about </a></li>
<li><a href="https://twitter.com/PedroPS/status/1223664547275378694?s=20n" rel="noopener noreferrer">Nicolas Christener showing off Collabora on iOS</a></li>
<li>The lovely active community from Indonesia represented by <a href="https://fosdem.org/2020/schedule/event/libreoffice_theme_changer/" rel="noopener noreferrer">Rania Amina and their LibreOffice Theme Changer plus theme for Kids!</a></li>
<li>Manufactura Independente with <a href="https://fosdem.org/2020/schedule/event/what_are_we_talking_about_when_we_say_open_design/" rel="noopener noreferrer">What are we talking about when we say "open design"?</a></li>
<li><a href="https://fosdem.org/2020/schedule/event/proposal_to_inspect_and_highlight_styles_in_writer/" rel="noopener noreferrer">Proposal to inspect and highlight styles in Writer by Heiko</a></li>
</ul>
<h2>Podcast on the way!</h2>
<p>And I was able to meet again with my beautiful people from Ubuntu community (Portugal) :) and while we were at it we end up recording our chitchat and revealing interesting upcoming news ;) . So don't miss the next episode of <a href="ubuntu-pt.org/" rel="noopener noreferrer">Ubuntu Portugal</a></p>
<h2>My talk and interesting links</h2>
<p><a href="https://fosdem.org/2020/schedule/event/make_online_yours/" rel="noopener noreferrer"> <img src="https://fediverse.blog/static/media/971D4BE5-796B-4A7A-5798-AE59A3953FF3.png" alt="Video thumbnail from "Make Online yours" presentation at FOSDEM"></a></p>
<p><a href="https://fosdem.org/2020/schedule/event/make_online_yours/attachments/slides/3849/export/events/attachments/make_online_yours/slides/3849/Make_Online_yours_Pedro_Silva_FOSDEM" rel="noopener noreferrer">My Slides</a></p>
<h3>Links</h3>
<ul>
<li>Download SASS DART package from <a href="https://github.com/sass/dart-sass/releases" rel="noopener noreferrer">GitHub</a></li>
<li>Enable source maps on Firefox <a href="col.la/sassonff" rel="noopener noreferrer">col.la/sassonff</a></li>
<li>Enable source maps on Chrome <a href="col.la/sassonchrome" rel="noopener noreferrer">col.la/sassonchrome</a></li>
<li>Tomaž Vajngerl’s presentation <a href="col.la/libocon2019vajngerl" rel="noopener noreferrer">col.la/libocon2019vajngerl</a></li>
</ul>
]]><![CDATA[Dev Bootcamp in Ankara]]>https://fediverse.blog/~/Pedro/dev-bootcamp-in-ankara/2020-01-21T15:10:39.246645+00:00pedro.silvahttps://fediverse.blog/@/pedro.silva/2020-01-21T15:10:39.246645+00:00<![CDATA[<p>Ankara is the capital of the Turkey. The second largest city of Turkey. Due to its elevation and inland location, Ankara has cold, snowy winters and hot, dry summers. Rainfall occurs mostly during the spring and autumn. It was with this nice scenery that the crazy good Dev Boot-camp accompanied with the exciting LO Hackfest 2019 happened and I'm here to tell you all about it!</p>
<p><img src="https://fediverse.blog/static/media/9536E06F-555B-DAB7-5434-B2283316D6CF.png" alt="Banner for LibreOffice Bootcamp sponsored by Collabora event"></p>
<h2>Mentor</h2>
<p>Muhammet Kara is the mentor of all this, a Consultant Software Engineer at Collabora Productivity, Developer of LibreOffice, Member of TDF and GNOME foundation, and GNOME Turkish Translation Team Coordinator. Muhammet has been lecturing, giving workshops and accepting internees at <a href="https://www.hacettepeteknokent.com.tr/en/" rel="noopener noreferrer">Hacettepe Technology Development Zone</a> in the Hacettepe University for quite a while now. But finding students with the right tool-set and with the all pre-requisites to develop and contribute for LO has been a bit difficult. And that's how this bootcamp came about, a series of courses that provide that initial step in fulfilling all those pre-requisites and that end-up to go beyond that initial goal sponsored by Collabora.</p>
<h2>The students</h2>
<p>The students were coming from many different levels, ranging from 1st years students to full PhD professionals! On average they were coming from computer sciences background. Nevertheless there were also people from Mathematics and Literature fields of study. And that's awesome :)</p>
<p><img src="https://fediverse.blog/static/media/6C2A5E15-976C-69C4-F8C2-814D2E77F41D.jpg" alt="Ankara Dev Bootcamp: Mentor and students working together">
After the first sessions the study group decreased in size but always keeping a great effort (even after the bootcamp!)</p>
<h2>What was lectured</h2>
<ul>
<li>First days: Basic C++</li>
<li>First days: Object Oriented concepts</li>
<li>Homework</li>
<li>By the 4th week Kara felt that the students' upcoming tasks would become easier if their development environment was also easier to setup and if a few concepts were cleared up. Thus a couple of extra topics were added to the course :p
<ul>
<li>F/LOSS</li>
<li>GNU/Linux
<ul>
<li>Context and Benefits when developing in it</li>
<li>How to install and configure, including dual-boot scenarios (Students were quite excited about all the possibilities and started their own get-together)</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Collaborating
<ul>
<li>GIT: What is it, How to setup and How to operate</li>
<li><a href="https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Development/gerrit" rel="noopener noreferrer">Gerrit</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Development environment
<ul>
<li>Installing all the tools and dependencies needed, sometimes even with short videos (<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pR2nR8cUrUo" rel="noopener noreferrer">Qt Creator Kurulumu - Windows 10 Üzerinde</a>)</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Contributing
<ul>
<li>Easyhacks</li>
<li>Reviewing and sending patchs</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<p>Wow, that's a lot. So many topics with so many interesting ramifications. Note that by having people (students and non-students) from such different backgrounds and with such different goals it could have been a slightly not so interesting event. On the contrary! It actually worked out quite wholesomely, that multidisciplinary group just worked as a exciting independent unit, so and so that they started to schedule extra get-together events every Saturday. Yes on every weekend :)</p>
<blockquote>
<p>We closed 2019 as the last event of the year with the Hackfest in Turkey while also being the first to Open 2020 with the 1st get-together of sorts here in Ankara :) - Kara</p>
</blockquote>
<h4>LibreOffice Ankara HackFest 2019</h4>
<p><img src="https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/images/7/79/HackfestAnkara2019.png" alt="HackfestAnkaraLogo"></p>
<ul>
<li>Working with local git branches for LibreOffice development</li>
<li>Event based programming in LibreOffice for UI widgets</li>
<li>Installing and working with Glade, and the .ui files in LibreOffice</li>
</ul>
<h2>Students' feedback</h2>
<p>Here are a couple of written reviews taken from the event's <a href="https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Hackfest/Ankara2019" rel="noopener noreferrer">wiki page</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>This event greatly improved my vision. Now I have healthier ideas about what free software is, and I think I'm going to enter the community. - Çağatay Yiğit</p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p>Until today, I had some concerns about sending patches. Nevertheless, I had any concern about sending. This event was technically educative - Yusuf Keten</p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p>I learned processes of contributing to any open source projects and more informations about easyhacks in Libreoffice. - Selim Şeker</p>
</blockquote>
<p><img src="https://fediverse.blog/static/media/77AED883-7D85-77AF-ECA9-A8E5CA892019.png" alt=" Ankara Dev Bootcamp: Gerrit commits">
These are just some of the commits taken from <code>https://gerrit.libreoffice.org/<a href="//fediverse.blog/tag/" rel="noopener noreferrer">#</a>/q/reviewer:%22Muhammet+Kara%22</code></p>
<p>Oh boy oh boy! So many contributions, congratulations for such a good effort!</p>
<p>If you live in Turkey don't be shy, go say hello to them on Telegram (LibreOffice Geliştirme) and join forces :)</p>
<p>-</p>
<p><strong>Footnotes</strong></p>
<p>Sponsor: Collabora Productivity</p>
<p>University's website: <a href="https://hacettepe.edu.tr/english/" rel="noopener noreferrer">https://hacettepe.edu.tr/english/</a></p>
<p>Kara's blog: <a href="https://muhammetkara.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer">https://muhammetkara.com/</a></p>
<p>Turkish LO Telegram group: LibreOffice Geliştirme</p>
<p>Hack-fest wiki page: https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Hackfest/Ankara2019</p>
<p>Header photo: "Overview of central Ankara. Photo taken from the Citadel on the hilltop near Ulus. In the front there's the old town, in the upper left part you can see the Atakule (spheric tower) and the Kocatepe Mosque." Author: <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Uspn" rel="noopener noreferrer">Bjørn Christian Tørrissen</a> and in http://bjornfree.com/galleries.html</p>
]]><![CDATA[Customizing your office suite]]>https://fediverse.blog/~/Pedro/customizing-your-office-suite/2020-01-14T11:23:53.930303+00:00pedro.silvahttps://fediverse.blog/@/pedro.silva/2020-01-14T11:23:53.930303+00:00<![CDATA[<p>Today I would like to write a case in favour of customization as a way to adapt a tool to your needs and not the other way around allowing for great flexibility and thus improving one's flow <sup>1</sup>. All screenshots were taken from Collabora Office but similar results can be achieved using LibreOffice <sup>2</sup>.</p>
<p>In the tradition of F/LOSS, LibreOffice is highly configurable, and many of its characteristics can be changed. Although LO has only one specific dialog (<strong><code>Tools: Customize…</code></strong>) there are some other options scattered in other places. I'll try by best to show you how to adjust all these and, hopefully, you will be able to customize it so it works best to your workflow.</p>
<h2>The Customize Dialog</h2>
<p>Open the Customize dialog via the <strong><code>Tools: Customize…</code></strong> menu or as noted in <sup>3</sup> you can also access it by, for instance, right clicing a toolbar and choosing <strong><code>Customize Toolbar…</code></strong> . It is divided in many tabs, as shown bellow.
<img src="https://fediverse.blog/static/media/7C217642-438A-F6E7-BE3D-F2E807219D71.png" alt="Screenshot: Using CollaboraOffice, accessing Customize dialog"></p>
<ul>
<li>Menus: Customizing menu content, rearranging categories on the menu bar, add commands to menus, etc.</li>
<li>Toolbars: Toolbar positions (docked or not), icons visibility, add new actions or remove existing ones. You can also create new toolbars! (<strong><code>Tools: Customize…: Toolbars: Cogwheel: Add…</code></strong>)</li>
</ul>
<p>You can also customize Context Menus; Keyboard shortcuts and Events. More info at <a href="https://documentation.libreoffice.org/en/english-documentation/getting-started-guide/" rel="noopener noreferrer">LO Getting Started Guide </a> or get your physical copy <a href="http://www.lulu.com/shop/http://www.lulu.com/shop/libreoffice-documentation-team/getting-started-with-libreoffice-60/paperback/product-23984440.html" rel="noopener noreferrer">at Lulu</a>.</p>
<h2>The Options Dialog: View</h2>
<p>If you want to have granular control over what icon theme is used, icon sizes, font options etc you should give this dialog a try.</p>
<p><img src="https://fediverse.blog/static/media/89B97EDC-82FB-0796-5285-61E9514B3243.png" alt="Screenshot: Using CollaboraOffice, accessing Options dialog (view)"></p>
<p>Select the option <strong><code>Show</code></strong> under <strong><code>Shortcuts in context menus:</code></strong> this will help you learn new shortcuts and will work as a reminder for already known shortcuts.</p>
<p>Select the option <strong><code>Show</code></strong> under <strong><code>Icons in menus:</code></strong> if you want all the available icons to be displayed in your menu entries. This option should be used with caution as having many visual cues coming at you at once, every single time, you use the menus might not be ideal.</p>
<h2>Real case scenario</h2>
<p>So I have a couple of tools customized to fit my workflow. For example when using Draw, for the majority of the things I do, I tend to relay heavily on some features (sometimes hidden) and not using at all some other features. Again this is just my particular case yours might be different.</p>
<p>And so I have adjusted it so things such as project properties and layout controls (grid, guidelines, ruler, snap options etc) are not only visible but also within direct reach (top toolbar); followed by other favourite actions of mine;</p>
<p>on the right side I have removed the page pane (since I tend to have one, two pages max on average) and replaced all the default actions (related to drawing) with manipulation tools (Alignment, Flip, etc).</p>
<p>Note: every inexistent toolbar will appear as a small top window when needed. For example when writing I use a lot the sidebar but I also configure it in such a way that <strong><code>Text formatting</code></strong> window appears (with extra actions like make all selected text uppercase etc) every time I enter any textbox.
<img src="https://fediverse.blog/static/media/59E0D5E8-B927-421B-8A0F-66565C52B2FE.png" alt="Screenshot: Using CollaboraOffice Draw, customized text formatting"></p>
<p>Here is how my Draw looks like (Leaflet version from the <a href="https://www.collaboraoffice.com/community-news/updated-libreoffice-growth-infographic-2019/" rel="noopener noreferrer">2019 Growth Infographics document</a>):
<img src="https://fediverse.blog/static/media/07E58888-CA26-A6AE-4C17-47A33E1900DB.png" alt="Screenshot: Using CollaboraOffice, Draw Customized"></p>
<p>and bellow how it looked with the default configurations:
<img src="https://fediverse.blog/static/media/F74C616C-976B-5182-0B63-08AD7C3C387D.png" alt="Screenshot: LO Draw, default"></p>
<h2>Load your customizations into other computer</h2>
<p>Anytime you change parameters your work is saved to a file called <strong><code>registrymodifications.xcu</code></strong> and stored on your machine, typically in the main config folder. Example: <code>~/.config/libreoffice/*/user/registrymodifications.xcu</code>. However there is an easier way to send your customizations to other person or to use it to migrate from on computer to another by creating in a template file from within that LO instance (the one where you did all your customizations).</p>
<h2>Remove personal information on saving</h2>
<p>You can also make sure that while testing no unwanted customizations gets saved to any file by going accessing the security dialog located on <strong><code>Tools: Options: Security</code></strong>, clicking <strong><code>Options...</code></strong> and ticking the <strong><code>Remove personal information on saving</code></strong> parameter.</p>
<p>_</p>
<ol>
<li><a href="https://www.nngroup.com/articles/ten-usability-heuristics/" rel="noopener noreferrer">"10 Usability Heuristics for User Interface Design", "7 Flexibility and efficiency of use", accessed in 2020</a></li>
<li>"Collabora Office is the enterprise office suite of LibreOffice, the world’s most widely used Open Source office suite. We provide installation and administration utilities together with long term maintenance and contracted support to deliver successful deployments with expertise." <a href="https://www.collaboraoffice.com/solutions/collabora-office/" rel="noopener noreferrer"> “Collabora Office”, "Solutions: Collabora Office", accessed in 2020</a></li>
<li>LibreOffice Getting Started Guide, <a href="https://documentation.libreoffice.org/en/english-documentation/getting-started-guide/" rel="noopener noreferrer">Chapter 14: Customizing LibreOffice</a> </li>
</ol>
]]><![CDATA[Christmas meetup in Prague]]>https://fediverse.blog/~/Pedro/christmas-meetup-in-prague/2019-12-17T16:14:24.692116+00:00pedro.silvahttps://fediverse.blog/@/pedro.silva/2019-12-17T16:14:24.692116+00:00<![CDATA[<p>Last Friday I had a lot of fun meeting up with some of my fellow Collaboreans that live in Prague. It was a little get together with food, drinks and on top of that with some really cool escape room game! :)</p>
<p>After working hard on so many cool bits, including <a href="https://twitter.com/CollaboraOffice/status/1204383593553899522?s=20" rel="noopener noreferrer">android release</a> and <a href="https://www.collaboraoffice.com/news/" rel="noopener noreferrer">more</a> it sure was nice to be together talking about games, food and family. Here are some photos:</p>
<p><img src="https://fediverse.blog/static/media/749F33C2-D700-E28F-25F6-60C6E166A00F.jpg" alt="Collage of our little get-together with fellow CZ Collaboreans"></p>
]]><![CDATA[Try the new Inkscape!]]>https://fediverse.blog/~/Pedro/try-the-new-inkscape/2019-11-27T16:05:43.293219+00:00pedro.silvahttps://fediverse.blog/@/pedro.silva/2019-11-27T16:05:43.293219+00:00<![CDATA[<p><img src="https://fediverse.blog/static/media/8F00FCD4-3254-EA0F-3064-54E0F06221D6.png" alt="Inkscape 1.0 Beta theming "></p>
<p>I have been using Inkscape 1.0 daily and it has come a long way with really cool features and improved workflow. For example the image you see above shows a set of new multi-color icons and how easy is to change theming without messing with config files plus some other neat options! But there is a lot that I'm not showing you in the hopes you get curious and just try it out ;) (possibility to rotate canvas, the complete redesign of path effects, so much cool stuff :D) Nevertheless, today, I will be focusing on how you can try the latest Inkscape (still in beta) as it seems many don't know they can!</p>
<p>First, the Inkscape team has been moving all their stuff, for some time now, to GitLab and they have been using the GitLab's Continuous Integration (CI). This means that every time one of the developers pushes a change upstream there are code pieces that run a pipeline of scripts to build, test, and validate the code changes before merging them into the main branch so you can test the newest changes in the same day the code was validated!</p>
<p><em>Ok ok but how!?</em></p>
<p>Disclaimer: These are GNU/Linux only instructions. Windows builds and macOS dmgs are linked from the website at <a href="https://inkscape.org/release/master/" rel="noopener noreferrer">inkscape.org/release/master</a></p>
<p>Open your favourite web browser and navigate to Inkscape's GitLab. There, click in CI/CD and then <a href="https://gitlab.com/inkscape/inkscape/-/jobs" rel="noopener noreferrer">Jobs</a>. Now do not freak out and just search for "appimage:linux" under column "Name" or simply use ctrl+F and start to type "appimage". Likely you will see many results, the important thing is to find the latest (Column: Timing) that has "Passed" (Column: Status) and that comes from "Master"('Column: Job). Once you found it just click the download icon that is located on the right.</p>
<p><img src="https://fediverse.blog/static/media/DFCE90AA-B672-BCF6-4F32-09512C6D7DCE.gif" alt="Download latest Inkscape from Gitlab"></p>
<p>You will end up with something like this:</p>
<p><img src="https://fediverse.blog/static/media/9A8097E2-185D-C61C-B3BB-86FCA7E07832.png" alt="Inkscape archive"></p>
<p>Just extract it and be sure that the file can be executed. You can do so by going into its properties:</p>
<p><img src="https://fediverse.blog/static/media/9D76C8EE-A6D0-5072-A02D-3C032BDFA363.png" alt="Extracting files from Inkscape archive"></p>
<p>Boom! Now be sure to:</p>
<p><a href="https://inkscape.org/support-us/donate/" rel="noopener noreferrer"><img title="Support the Inkscape Project and Donate" src="https://media.inkscape.org/media/cms_page_media/608/donate-button-180.png" alt="Medium banner says Support Inkscape"></a></p>
<ul>
<li>Express your gratitude by saying "thanks" to the team, or by donating to the team or even by buying books that can help support a developer. For example I have been donating via paypal (you can do just one time donations) and I also bought myself the print version of the <a href="http://tavmjong.free.fr/INKSCAPE/MANUAL/html/index.php" rel="noopener noreferrer">best online material on Inkscape ever</a> but there are <a href="https://inkscape.org/learn/books/" rel="noopener noreferrer">more options out there</a></li>
<li>File a bug or search if someone else didn't reported already and maybe you can be part of the discussion. I can attest that by doing this you will end up being an active part of the development process and, likely, you will be happier with the results. You can do so via <a href="https://inkscape.org/report" rel="noopener noreferrer">inkscape/report</a> or you can consult/read some old bugs in <a href="https://bugs.launchpad.net/inkscape/" rel="noopener noreferrer">Launchpad</a></li>
<li>Share and reshare this :)</li>
<li>Get some <a href="https://inkscape.org/shop/" rel="noopener noreferrer">swaaaag</a></li>
</ul>
<p><em>Not enough gimme more! I wanna go the extra mile!</em> : <a href="inkscape.org/contribute/to-do-list" rel="noopener noreferrer">https://inkscape.org/contribute/to-do-list/</a></p>
<p>Big thanks to Maren Hachmann AKA <a href="https://inkscape.org/%7EMoini/" rel="noopener noreferrer">Moini</a> for helping out with URL and technical proofreading and Michèle Thibeau for tweaking my grammar ;) </p>
]]><![CDATA[Full feature online office suite that truly respects your privacy]]>https://fediverse.blog/~/Pedro/a-trully-full-feature-online-office-suite-that-respects-your-privacy/2019-11-19T12:02:55.692503+00:00pedro.silvahttps://fediverse.blog/@/pedro.silva/2019-11-19T12:02:55.692503+00:00<![CDATA[<p><img src="https://fediverse.blog/static/media/542EF247-B292-ACD9-73C2-88014A21E010.png" alt="LinuxTechPT branding">
Yesterday was a long but rewarding day :)</p>
<p>I had a blast talking with André Paula and João Jotta from LinuxTechPT podcast. It's really something to be able to speak again in my own idiom specially when I often don't have that chance (since I'm in Prague). Moreover it's always super fun to be able to talk with like-minded people and even more when the subject is Collabora Online and all the cool things we have been doing and contributing at Collabora Productivity.</p>
<p>The streaming is now available on <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=71GNnjYzTNU" rel="noopener noreferrer">YouTube</a> and soon - after post editing it - will be available at <a href="https://linuxtech.pt" rel="noopener noreferrer">LinuxTech.pt RSS fedd</a></p>
<p>Topics:</p>
<ul>
<li>Who am I</li>
<li>Collabora: our parent company</li>
<li>Collabora: The cool advancements done in FLOSS VR/XR and <a href="https://www.collabora.com/news-and-blog/news-and-events/introducing-monado.html" rel="noopener noreferrer">Monado</a></li>
<li>Collabora Productivity: <a href="https://www.collaboraoffice.com/community-news/updated-libreoffice-growth-infographic-2019/" rel="noopener noreferrer">Major contributor to LibreOffice</a></li>
<li>Yes it is a FLOSS company</li>
<li>What is Collabora Online: The driving force behind putting LibreOffice in the cloud with support and backed by a huge community and partner network <a href="https://www.collaboraoffice.com/community-news/updated-libreoffice-growth-infographic-2019/" rel="noopener noreferrer">View infographics</a></li>
<li>What is Collabora Online: Viewing and Collaborative editing; Excellent interoperability with Microsoft formats; On-premise Integration with 150+ different partners; Simple architecture</li>
<li>Each document is served by a single node to which all requests and edits are sent for that document by the HA gateway: F5, HA proxy etc..</li>
<li>Each node is ultimately stateless</li>
<li>Documents and the cloud: your document doesn't leave your premise. I repeat your document does not leave your server.</li>
<li>Mission: Make Open Source Rock</li>
<li>Many have chosen Collabora Online specially due to its full-feature offer while ensuring high security levels (in contrast with other solutions: pixels, GDPR, etc)</li>
<li>Complete solution: Collabora Online + Collabora Office (formats and rich documents)</li>
<li>Mobile</li>
<li><a href="https://www.collaboraoffice.com/code/" rel="noopener noreferrer">CODE: Collabora Online Development Edition</a> (so many options: Native Linux packages, snapshots, App centre, Docker image)</li>
<li>Collabora Online regularly saves documents to your existing storage.</li>
<li>Others might require a separate Highly Available(HA) Redis frontend; access to a shared, HA NFS server; access to a HA postgress database cluster; access to an HA RabbitMQ message bus. Collabora Online does not.</li>
<li>Collabora Online requires no third party services except of course it needs to connect to your existing file-storage solution.</li>
<li>Collabora Online requires only a standard, basic Linux base-system to run on top of.</li>
<li>Work with community and with partner network = awesome plugins ( <a href="https://twitter.com/PedroPS/status/1194350745128259584?s=20" rel="noopener noreferrer">view and Edit collaborativly without leaving Mattermost</a>; <a href="https://www.collaboraoffice.com/news/" rel="noopener noreferrer">ios and other news</a>, awesome integrations with partners etc (and out of the blue, and believe it was not planed, João receives a cool native ios notification saying that there is a new Collabora Online version and that his Netxcloud instance is now using it!)</li>
<li>Collabora Online VS GDocs</li>
<li>Collabora Online VS Microsoft Office 365</li>
<li>We are in the process of improving the Pricing page so it's crystal clear which option is right for each different case/company needs. <a href="https://www.collaboraoffice.com/pricing/" rel="noopener noreferrer">So stay tuned!</a></li>
<li>Quick personal QA sprint</li>
</ul>
]]><![CDATA[Hello World!]]>https://fediverse.blog/~/Pedro/title/2019-11-19T10:08:54.725220+00:00pedro.silvahttps://fediverse.blog/@/pedro.silva/2019-11-19T10:08:54.725220+00:00<![CDATA[<p>Hello,
I'm a designer, I enjoy creating freely using free and open-source tools and more often than not I'm jumping between UX and graphic design.</p>
<p>This blog is my attempt to log my findings, contributions or related events in the FOSS world. And since I work at <a href="https://www.CollaboraOffice.com" rel="noopener noreferrer">Collabora Productivity</a> - the driving force behind putting LibreOffice in the cloud - expect to see a lot of cool stuff regarding office tools.</p>
<p>I hope to be clear, short and informal in all my posts.</p>
<hr>
<p>Pedro Pinto Silva</p>
<p><a href="https://pedropintosilva.com" rel="noopener noreferrer">Personal Website</a></p>
<p><a href="https://gerrit.libreoffice.org/#/q/owner:ppsilva" rel="noopener noreferrer">My commits on Gerrit</a></p>
<p><a href="https://gitlab.com/pedro.pinto.silva" rel="noopener noreferrer">Sometimes I try helping by testing and advising with UX bits</a></p>
<p><a href="https://inkscape.org/*translator/" rel="noopener noreferrer">Or by translating stuff</a></p>
<p><a href="https://twitter.com/PedroPS" rel="noopener noreferrer"></a><a href="//fediverse.blog/@/PedroPS/" title="PedroPS" rel="noopener noreferrer">@PedroPS</a> on Twitter</p>
<p><a href="https://vis.social/@Pedro" rel="noopener noreferrer"></a><a href="//fediverse.blog/@/Pedro@vis.social/" title="Pedro@vis.social" rel="noopener noreferrer">@Pedro@vis.social</a> on Mastodon</p>
<p><a href="//fediverse.blog/@/ppsilva/" title="ppsilva" rel="noopener noreferrer">@ppsilva</a>:matrix.org</p>
]]>