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Bug 410709

Summary:

Orion plugin store

Product:

[ECD] Orion

Reporter:

Maciej Bendkowski <maciej.bendkowski>

Component:

OrionHub

Assignee:

Project Inbox <orion.releng-inbox>

Status:

RESOLVED FIXED

QA Contact:

Severity:

major

Priority:

CC:

antonm, gabriel.luong, john.arthorne, ken_walker, malgorzata.tomczyk, mamacdon, Mike_Wilson, simon_kaegi, Szymon.Brandys

Version:

unspecified

Target Milestone:

7.0

Hardware:

OS:

Windows 7

Whiteboard:

Attachments:

Description	Flags
Orion Plugin Store main page UI mock	none
Orion Plugin Store plugin page UI mock	none
Orion Plugin Store author page UI mock	none
Orion Plugin Store login page UI mock	none
Orion Plugin Store developer zone page UI mock	none
Orion Plugin Store developer author page UI mock	none
Orion Plugin Store developer plugin page UI mock	none
Orion Plugin Page Logo	none

Description Maciej Bendkowski

2013-06-13 08:04:29 EDT

Since Orion has more and more plugins and integration scenarios out there, it's worth rethinking the way we're providing and collecting plugin information. To make it all clear, I'll try to provide some example scenarios revealing common problems:

Scenario 1) I'm a developer who wants to use Orion on a daily basis. I find myself in a situation, where I need to use a custom Orion behavior, e. g. specific editor functionality (syntax highlighting, code assistance, whatever). I'm on orionhub.org and can't figure it out what's next (first problem). Lest's say I googled Orion and finally know where and how to install new plugins. I hit "Get plugins" and... go to Mark's github page. Related problems and questions I might ask myself in this scenario:

1.a) I'd expected something better than a simple github page.
1.b) It looks really 'uncool' - no descriptions, no nothing.
1.c) I see few plugins, is it really all there is for Orion?
1.d) What plugins work and which do not? Which are tested and verified? Which are recommended?
1.e) Is there any community behind those plugins or whom should I ask if I have any questions?

Scenario 2) I'm a developer who wants to contribute to Orion. Let's say I have an idea of a perfect Orion plugin. Related questions/problems:

2.a) Maybe someone has already done something similar? I could cooperate, look up some ideas, integrate? Perhaps my idea was implemented some time ago and I don't have to code? Since google isn't really helping much, where to find out?

2.b) Who should I ask for help if I have any problems developing my plugin? Is there any community behind Orion plugins?

2.c) Where should I host my plugin and finally where can I publish so anyone else could enjoy? How to draw attention to my awesome plugin?

Those questions and problems above shouldn't be left alone with no answer. In order to draw more attention to Orion we need to address those problems and create a 'plugin community' - an easy entry point for both developers and consumers.

There are similar ideas used for Android stores, Google Play, etc - an obvious place 'where to look' for interesting apps. We need something similar - specific for Orion plugins.

I'll use this bug as a 'master bug' - open for discussions, ideas, interesting use cases, etc. The idea is quite fresh so there lots of room for creativity.

Comment 1 Maciej Bendkowski

2013-06-13 08:21:49 EDT

The Plugin Store should become eventually a main 'plugin-solution' platform. As a simple plugin consumer, I should think of Orion Plugin Store as a main plugin provider - I need a plugin, I go there, search, read some comments and ratings and  click one link to install it in my Orion instance. As a developer, I should think of Orion Plugin Store as a main plugin delivery platform - a place where I can find all plugin information I need, where I can get help and where I can deliver my plugins to the world.

Comment 2 Maciej Bendkowski

2013-06-17 08:24:22 EDT

Created attachment 232432 [details]
Orion Plugin Store main page UI mock

Quite self-explanatory main page UI mock. The main page serves as a plugin search engine. This view allows to filter, sort, paginate plugins, etc. In addition, one click should suffice to install a selected plugin into an Orion instance (by default OrionHub, for unlogged users).

Comment 3 Maciej Bendkowski

2013-06-17 08:46:11 EDT

Created attachment 232433 [details]
Orion Plugin Store plugin page UI mock

Plugin page UI mock - provides basic plugin information (auto-generated whenever possible), community input and ratings (review mechanism). The rating mechanism is a common five-star rating system used, e. g. in google play. Popularity polls and charts are auto-generated. This view should also be highly integrated with OrionHub and GitHub via plugins so it would would create an all-in-one plugin development platform: Orion - code, GitHub - contributions, pull requests, issues, etc., Orion Plugin Store - hosting and community feedback.

Comment 4 Maciej Bendkowski

2013-06-17 08:55:36 EDT

Created attachment 232434 [details]
Orion Plugin Store author page UI mock

Similarly to the plugin UI, the author UI should provide information about the author (or better to say owner) of the plugin. Again, each author should be rated and reviewed. The 'related authors' should provide information who had worked with the author (contributed to the same plugin). Besides obvious author ratings, this view could be used as an integration point for different social networks.

Comment 5 Maciej Bendkowski

2013-06-17 09:01:09 EDT

Created attachment 232435 [details]
Orion Plugin Store login page UI mock

The 'Developer Zone' should be used for managing hosted plugins and/or changing configuration. For that reason accounts are required. In order to create a consistent 'UI feel', the top banner and footer are inherited from Orion. Whenever possible, Orion Plugin Store should have a minimal, yet clear UI, similar to Orion. The login page should be also inherited from Orion.

Comment 6 Maciej Bendkowski

2013-06-17 09:11:20 EDT

Created attachment 232436 [details]
Orion Plugin Store developer zone page UI mock

The developer zone should be somehow similar to Orion git-repositories page.
It should present a light overview of all contributed plugins. The plugin author (owner) should get short information about each of his plugins and be able to navigate to relevant plugin sub-pages.

Orion Plugin Store would host plugins only in production 'mode'. To update a plugin OPS (Orion Plugin Store) synchronizes with the plugin public git repository and reloads the corresponding 'site' (similar mechanism as the Orion sites).

Comment 7 Maciej Bendkowski

2013-06-17 09:16:15 EDT

Created attachment 232437 [details]
Orion Plugin Store developer author page UI mock

Comment 8 Maciej Bendkowski

2013-06-17 09:16:52 EDT

Created attachment 232438 [details]
Orion Plugin Store developer plugin page UI mock

Comment 9 Maciej Bendkowski

2013-06-17 09:23:04 EDT

Main areas of concern and principals:

1. Provide an easy way to host and update Orion plugins.
2. Provide a flexible search engine for hosted plugins.
3. Whenever possible, minimize the amount of user actions required to get the job done (plugin install, hosting, reloading, updating, etc.)
4. Enable broad integration with Orion (default to OrionHub) and GitHub.
5. Keep consistent look and seamless work flow with Orion.

Comment 10 Anton McConville

2013-09-05 14:30:37 EDT

Created attachment 235204 [details]
Orion Plugin Page Logo

A variation of the cloud/code.everywhere = true; logo with a subtle addition of cogs/gears for the plugin page.

Comment 11 John Arthorne

2015-05-08 09:26:27 EDT

A basic version of an Orion plugin store was implemented. It is called Orion Marketplace. It is not currently deployed in production