6 ms·

Tell HN: We’re looking for OSS projects that need UI Design help

53 points by fairpx 9y ago

I run a UI design studio that works with tech startups, but occasionally helps OSS projects out. We currentlu have a spot open to help out an open source project with their UI design for the coming month. Feel free to post your project or contact us directly. Check out http://fairpixels.pro for work and contact details. (or my bio for an email address)

jbrooksuk 9y ago
https://cachethq.io https://cachethq.io We're really looking for a new frontend and dashboard to make Cachet easier to use :)
ThatGeoGuy 9y ago
Not my project, but I know that the guys at https://riot.im https://riot.im would love any help or feedback they might be able to get on UI/UX. I use the project daily on several different devices so I'm happy to give them a shout here.
CodeSalad 9y ago
There are currently 94 issues labeled as UI in the hacktoberfest effort on Github: https://github.com/search?q=label%3Ahacktoberfest+label%3Aui+state%3Aopen+type%3Aissue&type=Issues&utf8=%E2%9C%93 https://github.com/search?q=label%3Ahacktoberfest+label%3Aui...
DanielBMarkham 9y ago
You guys just doing UI mockups, or could you create a UI that represents a simple transaction? (For instance, using REST, get a list of things. Person picks one. Using REST call something else. End of functionality)
stefantheard 9y ago
http://www.overseer.tv http://www.overseer.tv this is my show tracking app, could definitely use some UI/UX love. I came up with everything by wireframing on a piece of paper and then trying my best. https://github.com/smtheard/ShowTracker https://github.com/smtheard/ShowTracker is where the code lives.
emilsedgh 9y ago
KDE. Seriously. KDE has a good UI team but the number of projects and applications is huge and all the designers are volunteers. There's Plasma Desktop and Plasma Mobile and a ton of applications. And the visibility that your work will get by helping out there is more than most projects.
- dabockster 9y ago
  Compared with other OSS, the KDE designs are amazing. But still, that's not saying a lot when compared with more professional projects that gain more press.
Animats 9y ago
- Git's default graphical user interface, "git gui". It's awful. There's no sense of what's important and what's safe. It's just the git command line hammered into a Tk-type interface.
- chmike 9y ago
  Excellent suggestion and high visibility, but probably not a small task.
  - ianai 9y ago
    I think that could be a somewhat smaller task. Developers will have direct domain knowledge and the core features are fleshed out.
- jordigh 9y ago
  Making alternative git interfaces is its own cottage industry. Magit is my favourite, for those rare instances in which I have to use git (almost never now).
markvdb 9y ago
https://github.com/yoe/sreview https://github.com/yoe/sreview
dabockster 9y ago
cough cough https://www.libreoffice.org/ https://www.libreoffice.org/
- Something1234 9y ago
  What's so bad about libreoffice? It's no worse than ms office, actually it's better because there are no stupid ribbons.
  - KGIII 9y ago
    LibreOffice added the ribbon earlier this year. It's optional and not the default. Also, I understand most users like the ribbon in MS Office. Most vocal people appear not to, but I recall an article about a survey and most ranged from indifferent to positive.
  - dabockster 9y ago
    You're right about the ribbons, but toolbars on top of toolbars isn't really any better.
SammyWakan 9y ago
The KeePass project (https://keepass.info/ https://keepass.info/) would be a good one to contribute to. Their website and the actual app itself could use some modernization.
- ythn 9y ago
  This one is possible, but might be difficult. It's currently a single developer who approves all code additions with no version control to sync things up. i.e. You have to manually maintain your own fork of the codebase
  - SammyWakan 9y ago
    That's a shame if it's true. It's a project that could make a huge difference to people - both technical and non-technical. I thought they were hosted on SourceForge and thus take patches but it's not clear from their website what the process is for contributing (proof that the website could use updating).
    - ythn 9y ago
      They are hosted on SourceForge, and you can access all the code, but basically anytime there is an update you have to download the newest version from SourceForge and reconcile with your private fork manually.
  - dv_dt 9y ago
    KeepassX.org then? (Completely different project team & codebase IIRC)
    - SammyWakan 9y ago
      KeepassX isn't active anymore. KeepassXC is the new active fork.
O1111OOO 9y ago
It's a shame that the offer comes now because it's still too early... but the Purism Librem 5 phone[0]. It's just getting off the ground and this is an effort that really needs to succeed (more broadly). [0] https://puri.sm/shop/librem-5/ https://puri.sm/shop/librem-5/
- fairpx 9y ago
  We actually do this on an almost monthly basis, so who knows :) We would LOVE to work on this particular project. Is there anyone you know we can contact specifically for a more tight collaboration? Find my email in my bio
- ZenoArrow 9y ago
  Good suggestion, and I wouldn't say it comes too early, making the default PureOS apps mobile-friendly is work that can start now: https://pureos.net/ https://pureos.net/
forgotmysn 9y ago
http://www.osetfoundation.org/volunteer http://www.osetfoundation.org/volunteer
zelon88 9y ago
My home-hosted Cloud platform is in dire need of UI attention... https://github.com/zelon88/HRCloud2 https://github.com/zelon88/HRCloud2 I am admittedly more of a logical, back-end programmer. Any help, advice, or direction would be greatly appreciated.
- ianai 9y ago
  Do you use it yourself? Like how mature is it.
  - zelon88 9y ago
    I do use it myself. The project was started in July of 2016 and was added to Github in August of 2016. I've been adding to it several times per week on average ever since. I try to come up with ways to accomplish anything I would want a 3rd party service for from my home servers. The API's are set and shouldn't be changing anytime soon. The overall structure of the application is set, but the current UI is modular and easily replaced. Now I'm mostly working on feature additions and fixing bugs.
ianai 9y ago
Oh man make a decent *BSD installer/configuration manager. I know there are current attempts at this but they all need help. I think FreeBSD would especially benefit from some direct improvement.
tessela 9y ago
Can you help the https://calibre-ebook.com/ https://calibre-ebook.com/ project? (I'm not a maintainer, but their UI/UX really would benefit from you)
- mariushn 9y ago
  +1
jetrois 9y ago
could use some love. http://schizoduckie.github.io/DuckieTV/?from=duckie.tv&/ http://schizoduckie.github.io/DuckieTV/?from=duckie.tv&/
mimi89999 9y ago
Please consider https://conversations.im/ https://conversations.im/ You might also want to help with F-Droid.
AquiGorka 9y ago
Awesome. I have some 3D virtual puppets that could use a lift up: https://github.com/AquiGorka/puppets https://github.com/AquiGorka/puppets
trollixx 9y ago
Please take a look at my project - https://zealdocs.org/ https://zealdocs.org/. It is a documentation browser for software developers.
alishan-l 9y ago
https://biimer.com https://biimer.com No design at the moment

53 points by fairpx 9y ago

jbrooksuk 9y ago

https://cachethq.io https://cachethq.io We're really looking for a new frontend and dashboard to make Cachet easier to use :)

ThatGeoGuy 9y ago

Not my project, but I know that the guys at https://riot.im https://riot.im would love any help or feedback they might be able to get on UI/UX. I use the project daily on several different devices so I'm happy to give them a shout here.

CodeSalad 9y ago

There are currently 94 issues labeled as UI in the hacktoberfest effort on Github: https://github.com/search?q=label%3Ahacktoberfest+label%3Aui+state%3Aopen+type%3Aissue&type=Issues&utf8=%E2%9C%93 https://github.com/search?q=label%3Ahacktoberfest+label%3Aui...

DanielBMarkham 9y ago

You guys just doing UI mockups, or could you create a UI that represents a simple transaction? (For instance, using REST, get a list of things. Person picks one. Using REST call something else. End of functionality)

stefantheard 9y ago

http://www.overseer.tv http://www.overseer.tv this is my show tracking app, could definitely use some UI/UX love. I came up with everything by wireframing on a piece of paper and then trying my best. https://github.com/smtheard/ShowTracker https://github.com/smtheard/ShowTracker is where the code lives.

emilsedgh 9y ago

KDE. Seriously. KDE has a good UI team but the number of projects and applications is huge and all the designers are volunteers. There's Plasma Desktop and Plasma Mobile and a ton of applications. And the visibility that your work will get by helping out there is more than most projects.

dabockster 9y ago
Compared with other OSS, the KDE designs are amazing. But still, that's not saying a lot when compared with more professional projects that gain more press.

Animats 9y ago

- Git's default graphical user interface, "git gui". It's awful. There's no sense of what's important and what's safe. It's just the git command line hammered into a Tk-type interface.

chmike 9y ago
Excellent suggestion and high visibility, but probably not a small task.
- ianai 9y ago
  I think that could be a somewhat smaller task. Developers will have direct domain knowledge and the core features are fleshed out.
jordigh 9y ago
Making alternative git interfaces is its own cottage industry. Magit is my favourite, for those rare instances in which I have to use git (almost never now).

markvdb 9y ago

https://github.com/yoe/sreview https://github.com/yoe/sreview

dabockster 9y ago

cough cough https://www.libreoffice.org/ https://www.libreoffice.org/

Something1234 9y ago
What's so bad about libreoffice? It's no worse than ms office, actually it's better because there are no stupid ribbons.
- KGIII 9y ago
  LibreOffice added the ribbon earlier this year. It's optional and not the default. Also, I understand most users like the ribbon in MS Office. Most vocal people appear not to, but I recall an article about a survey and most ranged from indifferent to positive.
- dabockster 9y ago
  You're right about the ribbons, but toolbars on top of toolbars isn't really any better.

SammyWakan 9y ago

The KeePass project (https://keepass.info/ https://keepass.info/) would be a good one to contribute to. Their website and the actual app itself could use some modernization.

ythn 9y ago
This one is possible, but might be difficult. It's currently a single developer who approves all code additions with no version control to sync things up. i.e. You have to manually maintain your own fork of the codebase
- SammyWakan 9y ago
  That's a shame if it's true. It's a project that could make a huge difference to people - both technical and non-technical. I thought they were hosted on SourceForge and thus take patches but it's not clear from their website what the process is for contributing (proof that the website could use updating).
  - ythn 9y ago
    They are hosted on SourceForge, and you can access all the code, but basically anytime there is an update you have to download the newest version from SourceForge and reconcile with your private fork manually.
- dv_dt 9y ago
  KeepassX.org then? (Completely different project team & codebase IIRC)
  - SammyWakan 9y ago
    KeepassX isn't active anymore. KeepassXC is the new active fork.

O1111OOO 9y ago

It's a shame that the offer comes now because it's still too early... but the Purism Librem 5 phone[0]. It's just getting off the ground and this is an effort that really needs to succeed (more broadly). [0] https://puri.sm/shop/librem-5/ https://puri.sm/shop/librem-5/

fairpx 9y ago
We actually do this on an almost monthly basis, so who knows :) We would LOVE to work on this particular project. Is there anyone you know we can contact specifically for a more tight collaboration? Find my email in my bio
ZenoArrow 9y ago
Good suggestion, and I wouldn't say it comes too early, making the default PureOS apps mobile-friendly is work that can start now: https://pureos.net/ https://pureos.net/

forgotmysn 9y ago

http://www.osetfoundation.org/volunteer http://www.osetfoundation.org/volunteer

zelon88 9y ago

My home-hosted Cloud platform is in dire need of UI attention... https://github.com/zelon88/HRCloud2 https://github.com/zelon88/HRCloud2 I am admittedly more of a logical, back-end programmer. Any help, advice, or direction would be greatly appreciated.

ianai 9y ago
Do you use it yourself? Like how mature is it.
- zelon88 9y ago
  I do use it myself. The project was started in July of 2016 and was added to Github in August of 2016. I've been adding to it several times per week on average ever since. I try to come up with ways to accomplish anything I would want a 3rd party service for from my home servers. The API's are set and shouldn't be changing anytime soon. The overall structure of the application is set, but the current UI is modular and easily replaced. Now I'm mostly working on feature additions and fixing bugs.

ianai 9y ago

Oh man make a decent *BSD installer/configuration manager. I know there are current attempts at this but they all need help. I think FreeBSD would especially benefit from some direct improvement.

tessela 9y ago

Can you help the https://calibre-ebook.com/ https://calibre-ebook.com/ project? (I'm not a maintainer, but their UI/UX really would benefit from you)

mariushn 9y ago
+1

jetrois 9y ago

could use some love. http://schizoduckie.github.io/DuckieTV/?from=duckie.tv&/ http://schizoduckie.github.io/DuckieTV/?from=duckie.tv&/

mimi89999 9y ago

Please consider https://conversations.im/ https://conversations.im/ You might also want to help with F-Droid.

AquiGorka 9y ago

Awesome. I have some 3D virtual puppets that could use a lift up: https://github.com/AquiGorka/puppets https://github.com/AquiGorka/puppets

trollixx 9y ago

Please take a look at my project - https://zealdocs.org/ https://zealdocs.org/. It is a documentation browser for software developers.

alishan-l 9y ago

https://biimer.com https://biimer.com No design at the moment