bug#19139: [PATCH] * etc/emacs.appdata.xml: Extend the description

bug#19139: [PATCH] * etc/emacs.appdata.xml: Extend the description

[Zbigniew Jędrzejewski-Szmek]

This extends the description to be easier to understand for
users who have no idea what emacs is, and are trying to pick
out an editor out of a list. Therefore it concentrates less
on lisp and extensibility, but more on features and functionality
and describes them more verbosely.

There are also more screenshots, showing actual use, so people
can see the editor in action in various modes.
---
Hi,

this patch updates the appdata file to have longer, newbie-oriented
description. I prepared an appdata file for the Fedora package but
only submitted it through the Fedora bug-tracker [1]. Meanwhile,
an upstream appdata entry was added. This is a merge of the two
files: it merges the two descriptions and adds more screenshots.

Screenshots are located on my personal page, and while they are
not going away anytime soon, I image that if you incorporate my
patch, you might want to transfer them to gnu.org. The URLs
in the patch should be updated than.

Thanks,
Zbyszek

[1] https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1124892

 etc/emacs.appdata.xml | 56 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++----------------
 1 file changed, 39 insertions(+), 17 deletions(-)

diff --git a/etc/emacs.appdata.xml b/etc/emacs.appdata.xml
index d662bcba55..e1fe10414e 100644
--- a/etc/emacs.appdata.xml
+++ b/etc/emacs.appdata.xml
@@ -6,26 +6,48 @@
  <!-- It is GFDL-1.3+, but appdata-validate complains... -->
  <project_license>GPL-3.0+ and GFDL-1.3</project_license>
  <name>GNU Emacs</name>
- <summary>An extensible text editor</summary>
+ <summary>Edit text files, view pictures and binary files</summary>
  <description>
   <p>
-   GNU Emacs is an extensible, customizable text editor - and more.
-   At its core is an interpreter for Emacs Lisp, a dialect of the Lisp
-   programming language with extensions to support text editing.
+   Emacs is a powerful, customizable, self-documenting, modeless
+   editor. It is used primarely to edit text, including text
+   documents, source code of programs, web pages and XML documents,
+   but can also be used to display and edit binary files.
   </p>
-  <p>The features of GNU Emacs include:</p>
-  <ul>
-   <li>Content-sensitive editing modes, including syntax coloring, for
-   a wide-range of file types</li>
-   <li>Complete built-in documentation, including a tutorial for new users</li>
-   <li>Full Unicode support for nearly all human languages and their scripts</li>
-   <li>Highly customizable, using Emacs Lisp code or a graphical interface</li>
-   <li>Includes a project planner, mail and news reader, debugger
-   interface, calendar, and more</li>
-  </ul>
- </description>
- <screenshots>
-  <screenshot type="default" width="632" height="354">http://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/images/appdata.png</screenshot>
+  <p>
+   Emacs allows efficient editing of text with shortcuts which allow
+   operating on letters, words, sentences, and paragraphs as single
+   units. This includes both moving around and operations like
+   copying, deleting, transposing, and pasting. Macros can be
+   conveniently defined to repeat sequences of commands. In addition,
+   Emacs is (partially) built in a scripting language (elisp) which
+   can also be used to define further functions extending existing
+   capabilities.
+  </p>
+  <p>
+   Emacs has extensive support for editing source code, including
+   programmable syntax highlighting, automatic indentation, source
+   code indexing, overview modes, and navigation based on language
+   specific units like functions and blocks. It is also possible to
+   invoke the compiler from within Emacs and easily move between
+   compiler output and corresponding positions in the source.
+  </p>
+  <p>
+   Emacs has multiple modules which provide further functionality:
+   read mail and news, browse pictures, view man and info pages,
+   browse the web, use a calendar and project planner, invoke the
+   debugger, execute arbitrary programs, and more, without leaving
+   the editor. Complete built-in documentation is included, including
+   a tutorial for new users. Unicode and nearly all human languages
+   and their scripts are supported.
+  </p>
+
+  <screenshots>
+    <screenshot type="default" width="1595" height="888">http://in.waw.pl/~zbyszek/fedora/emacs-two-buffers.png</screenshot>
+    <screenshot width="1199" height="667">http://in.waw.pl/~zbyszek/fedora/emacs-editing-xml.png</screenshot>
+    <screenshot width="1019" height="572">http://in.waw.pl/~zbyszek/fedora/emacs-hexl-mode.png</screenshot>
+    <screenshot width="1199" height="667">http://in.waw.pl/~zbyszek/fedora/emacs-showing-svg.png</screenshot>
+    <screenshot width="794" height="439">http://in.waw.pl/~zbyszek/fedora/emacs-with-python-source.png</screenshot>
  </screenshots>
  <url type="homepage">http://www.gnu.org/software/emacs</url>
  <updatecontact>emacs-devel_at_gnu.org</updatecontact>
-- 
1.9.3

bug#19139: [PATCH] * etc/emacs.appdata.xml: Extend the description

[Lars Ingebrigtsen]

(This was posted five years ago, but unfortunately got no attention at
the time.)

Zbigniew Jędrzejewski-Szmek <zbyszek@in.waw.pl> writes:

> This extends the description to be easier to understand for
> users who have no idea what emacs is, and are trying to pick
> out an editor out of a list. Therefore it concentrates less
> on lisp and extensibility, but more on features and functionality
> and describes them more verbosely.
>
> There are also more screenshots, showing actual use, so people
> can see the editor in action in various modes.

I'm not sure that we can actually include any screenshots in this file?
It would be brittle to refer to external images, anyway...

> - <summary>An extensible text editor</summary>
> + <summary>Edit text files, view pictures and binary files</summary>

I'm not sure that's a more understandable description...

> -   GNU Emacs is an extensible, customizable text editor - and more.
> -   At its core is an interpreter for Emacs Lisp, a dialect of the Lisp
> -   programming language with extensions to support text editing.
> +   Emacs is a powerful, customizable, self-documenting, modeless
> +   editor. It is used primarely to edit text, including text
> +   documents, source code of programs, web pages and XML documents,
> +   but can also be used to display and edit binary files.

(etc)

I actually the original text here -- I'm not sure "modeless" is a
selling point, especially as you can just switch evil mode on and get a
modeful editor.

And so on -- the original text isn't perfect, but I think it's OK, so
I'm closing this bug report.

-- 
(domestic pets only, the antidote for overdose, milk.)
   bloggy blog: http://lars.ingebrigtsen.no