Menu ▾ ▴

Development Parameters

Development Parameters

When designing an app for Prelude, developers must follow these parameters to ensure a better experience with coding and distributing apps. Also, it gives users a better experience with interactions.

The /prelude/apps directory

The Prelude apps directory is an essential part of Prelude; it provides the source code for that particular app. It allows developers to tweak and redistribute apps within Prelude. There are rules that follow when using this directory.

  • If you are building an open source application under the GNU GPL license, you must include the source code of the app in the apps directory. If you can create a .sh file that extracts the source code when installing the app, that would be ideal.
  • Don't just dump the code into a folder; organize it. No developer loves hunting through files to find the code they're looking for.
  • If you are building a closed source application, you can drop the installation file of the app instead of its source code.
  • The apps directory is not a replacement to /usr/share/applications! Don't place the executable files in the apps directory; it won't work!

Design language

In order to achieve the goal of making an easy-to-use operating system, developers have to be aware of the design language to achieve this.

Typography

Generally, the Casper font is used throughout the system, from the title bar down to interface's text. This is unique to Prelude, so you'll know when an app is made for Prelude. In previous systems, the FreeSans font was used.

Unless there is a specific purpose as to why there is a font change, all apps should use Casper.

Icons

Prelude ships with the UltraFlat-icons icon theme by default. To achieve an overall pleasant look, use this icon theme. iOS 9 icons are also accepted.

Less menus, one unified toolbar

Try to prevent use of menus. This will make the experience better as the MenuBar doesn't show the entire menu. If you need a menu, make a button that has a menu.

Flat Metaphors

Try to stay away from 3D, skeumorphic designs. This destroys the effect in Prelude's flat theming. Although Material design is 3D in a sense, it's still primarly flat.

This document will change over the course of time. Please be aware that the development parameters are only tentative and serve as a guideline.

MongoDB Logo MongoDB