Ubuntu App Showdown – Update

Well today is the App Showdown deadline.  I am feeling good and even proud that I managed to make an entry for the competition. Can’t wait to see all the other entries. I’ve been checking some of the featured apps on  OMG Ubuntu and they are looking brilliant   Mine isn’t good enough / clever enough to win, but that isn’t really the point behiond my entry. I had a lot of fun learning.

About my entry

My Shortcuts is an application I have built for Ubuntu 12.04, specifically as my entry for The Ubuntu App Showdown.

Screenshot of My Shortcuts

What does it do?

Basically it provides a quick and easy method to launch my most commonly opened websites and applications from a visually pleasing user interface. The shortcuts include everything from Planet Ubuntu to Rhythmbox.

What would I like it to do in future?

At the moment the website and application shortcuts are fixed, it would be good if these could be configured to use whatever shortcuts the user wants.

Why did I build it?

I am still learning the basics with python and this is my very first steps into desktop application development on Ubuntu. I have had to learn how to build a user interface, have it interact with my python scripts, sign PGP, packaging, create a PPA and then get it into the Software Center. That is a lot of “new stuff” for me to learn, which is why I kept the application as simple as possible.

Thank yous

I would like to thank all the people I have asked for advice when building the application, with a special thank you for cielak. I would have been completely stuck with the signals, so thank you for explaining it to me better and also for putting up with my “silly questions”