Fluid progressing into the second year

[Jutta Treviranus]

Dear Fluid Community

As we come to the close of our first Fluid year, we have many things 
to celebrate and to anticipate. We have done exceptionally well this 
year in evangelizing the project, engaging our partner communities, 
and establishing an initial technology stack and testing process that 
works within real production environments.

In the process we have discovered that we are pioneering new 
processes in a number of areas. We are developing a unique technical 
framework that among other things enables an innovative and more 
sustainable approach to accessibility. We are also conducting user 
experience design and development a) with users in a community source 
environment, b) using an agile distributed development process, and 
c) using a flexible user interface with many possible configurations. 
Each of these attributes requires a reexamination of traditional UX 
methods. This is exciting and challenging.

This next year will require harnessing our success so far and 
applying our efforts toward delivery of a solid set of interactive 
components and the design pattern library. These elements are a key 
aspect of our Mellon grant, and critical to our ability to expand 
Fluid to engage a larger part of our community. The tasks that move 
the project substantially forward on this front should be 
prioritized. These include wrapping up the Reorderer, focusing on 
content management components and delivering the essential tools and 
education to enable others to contribute their own components.

Over the past year it has become clear that Fluid can play a pivotal 
role in moving Community Source software platforms forward. The 
potential impact is even greater than we initially anticipated. We 
look forward to the continued productive collaboration that will help 
us realize this potential.

Jutta on behalf of the Fluid Board