Linux

Icon design and name guidelines are too strict. Many apps already on the store break them.

• E.g. the 20 characters limit is to small for even two long words.
• Or not allowing PascalCase, disallows many app names like LibreOffice.

And app icons have to be "In line with contemporary styles", which is currently flat and simple design. Contemporary styles change all the time. If an app wants to look old, why not let them?

https://docs.flathub.org/docs/for-app-authors/appdata-guidelines/quality-guidelines/#app-icon

Someone on the internet with their opinion on video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYqYpbMY9vE

Edit: Generally these guidelines are good and will improve the browsing experience on flathub. Hopefully they'll loosen some of those icon and naming restrictions.

It makes it clear that they're guidelines and not requirements. I'm not sure how styling is inappropriate.

My opinion is pretty much the same. The guidelines for naming and screenshot are great, and it would have been good if they were applied in all stores, not just FlatHub. The icon guidelines, on the other hand, are too much, IMO.

Yeah, this is... Not great.

"Yeah, just download LibreOffice from flathub. No, you need to have a space in it. Yes, that's the one; I know the icon is wrong."

And, quite frankly, I don't know how they think they'll get away with requiring specific icon styles. Big software companies tend to be very protective over their brand recognition. And small indie shops tend to host not have the resources to remake their icon every time Google decides to roll out a new fashion sense.

There's also the security issue of not allowing apps to present themselves in a way that people recognise. How do I trust I've got the legitimate version of an app?

I know it's "just a guideline", but that's a dogwhistle for "do this or we'll hide your package".

Nice