As part of my internship with the open-source project "Workbench", I've been developing demos showing off new GTK4 and Libadwaita widgets. Workbench is unique in a way, as it is an application aimed at developers. So developer experience is of utmost importance.

My fellow interns and I are not just writing code; we're crafting experiences for other developers. The demos we're creating will be thoroughly examined by everyone who uses Workbench, and our contributions are transparent and open to scrutiny by anyone who browses the Workbench Library. The code within these demos isn't just code—it's a lifeline for someone's first GTK project, a guide to help them navigate unfamiliar waters. I know this because before I was helping develop Workbench, Workbench was helping me develop my first GTK app.

While making these demos there are so many small little things that are so important to get right, we're curating a collection of tools and examples to hopefully grow the GNOME Ecosystem. Thankfully we're working on a style guide just to ensure the quality of our work.

In its current state Workbench is an amazing tool to have for anyone interested in developing for the Linux desktop, and I hope our continued focus on developer experience will bring more people to the platform.