April update meetings reports for PSE
By Laura Whitehead 3rd May 2012
Summary – April saw a busy stage of development of the PSE project and the team had two full meetings during this period. Ed Mitchell is now on sabbatical until October 2012, and Laura Whitehead (part time Webmaster with Transition Network and one of the TTechs) is now leading on the project management of the PSE project.
Below are the summary notes from meetings held on 17th and 26th April
Ttech 26th April
PSE status and development meeting
Attendees:
- Laura Whitehead
- Chris Croome
- Jim Kirkpatrick
Items:
1 – Core widget dev now complete –
Notes to include: User needs to be associated with an initiative. View shows two options for the testers to use – a sidebar or a whole page area embed.
Aside whilst TTechs were discussing developments and testing the widget development process:
Already logged in, Username – ‘continue’ button error appeared for CC (on debian) whilst testing out the demo widget code page – TTechs were able to begin to source identity of the error that appeared, where user who has logged in gets an error where they cannot get past the continue button.
This issue relates to the ‘access denied’ page – JK has been able to do a live fix during the conversation which should help to alleviate users frustrations when encountering the bug on the website (not related to PSE) instead users will receive a different message outlining that they are attempting to access something that they cannot access due to role permissions.
Process – when moderated by alpha beta testers (widget users role) – items will be flagged.
Most notifications and process systems are now set up.
JK to continue refining this work
LW to begin to theme up the widget wrapper and widget.
Analytics – discussion whether we can do specific campaign to help with manual evalauation of effectiveness of type and placements of widgets on users websites, CC will look into integrating deeper PIWIK analysis after completing forthcoming works on the Dev server task ahead.
Other notes / discussions –
Projects form changeover to new formats and fields.
Widget dev comes first – get out in the field for alpha testers.
When this is complete (aim by 2nd half May) – Silent add of new fields to begin (only available to certain roles) to enable the freelance editor to be able to summarise the project aims/introduction over period of a couple or more weeks as needed. Transfer of form fields to new fields – aim for official end of June – to allow users to be informed of forthcoming changes to alert that nothing will be lost from their existing data and we’re making it more usable. LW to implement new form fields and work with JK to add extra modules if needed (max length and possible custom tooltips theme enhancement by LW if LW not had GIT training in advance).
Ttech 17th April
PSE status and development meeting
Attending:
- Laura Whitehead
- Chris Croome
- Jim Kirkpatrick
Items –
1 – Widget development updates –
JK progress update – PSE widget development – now mostly there, needs a bit more of working before committing which will be being done soon. JK has had a good run of PSE dev and nailed down lots of the problems, and the code will be up on the server soon.
Flow of widget – user clicks on submit a project button – checks whether user already logged in or a user, and has added a new custom user login / register page – when logged in / registered user will go straight to ‘add project’ refined form and after entry saves as node. Bulk of main dev done and problem solving completed for workflow, and notifications and emails have been produced. Admin views to be produced soon for moderation and admin purposes. JK to format in a way that LW can theme up and continue to enhance usability / enabling users to add content.
CC asks are we going to use the dev server to test first. Dev needs to be fixed. CC to investigate.
JK shared the Barracuda git account http://drupalcode.org/project/barracuda.git and http://drupalcode.org/project/barracuda.git/tree/HEAD:/aegir/conf details to CC to explore if some is of use for TN Dev server.
Suggestion to enable dev for full testing before release, and for interim theming purpose for LW to be able to theme up – okay for live as in the background.
JK setting up functionality for enabling the widget code to be grabbed by the alpha webmasters.
JK will set code up on live/dev and send a bundle of files to LW for theming.
Other PSE related areas –
Location / Maps – Discussed about ‘drop a pin’ on a map vs users trying to enter correctly on location city, postcode fields or potentially a combination of both after feedback from LW discussing project plans with TN staff. To keep in mind for future move towards D7 of using OpenStreepMap in the future. Could be tested as part of testing phase for PSE widget to evaluate for future rollout on other content types but would need to ensure that data would be able to pull out a city/country location field for searches and list views outputs.
Single sign on – if / when we do test this using the widget model as a trial for possible extending this to the overall TN.org site – be clear that it’s not using api’s that will talk and share data it’s only for authentification purposes only. Clear signage/tooltips on site for users to be able to allay any concerns about connected services and/or security.
2 – Projects CCK
Currently all independent to main current projects form – and LW and JK will discuss an implementation plan for switchover re tech for LW to convey at TN to be able to communicate with Ini’s and to work with nominated editor for any adjustments needed to existing projects forms data in plenty of time before a switchover.
3 – General TTech
Users stuck in a loop with the ‘continue’ button – Some users are getting stuck in an endless loop of being logged into their account and cannot proceed with the info page ‘in the interests of safety… with the big green continue button.’ Some cannot get past this and it causes a lot of frustration and users are giving up trying adding content to the website when this occurs.
CC and JK suggest that LW asks if we can get users to report the trail of links they were using to encounter the issue so it can be tracked and users so we can investigate further. CC and JK to look at whether a varnish or other issue.
Captchas – Discussed. LW to look at settings to disable one of the captcha options on the personal comment forms (currently showing both Mollom and ReCaptcha.) LW reported that spam in general at a lower level on site currently and consistent monitoring and banning of spam users helping.
Maps – keep eye on future developments with any moves towards D7 and the opportunities that it offers us; and LW to look to enhance current usability to support users in filling in location data properly to prevent items being misplaced on maps.
Chris updated his current work on Nginx, varnish and other and tuning on the server. All continuing well. Chris mentioned trace ticket #403 regarding wildcard domain names. Updated ticket.
Overall, site is stable and entering a mature phase – no major issues currently to report. Continue with current maintenance and enhancement plans.
4 – AOB
LW to arrange a suitable date to visit JK to do combo of GIT training and set up of TN Git main a/c onto LW’s machine.
Timelines –
Aim to have widget out in v near future, LW to begin to plan dates for a Webmasters meeting to be held in June. JK suggested weekend may work well as a date choice rather than weekdays. JK and CC to inform LW of any dates that they cannot make in advance to assist with planning a full alpha group meeting.
Invoices for PSE/TTech work to be raised as soon as this tranche of work has been completed. All to feedback current times to LW via email for monitoring, and LW will inform all when ready to invoice.