Forum OpenACS Q&A: Redesign of OpenACS.org - New Features

Some people and I have posted a couple improvements in the following thread:

https://openacs.org/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg.tcl?msg_id=00026j&topic_id=11&topic=OpenACS

I checked out some features of photo.net lately and I think that the drop-down menues and the structuring as a whole are quite nice.

Additionally we should have a well visible link to /shared/whos-online.tcl and an activated chat room, although the openacs-chat is not quite optimal.

Whos-online will make even more sence with a future jabber-integration I believe.

I'd also like some better support for viewing only messages on the bboard that I have not seen yet.  Having done some analysis of the module I know what it would take to support that (e.g. ultimately the database must keep track of whether or not each user has seen each post), but in high-traffic bboards it is really difficult to keep up with the discussions without this feature.

I agree with Jonathon above.  A "send me all new questions" option would be very handy.

Here's another thought about making bboard more useful in
terms of making the information reusable:

Generate an anchor link for each post on a thread. That way, if
somebody wants to reference a particular post (from an FAQ, for
instance), they could link directly to it.

Taking this one step further, I recently saw a bboard design
where the subject line, author, and date for each post was listed
as a hyperlink at the top of the thread and connected to anchor
links for the posts themselves. This is handy, particularly if you
have a long thread. And if you want to add the feature of
indicating which posts are new since the user's last visit, you
can easily stick a "new" icon next to the appropriate hyperlinks.

The second part of my suggestion is somewhat a matter of
taste, but at the very least, the anchor links themselves could be
helpful.

Hey guys,
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As a protection of the developers that will be working on the site, I would like to ask that we approach this discussion not as a discussion of features in pacakges but of features on a site.
<p>
IOW, requests for how the bboard package operates are important and will be logged (Luke has almost finished the bboard port with just a bit of testing still required -- I think he's almost ready to announce it in fact). We'll do our best to accomplish whatever can be done within a reasonable amount of time.
<p>
However, it should be remembered that this will only be the first implementation of the new openacs.org based on openacs4. Furthermore, we'll be pushing the limits of dogfooding by seeing how a high traffic production site will run on this code (which promises to kick ass, but still). So I think we'll be focusing on implementing the functionality that exists and for us, and the community, to fold in the more advanced features in future development.
<p>
I suggest that for this version of openacs.org we discuss features as areas of the site need to be fleshed out or added, for instance:
<p>
* Better news coverage<br>
* Better access to documentation<br>
* More clear introduction to OpenACS<br>
* More access to developer resources<br>
* And so on
<p>
Sorry to try and cut off a very interesting discussion, but I think it's important to focus the discussion on features and goals that can be achieved within the limits of the current system.
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talli

You're making an important point here, Talli, but I do believe that
many of the enhancements listed here, including improved FAQs
and better bboard alerts, are precisely intended for OpenACS.org
as much as they are for OpenACS. These are all enhancements
that will help the community communicate better.

Tom Mizukami wrote:

> I think Johnathan's RH RPM's should be available from the software page.

Overall, the whole approach to the SDM dealing with a 'package' may, in the long haul, need some rethinking in terms of each 'package' (ie product) being available in a variety of forms (tarball, RPM, .deb, self-extracting .exe for Win32, and so forth).

The RPMs I made (and hope to continue to make) for OpenACS just highlighted that issue. I'd rather we looked at the underlying issue of software products being made available in multiple forms, than just a quick fix so a few more people can find my RPMs.

But, Talli is right, let's not go overboard on enhancing OpenACS when what is being talked about is really setting up existing OpenACS4 code to work well for the OpenACS community. There's a big difference.

So, in the interest of concreteness and ease of implementation, yes, a link to each form of OpenACS (tarball, RPM, .deb) from the /software page would be a useful quick hack 😊

As a side note, I've been utterly unsuccessful in using SDM for my RPMs because of the restrictions it places on version numbers, which do not fit the version numbers of my RPMs. I think I mentioned this back in May but had no responses. If allowing a version string rather than a version number can be implemented easily, it would be of practical use to me.

A couple of thoughts that I've been meaning to post for a while include:

A link on each discussion forum page that goes to a Posting Guidelines page. This page would have a few basic rules for posting to the bulletin boards not too overbearing and not just a RTFM first page. However it should also maybe include on that guideline page a few links to the basic manuals/faqs that come into existence and a link to the faq/manual index in case people actually do want to do research before posting a question.

On this page should be a few basic rules

• If you going to ask a question about X .... make sure you include platform/version/and offending code.
• Make sure you are posting to the correct forum
• Advise to try to at least search for an answer before posting
• etc.

This should prevent those posts that have to have 5 or 6 messages posted before any real diagnosis can be made. The current community is pretty good about these things but as it grows and more newbies arrive, this sort of page should help reduce signal to noise factor. Also whenever a post violates the basic ruleset it would be easy for an active community member to respond by posting a Please See Guidelines before Posting Link :)

I also think that we need a more stuctured ASJ type page that would host articles that might be written up by community for documentation on surrounding technologies and be kept kinda separate from the core OpenACS documentation. This prevents obfuscating the different tools docs and openacs docs into one huge it's too much arghhh reaction.

Also there are certain parts of the site that are not accessable by links anywhere but should be ... for instance file-storage, poll, etc. People should be able to get there not only by bboard message links.

All for now ... Farscape coming on one of my few TV shows I watch. ... may JH rest in peace. Catch you frelling later ...

As it happens, there is a link to the home page from the "Your Workspace" page :)

But, the smiley's there because in general you're pointing at a well-known weakness in earlier versions of the ACS, i.e. inconsistent navigation, and yes, it would be good to improve navigation on this site.

Personally I dislike the home page/workspace page anyway, and prefer a single home page.  Actually, it's not the workspace page per se I dislike, but rather the fact that most module pages anchor the nav bar  to the workspace rather than home page, which is reality is hardly ever what one wants.

That's a configuration item that can easily be changed.  Would others like the links at the top of bboard pages, etc to lead back home rather than to the (rarely used, IMO) workspacepage?  Obviously there'd be a link on the home page to the workspace page so you could change your user profile, etc, on those rare occasions when you move, get married or divorced and change your name, die, etc.

Talli, in my opinion OpenACS.org should be a customised OpenACS installation.  I agree that it would be nice to show visitors what they can easily and quickly get up and running, but I think it is more important to show them the full potential of an OpenACS site.

Stephen,

Luke Pond did the bboard port and fixed a lot of the speed issues. It's performance has improved dramatically. I'm not sure that this is as much an issue anymore.

talli

Remember that there is a big difference between "showing the full
potential of OpenACS" and "customizing OpenACS." You can customize
OpenACS to do anything you want. However, the more custom stuff you
build on OpenACS.org the web site, the higher you set the expectation
for what it can do out of the box. You'll get users saying "hey, you
mean I have to work for 40-60 hours to get to the level I saw on
OpenACS.org? that sucks!"

Thus, any work put into customizing OpenACS.org, unless it's minor
details, might be better spent on the toolkit, making it more useful
out of the box, as many have requested....