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Jeff<br>
<br>
This is being written for the record only. I am probably posting in
the wrong forum, at the wrong time in the wrong manner to reply to this
post, but I am doing my best - expect no more. The message is being
addressed to Jeff.<br>
<br>
I disagree wtih your statement<br>
<pre wrap=""><big><i><b>"Yes, as Don so succinctly points out, MSF has complained via the ticket route that the "frozen" layout of the login page gives rise to errors by new users."</b></i></big>
This ticket was not created in the name of MSF. Any tickets from MSF will and should be as a result of a decision by MSF. I created that ticket "alone" after observing login attempts during an explanation of how to join the MSF network given at a RIB meeting. Even with explicit explanations and using a projector to demonstrate and explain, 50% of the members who attempted to connect failed. When detailed observations were made and questions asked, it was determined that the main cause of the failures was the misinterpretation of the login page. I then generated the ticket for two reasons, 1) to make this finding known 2) To provide me with information for possible future documentation.
At that time, I had planned to create a few documents "<u>using a newcomers fresh point of view</u>". I quickly discovered this must be done very delicately, with more tact than directness, if you wish to receive any sort of cooperation or information.
</pre>
Everyone one is busy, and these "deviations" from the normal procedurea
are not taken lightly. I have recorded email pointing this out rather
clearly.<br>
<br>
I am totally content to wait until the developers find the time, and
are so inclined, to include this "idea" in their development process.
In the meantime, I can be as patient as anyone.<br>
<br>
It would not be an enormous task to generate a "few more trouble
tickets or feature requests", but lets suppress this urge and wait
until the existing ones are cleared before putting more on the
burner. As has been pointed out, Google is still there for us to use!<br>
<br>
Don<br>
<br>
Benoit Grégoire wrote:
<blockquote cite="mid:200709051430.58933.bock@step.polymtl.ca"
type="cite">
<pre wrap="">On 5 September 2007, Jeff Schallenberg wrote:
</pre>
<blockquote type="cite">
<pre wrap="">On 9/4/07, Don Druce <a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:dondruce@sympatico.ca"><dondruce@sympatico.ca></a> wrote:
</pre>
<blockquote type="cite">
<pre wrap="">See <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://dev.wifidog.org/ticket/343">http://dev.wifidog.org/ticket/343</a>
Yes, as Don so succinctly points out, MSF has complained via the ticket
</pre>
</blockquote>
<pre wrap="">route that the "frozen" layout of the login page gives rise to errors by
new users. MSF (Don and Jeff) have been harping on this simple layout
change on this list for 4 months now. And MSF is not the only WiFiDog
community member to recognize the need to improve the layout of the login
page - see <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://wifi.izzipizza.com/login/">http://wifi.izzipizza.com/login/</a> from Malaysia!
</pre>
</blockquote>
<pre wrap=""><!---->
Yes, about everyone (including me) recognizes the need for various UI
improvement (including layout). The problem is that excluding me, the last
time someone commited or sent in a patch for a UI improvement was 16 months
ago. That's not normal.
Doing transparent db schema update or implementing something like the profile
system requires a lot of skills and experience. I can't reasonably expect a
new contributors to just drop in implement something of that scale (Although
it CAN happen, David Bird's recent patch comes to mind)
But, the skills to, for example fix the menus not dropping down on IE6
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://dev.wifidog.org/ticket/370">http://dev.wifidog.org/ticket/370</a>) are much easier to come by. Surely one of
the more than 220 people on this list can figure that one out without me
getting actively involved?
</pre>
<blockquote type="cite">
<pre wrap="">The ticket has not been addressed by the developers.
</pre>
</blockquote>
<pre wrap=""><!---->
True, but your sound surprised. It's just one 88 open tickets (See
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://dev.wifidog.org/report/9">http://dev.wifidog.org/report/9</a>). Most of my work on wifidog is purely
volunteer, and there are only so many hours in a week. While I'm astonished
that in the last few months I've closed tickets faster than people open them,
I'll never get through them all without more help.
And for those who can't code, you can really help the project by:
-Helping other people on the list or IRC
-Contributing to the FAQ, or moving answers from the list or IRC to the FAQ
<big><b>-Writing documentation</b></big>
-Updating translations. If you know how, you can also modify the way strings
are output to make translation easier (such as making use of plural form).
-Opening tickets when you find an issue
-Opening feature requests, including what you need the feature for. Even if I
don't intend to work on it, I do read them all, and it helps me with
architecture and refactoring. That way, when I change something I try to
make sure the job of the future developper that would implement the feature
easier.
All of the above massively decrease my workload, and allow me to:
-Focus on getting 1.0 out the door
-Spend time supporting new developers, integrating their patches and otherwise
making their lives easier.
-Fix tickets that would be very difficult to close by anyone but a core
developer.
</pre>
<blockquote type="cite">
<pre wrap="">MSF has improved the login page layout significantly
(<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://auth.monteregiesansfil.org/login/">http://auth.monteregiesansfil.org/login/</a>)
by means of what Benoit calls "a dirty hack".
</pre>
</blockquote>
<pre wrap=""><!---->
Maybe I should define that. When I talk about "dirty hack", in the wifidog
context, I usually mean a hardcoded local change in code or static templates
that either:
-Could not, or would not be merged in the mainline because it's not applicable
to every group and can't be turned off (if unsure, try to reach a consensus
on the list or IRC).
-Could be achieved by one of the mechanism meant for customization.
-Would be generally applicable, but either hasn't been contributed back, or
could have easily be made generic but hasn't.
Is it more work to get things to work in a generic manner? Yes, sometimes.
But that's how the project can move forward, become even more flexible, and
allow the various members of the community not to solve the same problems
over and over.
</pre>
<blockquote type="cite">
<pre wrap="">MSF would like to contribute this minor layout improvement to the WiFiDog
community.
</pre>
</blockquote>
<pre wrap=""><!---->
Excellent!
</pre>
<blockquote type="cite">
<pre wrap="">How can MSF do this on its own? Are there any tools to "cleanly" move the
"Create a free account" button to the right area? The capability of editing
the static smarty template login.tpl has been inadvertently removed by the
development team.
</pre>
</blockquote>
<pre wrap=""><!---->
Rework the HTML to make it more flexible (making sure not to add any MSF
specific strings), modify the default Stylesheet so that it still works
correctly with the default theme, and send in a patch.
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</pre>
</blockquote>
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