Thoughts on getting to 1.0 - Re: [Chandler-dev] [Proposal] Web UI Work Q

[Mimi Yin]

Hi Sheila,

The items are listed in order of importance. I *do* think we need to  
address all of these issues. Perhaps the sense of urgency I feel  
about this work queue is that I feel completing the web UI work queue  
+ the desktop work queue = something we can call 1.0 and having  
'something we can call 1.0' in my mind is the main blocker in terms  
of our ability to kick-off marketing efforts and building user base.

Web widgets are crucial to making Chandler more useful and more  
viral, which means that they are critical to our overall success, but  
I don't know that we need widgets to declare 1.0. Similarly things  
like the Tbird plugin and/or improvements to ways in which users can  
get emails into Chandler (see recent proposal to pull flagged emails  
into Chandler - http://lists.osafoundation.org/pipermail/chandler-dev/ 
2008-February/009614.html) are crucial for getting Chandler in front  
of a large user base (Tbird plugin) and making Chandler more useful  
(Tbird plugin and Flagging proposal).

However, I think all of these efforts *presuppose* a robust 'core'  
Chandler Hub + Chandler Desktop user experience. In other words, the  
lack of a solid 1.0 for both Desktop and Hub will hamper our other  
efforts (web widgets, email solutions) to improve the product and  
bring in users.

On the other hand, I am also sensitive to the realities of what we  
can do or rather, what makes the most sense to do given our  
resources. So some food for thought:

+ Can we get a SWAG on how long it will take to complete the proposed  
work Q below?
+ Who should do this work?

+ Resource-wise, does it make sense for everyone to drop everything  
and go full boar on getting to a 1.0? What kind of time would that  
even gain us?

+ If not, are there things we can do to speed up the 1.0 timeframe?  
e.g. Shift resources around. If T-bird plugin looks unlikely in the  
next few weeks, can Brian pitch in with web UI work Q instead?

+ Travis gave an estimate of 4 weeks for porting current web UI to  
Dojo 1.0. Travis is also trying to get a foothold on web widgets with  
Jeffrey. Could Brian Kirsch help with Dojo work? How much do Travis +  
Jeffrey need to do to get Jeffrey to a point where he can roll solo  
on web widgets for a while?

I'm just throwing out random ideas, not because I know what I'm  
talking about, but just to give examples of the kinds of things we  
might want to think about / consider.

Mimi

On Feb 12, 2008, at 2:31 PM, Mimi Yin wrote:

> As I mentioned in my last email summarizing our web strategy  
> meetings, I am rethinking what role the current web UI plays in our  
> new web ecosystem. http://lists.osafoundation.org/pipermail/ 
> chandler-dev/2008-February/009606.html
>
> We all agree that we should disable it. But I also think we can't  
> leave it as is. There are a handful of usability issues that need  
> to be addressed as soon as is practical. The rationale for  
> addressing these usability issues in particular is driven by  
> marketing strategy: To succeed, Chandler needs to be more viral.
>
> Sharing is what makes Chandler viral. In order to be viral we need to:
>
> 1. Make it dead simple for Desktop users to get started with sharing.
> 2. Make it dead simple for collaborators to figure out how to  
> 'subscribe' to shared collections with their application of choice.
> 3. Make the web UI attractive enough to standalone users that they  
> start to appreciate some of Chandler's unique offerings and to  
> convert some portion of standalone users to Desktop users.
>
> Below is the proposal. It'd be good to get a high-level gut check:
> + Are the set problems addressed below the 'right' set of problems?
> + Are they hurdles you've encountered or watched others encounter?
> +  Are there issues missing from this list that you think fall  
> under the umbrella of: Fix issues that hamper Chandler's ability to  
> be viral.
> + Is there anything that immediately raises a red flag?
>
> Mimi
>
> For mockups, see: http://chandlerproject.org/Notes/ 
> WebAppSpruceUpMockups
>
> I. REDUCING # OF CONCEPTS DESKTOP USERS NEEDS TO UNDERSTAND TO  
> START SHARING
> + Remove OOTB Hub collection
> - This is confusing Desktop users who have a different set of OOTB  
> collections and end up seeing the Hub OOTB collection when they set  
> up their Hub account on the Desktop. Grace thought that the OOTB  
> Hub collection contained all the stuff she was putting into her  
> Chandler Desktop Dashboard collection (which she never published)  
> and couldn't understand why she wasn't seeing items in the  
> Dashboard collection in her OOTB Hub collection and vice versa.
>
> + Automatically generate 2 tickets (View and Edit and View-only)  
> when users create new Hub collections - https:// 
> bugzilla.osafoundation.org/show_bug.cgi?id=10261
>
> + Fix Collection Details Dialog to distinguish between Subscribing  
> and Sharing (see mock-up 1)
> - List out URLs for the all the different ways to subscribe + link  
> to instructions on wiki page (I will re-factor instructions Travis  
> pulled together)
> - List out ticketed URLs for sharing with others
> - Option to download
> - Move 'Save' button for saving a name change to the bottom of the  
> dialog
> - Move Delete button to bottom of the dialog
>
> II. IMPROVEMENTS TO THE TICKETED VIEW (see mock-up 2)
> + Add 2 pixel divider underneath 'ADD TO MY ACCOUNT'
> + Move 'Subscribe' and Download options to the sidebar below
> + Add 'Share' option
> + Clicking on any of the links in the sidebar for subscribing /  
> sharing pop-sup a 'ticketed' version of the Collection Details Dialog
> - Collection name is not editable
> - URLs should be different for subscribing I imagine
> - Only 1 ticketed URL, whichever one the user used to access the  
> ticketed view (Ideally, if you received a 'View and Edit' ticket,  
> you should have access to the 'View-only' ticket as well, but  
> that's a nice-to-have.)
>
> III. MAKING WEB UI MORE USEFUL FOR STANDALONE USERS AND REMOTE  
> DESKTOP USERS (see mock-up 1)
> + Sort Triage Status by 'TriageStatusChangedDate' so that newly  
> created items appear at the top of the list, right now they  
> disappear to the bottom of the NOW items.
>
> + Making the Notes field Usable
> - Remove 'Addressing' and 'Task' stamp from DV, give space over to  
> Notes field
> - (Optional) 4. Add 'Star' stamp to markup bar.
> - (Optional) 5. Swap task stamp icon for start stamp in the table  
> column header.
>
> IV. SETTING EXPECTATIONS
> I need to come up with explanatory text for the account  
> confirmation page and log-in page that highlights what you can do  
> with the web UI. (I need to think about this more.)
>
> V. VISUAL CLEAN-UP + MARKETING
> + Change 'selected highlight color' to match link color: #0066ff
>
> + Move New collection Link to top of Sidebar
> + Move divider to top of Sidebar, make it 2 pixels (#CCCCCC)
> + Add 2 pixel divider under 'ADD TO MY ACCOUNT' in ticketed view  
> (#CCCCCC)
> _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
>
> Open Source Applications Foundation "chandler-dev" mailing list
> http://lists.osafoundation.org/mailman/listinfo/chandler-dev

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://lists.osafoundation.org/pipermail/chandler-dev/attachments/20080213/e5a46918/attachment.html