Mobile Dev Chat Sep 19, 2012

Summary of this week’s dev chat. chat log.

Agenda:

  • WPiOS 3.1.4 heads up
  • WPAndroid 2.2 check-in
  • XML-RPC check-in
  • New welcome screen/signup/connection flow discussion

WPiOS 3.1.4 heads up

We denoted that we’re doing some work to stay compatible with iOS6 and the upcoming iPhone 5. This release is due to be submitted today.

WPAndroid 2.2 check-in

The app was released for the BlackBerry PlayBook last Monday. There have been bugs with the release but we’ve issued bug fix releases. Now another issue has arisen and we’re prepping yet another bug fix release. The announcement is still due so we’ll make sure we post it asap (today is the plan). Look for it on the WordPress for Android Blog!

XML-RPC check-in

Max is doing the final review of the XML-RPC patches the mobile team has worked on (Jorge). There’s a write-up post on the status of all APIAPI An API or Application Programming Interface is a software intermediary that allows programs to interact with each other and share data in limited, clearly defined ways. enhancements going into 3.5 just below this post

New welcome screen/signup/connection flow discussion (was labeled “Sign up tweak”, among others, in the meeting)

Matt had brought up that our current welcome screen in all the apps has three options where most apps only have two – sign in or sign up (and perhaps one or two ways to sign in using a third party like Twitter or Facebook). We discussed this and after going back and forth for a bit seems like we all agreed the following would be best:

  • Sign up screen has two options (may be buttons): Connect Blog, Sign Up (copy is very likely to change)
  • Connect Blog has 3 fields, the WordPress.comWordPress.com An online implementation of WordPress code that lets you immediately access a new WordPress environment to publish your content. WordPress.com is a private company owned by Automattic that hosts the largest multisite in the world. This is arguably the best place to start blogging if you have never touched WordPress before. https://wordpress.com/ specific log in screen is gone.
    1. URLURL A specific web address of a website or web page on the Internet, such as a website’s URL www.wordpress.org (optional, with a placeholder that hints at the field only being necessary for self-hosted blogs)
    2. Username (just saying “Username”, not trying to specify .org or .com)
    3. Password (see ^)
  • This new flow would be a good opportunity to…
    • Use the same Geolocation toggle for both .org and .com.
    • Be consistent about actionable buttons (right now you log in automatically with a wpcom blog, but .org you need to press Save to continue).
    • Revisit the welcome screen – maybe we can make all the Connect fields visible when you first launch the app (not hidden behind a button).
    • Update/add error messages for the sign up flow to aid the optional URL field and provide a smoother set up altogether.

Epilogue

Please join us next week for the mobile dev chat, 15:00 UTC Wednesday.

#android, #dev-chat, #ios, #roadmap, #ui, #ux, #wpandroid, #wpios, #xmlrpc