Weekly Dev Chat Summary for Jan 23, 2013

This week’s chat log.

Agenda

  • WPiOS Status and What’s Next
  • Navigation UIUI UI is an acronym for User Interface - the layout of the page the user interacts with. Think ‘how are they doing that’ and less about what they are doing. for WPAndroid
  • WPiOS Sign Up Wireframe Discussion

WPiOS Status and What’s Next

Version 3.4 of WPiOS has been submitted, the main new feature is a Notifications panel for 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/ and Jetpack-enabled blogs. It also features stability improvements.

A bug fix update is in the works, in which the UI/UXUX UX is an acronym for User Experience - the way the user uses the UI. Think ‘what they are doing’ and less about how they do it. around Notifications will be improved further. Tickets going into this bug fix update will be listed on the WPiOS TracTrac Trac is the place where contributors create issues for bugs or feature requests much like GitHub.https://core.trac.wordpress.org/..

We’re also working on better Previews for WPiOS, this will likely be the next major version of WPiOS – would be v 3.5 then. Since we have feature-based dev cycles this may be subject to change though. Any new contributors should jump in at #wordpress-mobile on Freenode to a mobile group member for starting work on any major new feature.

Navigation UI for WPAndroid

Background.

We decided to iterate on the UI in an upcoming WPAndroid release:

  • Add ActionBarSherlock and ‘convert’ our homegrown action bar to the native one
  • Remove the ‘dashboard’ home screen and instead put the items in a slide-out menu
  • Make small style updates around the app (lists etc) to better conform to the Holo UI pattern

Tasks delegated so far:

Previews is also in the works, @koke says it’s about half-way there. Whatever finishes first will be v. 2.3.

WPiOS Sign Up Wireframe Discussion

Background courtesy @karmatosed.

We had a discussion around what a sign up flow for WPiOS could look like, based on the wireframe. We like the direction but concluded that some basic improvements to the sign up/login flow might be nice altogether. The team highlighted plans to remove the “Select Blogs” step from the set up flow altogether, but this doesn’t have to happen at the same time.

We decided that another round of wireframes may be in order that ditches the first screen altogether and moves straight into a combined self-hosted/WordPress.com log in form. We want to make sure there’s enough space there for some explanatory copywriting and that there are ways to highlight fields and provide additional instructions (at least for the URLURL A specific web address of a website or web page on the Internet, such as a website’s URL www.wordpress.org field). We’ll wait to discuss more until we’ve seen some more wireframes.

It was a big discussion, if you’re interested be sure to check the chat log.

Next week

The next dev chat will be on Jan 30, 2013 at 16:00 UTC. Mark your calendar and join us in #wordpress-mobile on Freenode.

#dev-chat

Weekly Dev Chat Summary for Jan 16, 2013

Chat log (once its available).

Agenda

  • WPiOS 3.3.1 Released
  • WPiOS 3.4 Status
  • WPWinPhone 1.9.1 Status
  • WPAndroid 2.2.6
  • WPBlackBerry for BBOS10
  • Wireframes and User Test (karmatosed)
  • Handbook Status/Questions

WPiOS 3.3.1 Released

WordPress for iOSiOS The operating system used on iPhones and iPads. version 3.3.1 was approved by Apple last week and is available in the App Store. We have seen an early trend of a 50% drop in crash reports with this release! (Go Team!) We noted three major issues remaining are:

  • Draft posts disappearing
  • Issues with logins
  • Issues with media uploads

We will plan to address these following the release of 3.4.

WPiOS 3.4 Status

We’re continue to test version 3.4. There are a few todos remaining but the hope to submit to Apple Thursday.

WPWinPhone 1.9.1 Status

Microsoft rejected version 1.9.1 due to an issue with localization. According to their email:

The application’s UIUI UI is an acronym for User Interface - the layout of the page the user interacts with. Think ‘how are they doing that’ and less about what they are doing. text is not localized to the targeted language PortugalPortuguese. Instead, it is displayed in English.

No changes to localizations were made in this release which leads us to think Microsoft changed something in their app review process regarding localizations. We believe specifying a specific localization culture instead of a neutral culture (“pr-PR” instead of “pr”) will satisfy the app review issue. We are submitting the app with this change, but will also reach out to Microsoft directly for any insight they might provide.

WPAndroid 2.2.6

@mrroundhill has new version of WPAndroid is betaBeta A pre-release of software that is given out to a large group of users to trial under real conditions. Beta versions have gone through alpha testing in-house and are generally fairly close in look, feel and function to the final product; however, design changes often occur as part of the process.. Announcements have been made on the dev blog and on twitter. The new version includes the holo theme support for Android devices running a more recent version of the platform, fixes to httpsHTTPS HTTPS is an acronym for Hyper Text Transfer Protocol Secure. HTTPS is the secure version of HTTP, the protocol over which data is sent between your browser and the website that you are connected to. The 'S' at the end of HTTPS stands for 'Secure'. It means all communications between your browser and the website are encrypted. This is especially helpful for protecting sensitive data like banking information. and two crashes, and other optimizations. We’ll plan on releasing the app on Google Play Monday. Props to @willnorris for his contributions to this release!

WPBlackBerry for BBOS10

@daniloercoli has updated WPAndroid 2.2.6 to be supported on BlackBerry OS 10 when it launches. The new BlackBerry OS will be officially announced January 30th. We will submit the updated app to BlackBerry this coming Friday or Monday so it will be available to BlackBerry users as soon as the new OS and devices are available to the public.

Wireframes and User Test

@karmatosed has posted some updated UI examples and also provided a write up of her experience using WPiOS. We skimmed these quickly and decided for @karmatosed and @isaackeyet to talk more in-depth after the dev chat.

Handbook Status/Questions

@raggedrobins (irc: siobhan) joined us to field any questions we might have about the handbooks and offered to help out where able.

@isaackeyet reminded all that the draft mobile handbook is located at https://make.wordpress.org/mobile/handbook/ and of a conversation about the TOC on the blog.  We also have the goal of finalizing the table of contents by January 25th.

We talked about adding a “Ways to Get Involved” page after the introduction section and a General Guides section before tips and tricks.  We also commented that it would be nice to have screenshots where possible.

Next week’s dev chat

The next dev chat will be on Jan 23, 2013 at 16:00 UTC. Mark your calendar and join us in #wordpress-mobile on Freenode.

#weekly-dev-chat

Weekly dev chat summary for Jan 9 2013…

Weekly dev chat summary for Jan 9, 2013

Agenda

  • WPiOS
  • WPWindowsPhone
  • WPAndroid

WPiOS

Version 3.3.1 of the app is awaiting approval and has some important fixes that should help with some of the issues users are seeing. Version 3.4 is almost ready to go, we’re looking at a submit date (early) next week.

WPWindowsPhone

Version 1.9 of the app went live yesterday and was announced. There are some issues with editing pages, we’ll issue a bug fix update asap to resolve this but it will be a very minor releaseMinor Release A set of releases or versions having the same minor version number may be collectively referred to as .x , for example version 5.2.x to refer to versions 5.2, 5.2.1, 5.2.3, and all other versions in the 5.2 (five dot two) branch of that software. Minor Releases often make improvements to existing features and functionality. (only that fix).

WPAndroid

@mrroundhill let the team know that there are enough issues fixed to warrant a WPAndroid app update. It will be a minor release but it has some important fixes and minor enhancements, such as SSLSSL Secure Socket Layer - Encryption from the server to the browser and back. Prevents prying eyes from seeing what you are sending between your browser and the server. fixes, stats fix, and using the new Holo theme. A betaBeta A pre-release of software that is given out to a large group of users to trial under real conditions. Beta versions have gone through alpha testing in-house and are generally fairly close in look, feel and function to the final product; however, design changes often occur as part of the process. will be out by Friday this week, most likely the app update will be submitted sometime the following week.

Next week’s dev chat

The next dev chat will be on Jan 16, 2013 at 16:00 UTC. Mark your calendar and join us in #wordpress-mobile on Freenode.

#weekly-dev-chat

Mobile Dev Chat Aug 29, 2012

Summary of the dev chat held in IRC on Aug 29, 2012. Chat log.

Agenda:

  • WPiOS 3.2 cycle status update, todos
  • WPAndroid 2.2 status update (we’re in betaBeta A pre-release of software that is given out to a large group of users to trial under real conditions. Beta versions have gone through alpha testing in-house and are generally fairly close in look, feel and function to the final product; however, design changes often occur as part of the process.!)
  • WPWindowsPhone 1.7 planning and heads up
  • CoreCore Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress. revisionsRevisions The WordPress revisions system stores a record of each saved draft or published update. The revision system allows you to see what changes were made in each revision by dragging a slider (or using the Next/Previous buttons). The display indicates what has changed in each revision. and preview 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. in 3.5

WPiOS 3.2 cycle status update, todos

  • We went over the current status of version 3.2 and noted progress on Featured ImageFeatured image A featured image is the main image used on your blog archive page and is pulled when the post or page is shared on social media. The image can be used to display in widget areas on your site or in a summary list of posts. support, visual editor for iPad iOS5+, and Notifications screen for 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/ + comment notifications. Visual editor and Notifications for WordPress.com are in trunk, however in a very rough state, but we’re moving along steadily. There are plenty of tickets open in Trac though and plenty for would-be contributors to look into!
  • We discussed the visual editor a bit, reiterating the need to have it not tamper with posts in an unexpected way. The toolbar will need to be changed a bit to accommodate the new editor (indicating “active” status). @irbrad is going to look into some of the top plugins that alter/hook into the editor and how we need to tackle those in the app. To test this properly we’ll need to compare existing (old) posts from a large number of different websites and make sure that the markup/content is not altered in a negative way by using the app. Special care needs to be taken to shortcodes and full embeds.

WPAndroid 2.2 status update (we’re in beta!)

  • The app’s in beta, and it’s going well so far. Some issues/concerns have come up: Featured Image support is not checked remotely (we’ll work on this) and tapping images to open details in the post editor is cumbersome at times.

WPWindowsPhone 1.7 planning and heads up

  • While there’s no ETA on when the dev cycle could start just yet, we foresee this cycle starting right around WPiOS 3.2 is out.
  • There’s a tentative road map in TracTrac Trac is the place where contributors create issues for bugs or feature requests much like GitHub.https://core.trac.wordpress.org/. already, to bring the app up to speed with the other apps, prepare it for Windows Phone 8, and resolve lingering UXUX UX is an acronym for User Experience - the way the user uses the UI. Think ‘what they are doing’ and less about how they do it. issues.
  • @maxcutler highlighted that Windows Phone 7 apps will work on Windows Phone 8, and so our aim should be to improve the app and not exclude older devices – especially since these can’t upgrade .
  • Some concerns were raised about the WordPress.com app developed by Automattic for Windows 8, that it doesn’t fit so well into this new suite of OS’s and software that’s coming from Microsoft. We’ll need to think it through, but it may make sense to help turn this app into a full “regular” WordPress app with management capabilities and support for self-hosted blogs.

Core revisions and preview API in 3.5

  • @mrroundhill brought up the need for an improved Gallery API, although it may be a tight fit to do in time for 3.5. We decided that it would be best to hold off on gallery support in the apps for now, until the API is improved. Post revisions should help with this.
  • The feature freeze is coming up and it’s time to complete the patches and send ’em in, so it’s now the biggest priority to get the patches in that we need. @kokejb still has the lead here but should call in help accorndingly.

#android, #dev-chat, #ios, #planning, #road-map, #windows-phone, #wpandroid, #wpios, #wpwindowsphone, #xmlrpc