Make WordPress Mobile

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  • Isaac Keyet 8:19 pm on April 17, 2013 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , , update   

    Today is an exciting day, version 2.3 of WordPress for Android was just announced. This is the big update that brings the Android app up to date with the latest and greatest in Android, namely the Holo UI pattern. The most prominent changes include the use of the Action Bar and a menu drawer for navigation.

    This update couldn’t have been made without the excellent contributors, those that were involved this time were: mrroundhill, willnorris, isaackeyet, daniloercoli and aerych.

    Please help us test 2.3 further and report any issues you find in the WordPress for Android Trac. Any feedback is very welcome as well of course!

    Leave a comment here or on the Android dev blog (dev.android.wordpress.org) if you’d like to get involved and contribute.

    Congrats all around!

    Announcement post: http://android.wordpress.org/2013/04/17/2-3-release/

    Announcement tweet:

     

  • Eric 3:51 pm on April 17, 2013 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , , gnome outreach, , ,   

    Weekly dev chat summary for April 17, 2013 

    Chat log.

    Agenda

    • Android
    • iOS
    • Mobile Handbook
    • Gnome Outreach
    • GSoC Communications

    Android

    Android 2.3, the awesome UI refresh version, will launch today! Great job team!

    Push notifications for WP.com and Jetpack are currently in the works.

    iOS

    We submitted version 3.5.3. This updated fixes a few bugs and crashes, including an annoying orientation bug affecting folks using iOS5 and some better error management.

    Current

    • NUX : Work continues.
    • Reader: First iteration of working views this week so we can start iterating.
    • Maintenance: We’re looking at improving notifications. Also looking at handling login limiting from the WordPressApi classes.

    On the horizon

    Looking at improved media or working on the iOS SDK for the next “feature”.

    Mobile Handbook

    We’re coming up to a hard deadline. We acknowledge there are still some parts of the handbook that need our attention, either to refine or to complete.

    A community member (irc: radchadd) volunteered to create some screenshots and instructions for setting up WPAndroid for the first time. This will be nice to include in the Android handbook.

    Action Item: Get a post up with todos for the handbook to which @isaackeyet has volunteered.

    Gnome Outreach

    @JenMylo mentioned it a few weeks back around when GSoC was announced. We don’t have a lot of details about this yet but it sounds similar to the proposals and mentoring process of GSoC.  Something for us to keep an eye on.

    GSoC communications.

    Several applicants have been using the wp-hacker’s mailing list for feedback.  Those of us who are mentoring should make sure we’re subscribed so we can comment on projects that are posted there. We should also talk about how we an better support the folks in timezones we don’t normally cover.

    Next week

    The next dev chat will be on April 24, 2013 at 1500 UTC. Mark your calendar and join us in #wordpress-mobile on Freenode.

     

  • Eric 3:45 pm on April 17, 2013 Permalink | Reply
    Tags:   

    We should have a plan for being available to GSoC applicants that are in timezones we don’t normally cover. If we’re all subscribing to the wp-hackers listserv that should help, but it would be good to have some availability in freenode #wordpress-gsoc as well. Maybe we can start by stating our individual “office hours” and see where we might be able to do a little more, even if its a few hours per week.

    I’m usually around between 2pm and 11pm UTC.

     

  • Isaac Keyet 3:55 pm on April 10, 2013 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , , ,   

    Weekly dev chat summary for April 10, 2013 

    Chat log.

    Agenda

    • Android UI Update Beta 2
    • GSoC
    • iOS New User Experience

    Android UI Update Beta 2

    The second Beta is out, if all goes well 2.3 will be released and announced next Wednesday (in time for the next weekly dev chat!) Not all tickets were closed but there are no blockers at this point, so we’ll want to look into a bug fix release shortly after v 2.3 is out.

    Next step for Android is Notifications for WordPress.com blogs, but a Contextual Action Bar for Comments milestone is also planned – it would make for a quick win and be a smaller release. We might want to try and get that out before Notifications.

    GSoC

    There are quite a few mobile WordPress-related projects in the pool for GSoC this year. Eric noted that anyone who would like to participate in the Google Summer of Code and work on one of the WordPress projects can visit one of these two sites to apply:

    http://codex.wordpress.org/GSoC_2013_Application_Template

    http://www.google-melange.com/gsoc/org/google/gsoc2013/wordpress

    We went on to talk about potential ideas for GSoC projects (such as this one for a Windows 8 app. When applying for GSoC and you have an idea that’s not among those already suggested you can write a description of your own and include it with your application.

    There were a few ideas discussed, among others a native BlackBerry OS 10 app. We noted that projects should benefit all users and not just WordPress.com.

    iOS New User Experience

    There’s been progress on the iOS “NUX” iteration and we’re looking to start a discussion. Check out Sendhil’s New User Experience post and give us your thoughts. Of course we’re also looking for help in getting there, but any and all feedback is much welcome.

    Prologue

    Danilo noted that version 2.1 of the Windows Phone app will be announced this week, featuring the editor updates and basic comment notifications for WordPress.com blogs. Some more info on the dev blog.

    Next week

    The next dev chat will be on April 17, 2013 at 1500 UTC. Mark your calendar and join us in #wordpress-mobile on Freenode.

     

  • sendhil 5:54 pm on April 8, 2013 Permalink | Reply
    Tags:   

    New User Experience

    I’ve been working on the New User Experience for the WordPress iOS App and I wanted to share with you guys our direction and get your feedback. Most of this work was initially seeded by this post from @karmatosed. The hope and desire for this feature is to introduce users of all levels to the app and to help users navigate the app.

    I initially experimented with a few different signup workflows to see how difficult each technical implementation would be. I was able to reproduce a Circle like workflow which @karmatosed detailed in her post along with a few standard horizontal paging workflows. While we liked the visual appeal of a Circle like workflow, we decided to go with a more traditional horizontal workflow for this first release as most users on iOS are used to that pattern and we felt it’d be difficult to do a Circle like workflow well. That being said, we are hoping to get a parallax like pattern going for the horizontal workflow so as to make the whole experience more beautiful, but we may drop it if we feel we are just trying to force it in.

    We are also going to add tooltips that will appear as the user explores the app. We are going to start out with an initial set and add more as needed.

    Initial Walkthrough

    The initial walkthrough will consist of these screens:

    1. Welcome
    2. General Intro
    3. Posting
    4. Notifications
    5. Stats
    6. Reader

    Tooltips

    Here are the tooltips we are currently planning on including as a part of this 1.0 release:

    • Access Sidebar
    • Sidebar Open
    • Reader
    • Notifications
    • Posts
    • Pages
    • Comments
    • Stats
    • Jetpack – For self hosted users

    I look forward any feedback you all might have.

     

    • Eric 6:13 pm on April 8, 2013 Permalink | Reply

      That’s an awesome list :)

      Is the Quick Photo featured covered as part of Posting? Any tool tips for that feature?

    • sendhil 7:21 pm on April 8, 2013 Permalink | Reply

      It isn’t on the list, but we might as well add it!

    • karmatosed 4:28 pm on April 10, 2013 Permalink | Reply

      Sounds great – really happy this is progressing. Love to get involved where I can. Tooltips sounds a really useful idea too.

    • Isaac Keyet 2:47 am on April 11, 2013 Permalink | Reply

      Adding my voice to the chorus… Excited to see a better NUX become a reality :)

  • Isaac Keyet 3:52 am on April 4, 2013 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: contribution, heads up,   

    Heads up: just updated this p2 a great deal. It should now be much easier to…

    • Learn what the Mobile Group does
    • What projects within WordPress that we work with
    • How to start contributing
    • How to get in touch with the team and the team reps
    • See when our next Dev Chat is
    • What our ongoing projects are
    • Filter posts by our main projects (using tags) in a menu

    Hopefully this should make it easier to get started with contributing and open the group up more to the community.

     

    • Isaac Keyet 3:54 am on April 4, 2013 Permalink | Reply

      @aerych: in the future, let’s update the Ongoing Projects sidebar widget each Wednesday when we do the Updates post.

    • Eric 2:31 pm on April 4, 2013 Permalink | Reply

      Love the changes.

    • Dan 2:57 pm on April 4, 2013 Permalink | Reply

      Very nice, I really like the Filter.

  • Eric 8:04 pm on April 3, 2013 Permalink | Reply
    Tags:   

    Weekly dev chat summary for April 3, 2013 

    Chat log.

    Agenda

    • WPiOS
    • WPAndroid
    • Other Platforms
    • Make/Mobile blog

    WPiOS Status

    WordPress for iOS version 3.5.2 is approved by Apple and available in iTunes as of April 2nd.  This bugfix release is already paying off as we’re seeing our lowest crash numbers ever.  @Koke is monitoring the normal channels and we’re all hopeful the trend continues!

    Current efforts for WPiOS include:

    • An improved “new user experience” (NUX) to include a welcome guide and a better login/sign up flow.  We’re receiving an assist from Automattic’s editorial team for some of the NUX content.
    • Addressing some authentication issues that seem to be related to login limiting.
    • Looking into conflict resolution options so we can bring back improved previews (and maybe autosaves).

    Android Status

    WPAndroid version 2.3 is in beta! This is a big release and we’ll be testing a lot this week. If there are no major issues we should release by next Monday (but might release earlier).

    The next major features we’re looking at are Notifications and some code improvements that will allow us to start writing automated tests.  More discussion on this to happen over the next week.

    Other Platforms

    WordPress for Windows Phone version 2.1 submission to Microsoft is imminent. We’re just waiting on a few graphic assets and some updated translations, and plan to submit later this week.

    Make/Mobile blog

    We discussed potential improvements to the make/mobile blog, mostly from the standpoint of assisting newcomers. Things mentioned include:

    • Improved description of the mobile group – who we are, what we do.
    • An ongoing projects list
    • A link to the IRC room for wordpress-mobile.
    • Specify the weekly dev chat time.
    • Links to the mobile handbooks.

    TODO: Implement these improvements on the make/mobile blog over the coming week.

    Next week

    The next dev chat will be on April 10, 2013 at 1500 UTC. Mark your calendar and join us in #wordpress-mobile on Freenode.

     

    • Isaac Keyet 3:53 am on April 4, 2013 Permalink | Reply

      The improvements to the make blog have been done, more info here.

    • Dan 2:56 pm on April 4, 2013 Permalink | Reply

      If there are no major issues we should release by next Monday (but might release earlier).

      Was this an assumption? I didn’t make that decision.

      • Eric 4:34 pm on April 4, 2013 Permalink | Reply

        That was totally my assumption. Mea Culpa if I jumped the gun.

  • Isaac Keyet 10:57 pm on March 27, 2013 Permalink | Reply
    Tags:   

    Weekly dev chat summary for Mar 27, 2013 

    We had a short meeting in #wordpress-mobile today mostly just giving a status update of our ongoing iterations. Chat log.

    Agenda

    • Android Status
    • WindowsPhone Status
    • Handbook status/reminder
    • iOS Status

    Android Status

    The UI refresh update is looking good. Almost ready for the Beta, worked on icons over the last week and making the app work better on larger screens (read “tablets”). Also, the app now remembers where you were last when you re-open it.

    WindowsPhone Status

    Fixing the remaining bugs in the Editor, these have proven to be more complicated than expected. Have been doing some clean up around the comment notifications. We should be able to wrap up the release by Friday. Some icons are missing as well, we’ll need to get that sorted before we submit.

    Handbook status/reminder

    Still some parts missing and some sections needs to be updated/rewritten, including WindowsPhone and the Graphics section.

    TODO: let’s all revisit the handbook as it exists currently.

    iOS Status

    Bug fix update 3.5.2 submitted Monday which contains a lot of much needed bug fixes and the roll-back of autosaves since they broke the app for so many and it’s a complicated problem to solve. Found many bugs while testing that we’ll want to look into next. Some more info on 3.5.2.

    TODO: test 3.5.2 over the week to make sure no new bugs slipped through, this is important and a part of our new release/testing strategy to test each release as it’s pending approval.

    Next week

    The next dev chat will be on April 3, 2013 at 1500 UTC. Mark your calendar and join us in #wordpress-mobile on Freenode.

     

  • Eric 7:20 pm on March 20, 2013 Permalink | Reply
    Tags:   

    Weekly dev chat summary for Mar 20, 2013 

    Chat log.

    Agenda

    • Moving meeting time
    • Google Summer of Code
    • iOS & Android development
    • iOS NUX

    Moving meeting time

    We’ve decided to move the weekly dev chats back to 15:00 UTC due to daylight savings time.

    Google Summer of Code

    GSoC is open for applications. A conversation has started about what mobile projects we might like to see as a part of this. Let’s keep suggesting projects and take it from there.

    iOS & Android development

    The Automattic side of the mobile team is pursuing a few new priorities for WPiOS and WPAndroid in addition to iterations currently in progress. The new priorities are:

    • iOS: NUX, exploring a better new user experience
    • iOS: Reader, building a native WPcom reader for the app (details TBD)
    • Android: Notifications, a better way to keep up with your WPcom or Jetpack-enabled blog

    We noted that these Automattic specific priorities are not intended to dictate the direction of the apps as a whole.

    We also commented on the current state of WPiOS and WPAndroid. In WPiOS, nailing down the best solution for remote auto-saves is a continuing effort but getting closer. The new UI refresh for WPAndroid is very close, and final graphics for icons and styling tweaks are currently in the works.

    iOS NUX

    Sendhil is tackling a revamped intro and signup flow for WPiOS and will be collaborating with @karmatosed for some of the design. We’re going to experiment a bit with a circle style NUX to test its feasibility.

    Next Week

    The next dev chat will be on March 27, 2013 at 1500 UTC. Mark your calendar and join us in #wordpress-mobile on Freenode.

     

    • Marko Heijnen 7:06 pm on March 28, 2013 Permalink | Reply

      About the NUX. Isn’t it time to try to make one for all apps and then describe per OS where the NUX is going to change?

  • Eric 6:44 pm on March 19, 2013 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , , firefoxos, , , tizen,   

    For the GSOC I think it would be nice to have at least one project for WPiOS, WPAnroid and WPWinPhone. Maybe even encouraging something new like a Phone Gap effort, native BlackBerry, Tizen or Firefox OS apps. We should suggest some ideas.
    Adding image filters to iOS quick photo might be a good project. Anyone have others?

     

    • Jen Mylo 6:54 pm on March 19, 2013 Permalink | Reply

      Propose as many as possible, for the best chance to entice a good set of applicants. You’re not committed to anything until we actually choose students.

      • Eric 7:44 pm on March 29, 2013 Permalink | Reply

        Hey @jane, We’ve settled on a list of projects we think sound interesting and @daniloercoli, @sendhil, and myself are game to mentor. I went ahead and updated the project page (hope that was okay) but let me know if it would be better to send the list a different way.

    • Will Norris 8:52 pm on March 19, 2013 Permalink | Reply

      Some random things on my wishlist for the Android app. I think some of these are already being worked on, or may get started between now and June, but I’ll list them anyway. If we think any of these are worth pursuing, we can write more in depth proposals.

      • add Notification support (pretty sure this is already being worked on)
      • refactor all network code out of Activity classes and move to background service (related: #363). this is actually a fair amount of work.
      • add tests (unit tests, UI tests, etc). Adding a lot of the unit tests will be dependent on the network code refactor above and similar refactoring projects so that the code is broken up into more logical chunks that can be individually tested. This also isn’t a very sexy task, but is really important, long term.
      • photo instant upload, a la Google+ / FaceBook / Dropbox. We’d need to discuss a little more about whether this should go into the app before we have a student spend time coding it up. I have mixed feelings.
      • explore options for allowing plugins to extend the mobile UI. I’ve had a number of different thoughts about how this could be done. I’m not sure that this would get to a shippable state in the time allotted for SoC (again, I think it deserves a bit of discussion on whether it should be done), but a proof of concept would be really cool.

      • Eric 2:41 pm on March 22, 2013 Permalink | Reply

        explore options for allowing plugins to extend the mobile UI

        That would be rad!

    • Eric 2:41 pm on March 22, 2013 Permalink | Reply

      A few more ideas:

      • Port WordPress for webOS to Firefox OS, Tizen, and/or Ubuntu Mobile.
      • A native WordPress app for BlackBerry 10.
      • Make WordPress for iOS a share target for other mobile apps.
      • Build a rich text editor for WordPress for iOS.

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