Rachel 11:09 am on October 12, 2016
Tags: beta ( 47 ), iOS ( 141 ), needs-testing ( 32 ), wpios ( 43 )

Call for Testing: WordPress for iOS 6.6

The WordPress for iOSiOS The operating system used on iPhones and iPads. 6.6 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 available for testing on TestFlight soon. Not part of the beta program yet? Please sign up for our TestFlight program to request to join as a beta tester.

What’s New

Animated GIFs in Blog Posts List: The Blog Posts list (on the My Sites tab) now supports animated GIFs.
- Add an animated GIF as the 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. or the only image in a blog post. Save or publish the post, and view the post in your Blog Posts list. The image should animate.
- Try adding very large GIFs, or multiple GIFs to a post, and let us know if anything unexpected happens (such as the app slowing down or crashing).
Backend Changes to Notifications: Notifications got revamped under the hood (backend changes). There shouldn’t be any noticeable changes, but please pay attention to any bugs with notifications in this version.

Additional Testing

In addition to testing new features and changes, as beta testers we can give feedback about the flow through the WordPress app. (Not sure what I mean? Check out how the WordPress Flow team tests and what we mean by flow.)

Here are some things to consider or try out in this release:

Take a screenshot of each step as you test the animated GIFs and/or notifications above. Upload your screenshots (you can create a gallery on Cloudup) and share them in a comment here.
Describe how the process makes you feel and whether you were able to finish the entire task or process you started.
When you finish the process (posting/viewing your animated GIF or checking your notifications), what do you want to do next? Is there a clear path to continue on to your next task?

Bugs & Feedback

Did you find a bug or come up with a feature request while testing? You can discuss it here, report it using the TestFlight feedback link, or head straight to the iOS Github repository and open a new issue.

Thanks for testing!

#beta, #ios, #needs-testing, #wpios

hoverduck 7:39 pm on October 12, 2016

I tested out the animated GIFs on an iPad Air 2 running 9.3.1 and didn’t see any problems. Tried large GIFs and 20+ posts in a row with GIFs, and it scrolled with no issue. A single post with a ton of GIFs looked fine in the Blog Posts list, but was slow to load the individual page (unsurprisingly). But once loaded it behaved fine.

Is it on the radar to have this feature copied over to the Reader display too? That was the only problem I noticed, the disconnect between what I see in Blog Posts and what I see in Reader.
- Rachel 10:26 am on October 13, 2016
  
  Yep, issue 6062 is to add animated GIF support to the Reader, too. I also felt that disconnect and look forward to that enhancement. 🙂
hoverduck 8:18 pm on October 12, 2016

I ran through some notifications tests, and everything seems to work, but interacting with the actions on the notification left a little to be desired. This may not be new behavior in this release, but just something I haven’t tested before.

Clicking either Approve or Like on a notification gives no indication of success or failure…I had to then go open the app to verify that it actually happened. This is in contrast to Android, where it opens the app regardless (and ticket 4602 should hopefully change that to just give a success/failure message instead).

Clicking Reply on a notification opened the app to the notification, but I still had to click Reply again once in the app to open the keyboard. – https://cloudup.com/cnDhWDK7p3s

Let me know if I should create GitHubGitHub GitHub is a website that offers online implementation of git repositories that can easily be shared, copied and modified by other developers. Public repositories are free to host, private repositories require a paid subscription. GitHub introduced the concept of the ‘pull request’ where code changes done in branches by contributors can be reviewed and discussed before being merged be the repository owner. https://github.com/ issues for these.
- Rachel 2:58 pm on October 13, 2016
  
  I confirmed that this is the same behavior as the stable release, so it isn’t new behavior but I agree with the suggestions. (The note about clicking Reply also parallels a recent enhancement request for the Android app: 4643)
  
  These should be technically possible as enhancements, so let’s create GithubGitHub GitHub is a website that offers online implementation of git repositories that can easily be shared, copied and modified by other developers. Public repositories are free to host, private repositories require a paid subscription. GitHub introduced the concept of the ‘pull request’ where code changes done in branches by contributors can be reviewed and discussed before being merged be the repository owner. https://github.com/ issues for them.
  - hoverduck 3:40 pm on October 13, 2016
    
    New issues:
    
    https://github.com/wordpress-mobile/WordPress-iOS/issues/6072
    https://github.com/wordpress-mobile/WordPress-iOS/issues/6073
Alister Scott 2:49 am on October 13, 2016

I tested both animated GIFs in blog posts list and also the notifications. I will mimic what @hoverduck says about showing these in The Reader would be great.

The only issue I found is pretty minor: if you have a published post with an animated gif in the body it shows the animated gif correctly in the posts list until you edit it and remove the image, where it then remains in the posts list. I tried pulling down to refresh and it still showed for me.
Lance Willett 5:00 pm on October 13, 2016

GIFs work well in posts list.

I noticed a minor bug in Comments, though — and reported on an existing GitHub issue for “Comments: Extra HTMLHTML HTML is an acronym for Hyper Text Markup Language. It is a markup language that is used in the development of web pages and websites. tags added after adding or editing comments.”
Ryan Boren 1:47 pm on October 14, 2016

I’m stuck on 6.5. TestFlight shows WP as unavailable. I’d include a screenshot, but commenting here from iOSiOS The operating system used on iPhones and iPads. safari doesn’t support uploads.
- Ryan Boren 4:42 pm on October 14, 2016
  
  Now my 6.5 TestFlight install crashes upon open. The posts list shows briefly before crash.
  
  I removed the app. TestFlight still shows unavailable.
  
  Blocked.
Ryan Boren 1:18 pm on October 17, 2016

Gifs inserted with Reboard and Giphy Keys don’t animate.
- Rachel 2:11 pm on October 17, 2016
  I think this has to do with how images are added to posts. I tested by adding GIFs from the Giphy app as well as using Giphy Keys, and here’s what I found:
  - Using the Share icon (and share extension) to share a GIF from the Giphy app to WordPress added a gallery with a still image instead of a GIF.
  - Copying the GIF from the Giphy app or Giphy Keys and pasting it into the editor added a still image instead of a GIF.
  - Saving the GIF from the Giphy app to my device and then uploading it to WordPress from my device added the GIF as expected.
  So it looks like we’ll need to support sharing/pasting GIFs to make this work. I added a comment to this issue about that: https://github.com/wordpress-mobile/WordPress-iOS/issues/2752
Ryan Boren 1:24 pm on October 17, 2016

Featured images, both still and animated, remain in the posts list after removal.
- Rachel 2:13 pm on October 17, 2016
  
  Related issue: https://github.com/wordpress-mobile/WordPress-iOS/issues/3612
designsimply 7:27 pm on October 17, 2016

I tested adding an animated gif (567 KB) to a post as a 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. using Safari iOSiOS The operating system used on iPhones and iPads. 10.0.2 on an iPhone 6S and didn’t find into any problems with animated gifs.
designsimply 7:41 pm on October 17, 2016
If I try to edit a title too quickly after publishing, the blog name gets set to null. Steps to reproduce:
1. Open WordPress for iOSiOS The operating system used on iPhones and iPads. 6.6.0.20161012 (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.)
2. Tap “Blog Posts” in the My Sites menu
3. Tap the “+” at the top right
4. Add a title and some text to the body
5. Publish the post
6. Re-open the post quickly (before seeing the “Published” overlay)
7. Tap on the title field
Result: If I re-open a newly published post too quickly after publishing it, the blog name at the top left of the edit screen says “(null)” and further attempts to edit the title crash the app.

Screenshots: https://cloudup.com/cJPtRrPPIUU

Video: https://cloudup.com/cAK3YB2OmPi (37s)
- Rachel 3:47 pm on October 19, 2016
  I tested this in 6.6.0.20161018 (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.), and I can reproduce the “(null)” blog name in the site picker. I get slightly different behavior after that point:
  - If I tap the “X” to close the editor, the app crashes
  - If I edit the title or post content, I can make the edits and tap Save, but the edits aren’t saved (the original post appears in the post list and the original content is there if I reopen the post in the editor)
  - If I open the post options, the options don’t work correctly. My site’s categories don’t show up and I can’t add a new one, the keyboard is dismissed while I try to enter a tag, the Status field appears blank and the app crashes if I tap on it, etc.
  I opened a GithubGitHub GitHub is a website that offers online implementation of git repositories that can easily be shared, copied and modified by other developers. Public repositories are free to host, private repositories require a paid subscription. GitHub introduced the concept of the ‘pull request’ where code changes done in branches by contributors can be reviewed and discussed before being merged be the repository owner. https://github.com/ issue to track this here: https://github.com/wordpress-mobile/WordPress-iOS/issues/6095
designsimply 8:22 pm on October 17, 2016
I’m having some trouble with likes…

Steps to reproduce:
1. Open WordPress for iOSiOS The operating system used on iPhones and iPads. 6.6.0.20161012 (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.).
2. Create and publish a new post.
3. Log in as a different user (in any browser), find the post that was just published, and like it.
4. In the app, logged in as the blog owner/post author, tap the bell icon and check to see if any like notifications show up.
Result: Likes appear to be missing (both on the app and in the browser).

Screenshots: https://cloudup.com/c79xXMf-O0v

Video: https://cloudup.com/ceAYzuXtu-l (2m27s)
- designsimply 7:06 pm on October 18, 2016
  
  Oddly, I’m finding that the likes appear sometimes, but not all the time. I haven’t figured out a pattern yet… I think it’s possibly related to where the likes are coming from (?), i.e. likes from my test user accounts don’t seem to go through but as soon as a more established user likes a post then I get notifs for all of them.
  - Rachel 3:33 pm on October 19, 2016
    
    Did the non-appearing likes come from users that don’t have Gravatars? I’m fairly certain notifications are only sent when the likers have a GravatarGravatar Is an acronym for Globally Recognized Avatar. It is the avatar system managed by WordPress.com, and used within the WordPress software. https://gravatar.com/., but in that case I’m surprised by the last thing you mentioned (“as a more established user likes a post then I get notifs for all of them”). I’d only expect notifications for likes from the “established” user (with a Gravatar).
Jeremey 5:44 pm on October 20, 2016

Gave the GIFs a quick test. Seemed to work really well on my iPhone 6 with iOSiOS The operating system used on iPhones and iPads. 6.6.0.20161012 (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.). My only wish list request is that the GIF was animated on the post options screen when I’m selecting it as a 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. (animated both in my media library when selecting the GIF and on the options page once it’s set as a featured image).