Author Archives: Isaac Keyet

Isaac Keyet 2:00 am on October 1, 2013
Tags: , featured images,   

Weekly dev chat summary for Sep 30, 2013

We didn’t follow the usual pattern for the dev chat this week since the majority of the contributors couldn’t make it, and instead opened it up to potential new contributors. — Chat log.

Featured Images discussion

@lonchbox (Pancho Perez) joined us to chat about some ideas he’s had for a better iOS app experience, in particular setting Featured Images.

The discussion was mainly around the placement of the feature and how important it is to editors when using a theme that supports it. We went over the reasons as to why it’s in the Settings tab currently but ultimately agreed that there may be a better home for it somewhere more prominent in the main post editor. Wether this be a button in the tab bar, a graphic overlaying the post, or something exciting like a parallax top headerHeader The header of your site is typically the first thing people will experience. The masthead or header art located across the top of your page is part of the look and feel of your website. It can influence a visitor’s opinion about your content and you/ your organization’s brand. It may also look different on different screen sizes. we’re not sure of. Do check out Pancho’s post as it brings up some interesting concepts. @hugobaeta later tweeted and it looks like we’ll be looking at solutions when outlining the visual editor project.

We’ll circle back to the status of the apps next week. Join us in #wordpress-mobile at 16:00 UTC on Monday, October 7!

#dev-chat, #featured-images, #ios

Isaac Keyet 1:52 am on September 24, 2013
Tags: , , , ,   

Weekly dev chat summary for Sep 23, 2013

Chat log.

Agenda

  • Android Status
  • iOSiOS The operating system used on iPhones and iPads. Status
  • Handbook Status
  • This Week
  • Next Dev Chat

Android Status

Since there are still a few bugs to take care off, the road map was revised so we can do a second 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. this week and release on Oct 7. We need to test more with Jetpack to make Stats are working like they’re supposed to.

NUX and the new, native 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/ Reader will be the next release after that, towards the end of October.

The Android project is in dire need of beta testers. If you’re interested, keep a look out for a post appearing here soon or simply comment on this post.

iOS Status

Our update for iOS 7 was released and got some nice attention. There’s been some serious bugs and a bug fix (3.8.1) is already out, with 3.8.2 being submitted tomorrow most likely.

Once bugs are out of the way, we’re pretty much ready to release Themes. Media is also looking a whole lot better. The visual editor work will be postponed to later in October.

As far as the refactoring goes, we’ll pick it back up once we’re done with the current feature iterations — it’s likely that there are going to be more changes needed after we’re done with all of these.

Handbook Status

@rachel_mccollin took a look at the Handbook and posted her notes. BlackBerry has already been updated and Windows Phone cleaned up, but the iOS section still needs work. @aerych urged the iOS contributors to divide the work in between them and write up the missing documentation.

This Week

Since the vast majority of the contributors working on the iOS and Android projects will be out the next 7 days or so, the projects will only be monitored and development will be picked back up around October 4-8. For Android, the beta will be the top priority and for iOS it’s taking care of the most severe bugs showcased in the app.

Next Dev Chat

The next weekly dev chat is scheduled for September 30, 2013 at 9AM PST/16:00 UTC as usual. Most of the regular folks will most likely be out, and since the projects are on a little hiatus we don’t expect much that will need to be talked about. However, we’ll still have it and anyone that wants to join in and chit-chat is more than welcome to.

#android, #dev-chat, #handbook, #headsup, #ios

Isaac Keyet 9:40 pm on September 20, 2013
Tags: app store, blog post, feature, highlight,   

The WordPress app for iOS is featured in…

The WordPress app for iOSiOS The operating system used on iPhones and iPads. is featured in 92 App Stores around the world, including a top app listing in the Social Networking categoryCategory The 'category' taxonomy lets you group posts / content together that share a common bond. Categories are pre-defined and broad ranging. in the U.S. store. This is huge, so we blogged about it on the official WordPress for iOS blog.

Spread the love and don’t forget to rate the WordPress app if you like it!

#app-store, #blog-post, #feature, #highlight, #ios

Isaac Keyet 4:53 pm on September 2, 2013
Tags: , , ,   

Dev chat summary for Sep 2, 2013

Chat log

Agenda

  • iOSiOS The operating system used on iPhones and iPads. Status
  • Android Status
  • Handbook Update
  • This Week

iOS Status

The 3.7.1 bug fix went out and fixed the crash issues for most people, but some are still experiencing it — we’re investigating.

We’ve wrapped up the major work needed for the iOS7/MP6-ification release, now doing some polishing and fixing and hoping to submit by early next week.

Progress has been made towards a visual editor but we’ll wait to put it in until an upcoming release.

The theme switching release 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/ blogs is pretty much done as well, we’re looking to do some testing but if it all goes well it may make it into the next major releaseMajor Release A set of releases or versions having the same major version number may be collectively referred to as “X.Y” -- for example version 5.2.x to refer to versions 5.2, 5.2.1, and all other versions in the 5.2. (five dot two dot) branch of that software. Major Releases often are the introduction of new major features and functionality. of WordPress for iOS.

Android Status

Themes + Media should be feature complete by the end of this week, should hit 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. beginning of next week. NUX (welcome guide, better log in/sign up) is now 75% complete.

Post searching and a pull to refresh (a la the new Gmail client) was added by @aagam94. Woot!

Handbook Status

We had a goal to wrap up the Mobile Handbook by the end of August. Unfortunately this didn’t happen, there are still 13 pages marked as drafts, but we got very close. We’ll now wrap up the remaining bits this week. We’re almost 3/4 of the way there — if you have a page that’s still a draft, please get it done ASAP.

This Week

  • Android Themes + Media: some fixes and testing, beta next week
  • iOS 7/MP6-ification: do final polish, submit beginning of next week
  • Wrap up remaining pages in the Handbook
  • TracTrac Trac is the place where contributors create issues for bugs or feature requests much like GitHub.https://core.trac.wordpress.org/. purge: we’re going through and removing/cleaning up old Trac tickets across the iOS and Android projects and moving over what we can to 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

Next Chat

Join us for the next dev chat on Sept 9, 2013 at 16:00 UTC. Mark your calendar and join us in #wordpress-mobile on Freenode.

#android, #dev-chat, #handbook, #ios

Isaac Keyet 2:26 pm on August 22, 2013
Tags: contribution, , ,   

Looking to get started contributing There are a…

Looking to get started contributing? There are a number of smaller bugs and enhancements listed for the iOSiOS The operating system used on iPhones and iPads. app on Github currently.

Here are some that are perfect for beginners or someone just looking for a quick turnaround:

See all outstanding Issues for iOS on Github

#contribution, #github, #ios, #issues

Isaac Keyet 6:25 am on August 21, 2013
Tags: , , , ,   

Dev chat summary for Aug 19, 2013

Delayed summary of what went down yesterday for the record. Chat log.

Agenda

  • iOSiOS The operating system used on iPhones and iPads. Status
  • Android Status
  • Handbook Update
  • Team Reps
  • What’s Next

iOS Status

3.7 with the new 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/ Reader and a new account system launched (woo!) but had some serious bugs, including a launch on startup for some due to migrationMigration Moving the code, database and media files for a website site from one server to another. Most typically done when changing hosting companies. issues (boo!) so we’ve been hard at work trying to fix the issues. A .1 will be pushed asap. Next up is a .2 with some minor enhancements.

Android Status

2.4.4 was just pushed to Google Play and includes some enhancements like Picasa/Google+ image uploading/adding and post excerpts — props @aagam94!

Later this week we’ll launch 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. with theme selection and media library enhancements. We’re also starting the new user experience iteration back up (better log in/sign up and welcome guide).

Handbook Update

@sendhil has worked on the iOS section and @hugobaeta has taken a look at the design parts of the handbook. Everyone was urged to mark things as done in the todo.

Team Reps

We talked about electing new team reps. Since our group is very small we decided to keep it simple and elect new reps in the chat itself. @irbrad was up for a term but not this time around, so for now @aerych and @isaackeyet will continue being team reps without specific primary/secondary roles (we’ve switched from week to week up until now and it has worked well). Worth noting is that the new cycle is 3 months for a handoff between primary/secondary team reps but since it’s worked so well I think we can continue on as we have and fill in for each other when necessary.

What’s Next

iOS: fix the bug in 3.7 asap and issue 3.7.1, then start working on 3.7.2. iOS7-ification is also under way, as is the code clean up and partial refactor, both in separate branches for now.

Android: Media/Themes beta and NUX (welcome guide, improved log in/sign up) is next, along with the Android WordPress.com Native Reader project.

Other

We discussed bug tracking briefly and decided to track issues with the iOS app directly on 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/ using Issues — this will be adopted by the Android app shortly as well.

We also talked about using Hockey app for Android beta distribution. We concluded that we should explore more to see how feasible it would be and maybe start a post on this p2 about it.

Next Chat

Join us for the next dev chat on Aug 26, 2013 at 16:00 UTC. Mark your calendar and join us in #wordpress-mobile on Freenode.

#android, #dev-chat, #handbook, #ios, #team-reps

Isaac Keyet 6:47 pm on August 5, 2013
Tags: , , ,   

Dev chat summary for Aug 5, 2013

Chat log

Agenda

  • iOSiOS The operating system used on iPhones and iPads. Status
  • Android Status
  • Handbook Update
  • Next Week

iOS Status

Version 3.7 is still not submitted and the team is working hard on getting it ready. There are still some minor issues but most can probably be in a subsequent bug fix release. Issues are being tracked here. Patches welcome!

Android Status

We pushed out 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. of the Categories but it’s been buggy. Plan right now is to submit on Wednesday. We got a patch for adding excerpts to the app so we’ll be looking into that as well this week. Media and Theme selection is coming along nicely.

For the new native 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/ Reader, it was a bit of a slow week. Commenting is working now and performance is improved. For now it’s kept as a separate app to speed up development, but eventually it’ll be merged into the main app.

Handbook Update

There’s a new handbook todo list in town, check it out and tick off items with your name on it! @sendhil is going to take a look at the iOS side this week. @aerych noted that it’d be great to wrap up the handbook by the end of the month and that we should make that the goal.

Next Week

For next week the plan is to…

  • Submit v. 3.7 of the iOS app, adding the new and improved native WordPress.com Reader and fixes,
  • release the Android categories update,
  • continue working on iOS7-ifying the iOS app.

Join us for the next dev chat on Aug 12, 2013 at 16:00 UTC. Mark your calendar and join us in #wordpress-mobile on Freenode.

#android, #dev-chat, #handbook, #ios

Isaac Keyet 2:55 am on July 23, 2013
Tags: , , ,   

Dev chat summary for July 22, 2013

Please note: we’re now having our dev chats on Mondays @ 9:00AM PST/16:00 UTC (ref).

Chat log

Agenda

  • Current projects (iOSiOS The operating system used on iPhones and iPads., Android, Other platforms)
  • Mobile handbook review
  • What’s Next

Current projects (iOS, Android, Other platforms)

iOS

Bug fix update v. 3.6.4 was submitted this morning, slightly delayed but with some additional bug fixes.

More testing and polishing on v. 3.7 (native 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/ Reader). Strings are ready to be translated (help out here!) The limited 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. bore fruit and a few issues were found that will be fixed shortly.

We’ve discussed adding a built-in feedback system to the iOS app but need to flesh this out more before we go at it.

Android

Development continues on media library and themes features, you can now browse your media and edit media metaMeta Meta is a term that refers to the inside workings of a group. For us, this is the team that works on internal WordPress sites like WordCamp Central and Make WordPress. data (title, caption, etc), and you can browse for themes on WordPress.com and activate them if you like. We’ve also added some good image resizing settings (kudos @daniloercoli).

There’s been some push back on removing “View Admin” from the menu drawer so we’re considering making it an option to have it re-appear in the sidebarSidebar A sidebar in WordPress is referred to a widget-ready area used by WordPress themes to display information that is not a part of the main content. It is not always a vertical column on the side. It can be a horizontal rectangle below or above the content area, footer, header, or any where in the theme. for power users.

Other platforms

No updates for other platforms.

Mobile handbook review

We’ve stressed the importance of the Handbook being wrapped up, and have proceeded to work on the parts that need the most work – Windows Phone, iOS (limited), Intro sections, and Design. Android needs to be looked over as well.

The Handbook todo list is looking a whole lot better but there’s still work left to do.

Rachel has started look into the edits made in the BlackBerry section but will be on vacation for a few weeks so will have to take a look when she gets back. We’ll update this section in regards to Rachel’s recommendations.

Handbook discussion

Intro pages change
Instead of having intros for each platform or each way to contribute, we’ve merged it into one main intro to contributing to mobile altogether.

Sort order
We’ve changed the sort order of the pages to what we originally scoped out.

Disabling comments
We discussed disabling comments on all pages in the handbook by default so as to not have them be too distracting (we have the forums and this blog after all).

What’s Next

  • Mobile Handbook!

iOS

  • Refactoring project continues
  • Updating the style of the app for next-gen iOS
  • Submit 3.7 (WordPress.com Native Reader)

Android

  • Feature complete media library and (WordPress.com) theme switching
  • (NUX as time permits)

Next Week

The next dev chat will be on July 29, 2013 at 9:00AM PST / 16:00 UTC. Mark your calendar and join us in #wordpress-mobile on Freenode.

#android, #dev-chat, #handbook, #ios

Isaac Keyet 3:58 pm on July 10, 2013
Tags: , , , ,   

Dev chat summary for July 10, 2013

Agenda

  • Android – latest update
  • Android – NUX
  • iOSiOS The operating system used on iPhones and iPads. status
  • Mobile Handbook status
  • 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/ migrationMigration Moving the code, database and media files for a website site from one server to another. Most typically done when changing hosting companies.

Android – latest update

A smaller Android update is almost ready. There are a few changes in this release: the menu drawer now overlays the top, ‘View Admin’ was removed from the sidebarSidebar A sidebar in WordPress is referred to a widget-ready area used by WordPress themes to display information that is not a part of the main content. It is not always a vertical column on the side. It can be a horizontal rectangle below or above the content area, footer, header, or any where in the theme. and moved to Settings, there are new graphics for xhdpi devices (like the Galaxy S4), and the post editor now saves local drafts a little differently by pressing the back button and then prompting the user (before you had to change the status yourself).

Android – NUX

Mostly on hold since we’re discussing ways we can make the NUX better by showing real user posts as a part of the onboarding flow. Need to figure out what’s happening here, post coming so we can discuss.

iOS status

Some bugs were fixed based on user feedback in the forums. 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/ Native Reader iteration is still ongoing, there’s been a lot of testing/fixing. Optimistically we should be able to open it up before the end of this week.

We briefly talked about what should come next for the iOS app, some ideas thrown out were:

  • Reader
  • Notifications
  • Visual Editor
  • iOS 7 preparation

Mobile Handbook status

The Mobile Handbook is in need of some serious work, especially in some areas. Rachel has started to look into the state of it and everyone is urged to take a look ASAP. We’ve all been busy but it’s time to make progress on the todo list and also make sure that the content that is already there is current.

GitHub migration

Last week we talked about moving the WP app’s GitGit Git is a free and open source distributed version control system designed to handle everything from small to very large projects with speed and efficiency. Git is easy to learn and has a tiny footprint with lightning fast performance. Most modern plugin and theme development is being done with this version control system. https://git-scm.com/. repos from WordPress-Mobile to the Foundation’s GitHub account (discussion here). So far everyone seems favorable of the idea, but please share any thoughts. We’re also hoping to get a new, more stable subgit version and some git.wp.org changes (may be as early as by the end of this month).

Next week

The next dev chat will be on July 17, 2013 at 15:00 UTC. Mark your calendar and join us in #wordpress-mobile on Freenode.

#android, #dev-chat, #git, #handbook, #ios

Isaac Keyet 3:34 am on June 20, 2013
Tags: , , , , ,   

Dev Chat Summary for June 19, 2013

Chat log

Agenda

  • WPiOS 3[.6].2 Update
  • WPAndroid Status
  • WPWinPhone Update
  • WPBlackBerry Update
  • WPiOS Reader Status

WPiOS 3[.6].2 Update

Released version 3.6.1 on Monday, which adds Crashlytics. This gives us fresh info on crashes and issues, we’ve already found some really common crashes that we’ll now be able to fix.

3.6.2 with fixes for the most common crashes has been submitted.

WPAndroid Status

Notifications release is performing well. A few (crash) bugs have popped up so there is some maintenance being done to alleviate the problems.

The new user work legwork is there now thanks to @daniloercoli and we’re starting on the 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. soon.

In other news it looks like @willnorris will be working on switching out the custom navigation drawer to the new, official one.

WPWinPhone Update

Version 2.2 (gallery support) hit the store and was announced on Monday. It introduces gallery support for self-hosted WordPress installs. Apart from client-side 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. work there’s currently nothing in the works.

WPBlackBerry Update

A new version is in the store (1.6.6) that reintroduces the support form (basically email) to help identify the cause of many recent 1-star reviews due to sign in problems. Once we’ve identified the issues we can fix them an issue another release.

WPiOS Reader Status

The week was spent testing, tuning performance, and creating the last graphics needed for the update. We’ll continue to do UI changes and test it through Friday. Performance is a big thing currently. Since the Automattic contributors will be at a company meetupMeetup All local/regional gatherings that are officially a part of the WordPress world but are not WordCamps are organized through https://www.meetup.com/. A meetup is typically a chance for local WordPress users to get together and share new ideas and seek help from one another. Searching for ‘WordPress’ on meetup.com will help you find options in your area. next week the projects will most likely enter a state of hiatus for a week or so.

Heads up / Next week

Since Automattic folks are out next week (and there most likely won’t be much to discuss because of this) we’ll just make a note of it next week in the weekly update.

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

#android, #blackberry, #dev-chat, #heads-up, #ios, #windowsphone