Author Archives: Isaac Keyet

Isaac Keyet 4:18 pm on March 13, 2013
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Weekly dev chat summary for Mar 13, 2013

The chat started a bit early today but Eric made it work! Chat log.

Agenda

  • WPAndroid 2.3
  • WPWindowsPhone
  • WPiOS
  • Mobile Handbook

WPAndroid 2.3

Will has been working on code clean up an re-organization, so if you haven’t updated your repository in a while now is the time to do it. The release is looking really solid and we’re very close to 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.. Everyone is urged to start testing the release on real devices now. The menu drawer 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. pattern is a bit odd since it doesn’t use the back navigation we’re used to from Android, so make sure to test it for yourself.

WPWindowsPhone

The last update (2.0) is doing well. Now working on Push Notifications for Comments and taking a look at the Editor next, as planned.

WPiOS

We keep working on bug fixes and improvements for the 3.5 release. 3.5.2 should be submitted early next week at latest.

We also have some new priorities: NUX for WPiOS will be a big focus over the next month or two. Karmatosed’s mockups and wireframes should come in handy as we explore different options and build something!

Mobile Handbook

Eric highlighted that the Tutorials section(s) in the Mobile Handbook needs to be completed by April 12 at latest and referenced the Handbook schedule.

Next Week

The next dev chat will be on March 20, 2013 at 1600 UTC. Mark your calendar and join us in #wordpress-mobile on Freenode.

#dev-chat

Isaac Keyet 11:23 am on February 21, 2013
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Weekly dev chat summary for Feb 20, 2013

Chat log.

Agenda

  • WPWindowsPhone app upgrades
  • WPAndroid 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. progress
  • WPiOS (3.5 status and what’s next)
  • Handbook progress

WPWindowsPhone app upgrades

Version 2.0 is ready to be submitted to the store. It features stability improvements (especially around Stats) and a new feature 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/ users: Gallery support. The update was submitted right after the dev chat.

WPAndroid UI progress

Making good progress. The menu drawer is in trunk and some updates have been made to the WordPress.com Reader to perform better with the new “action bar”.

Going to need mockups soon, Isaac will tackle those.

WPiOS

Version 3.5 is still in review, had to be resubmitted with an issue resolved. It’s still unclear what the next version of the app should be, but media improvements and visual editor are high on the list and should be worked on in parallel. Media improvements would likely be the first feature release. There has also been talk of a sharing library for third-party developers to include in their apps for easy sharing through the WPiOS app. This is not a user feature however and is not planned at the moment.

Handbook progress

Eric reminded everybody about the handbook schedule and urged those involved to take an extra look at each of the platforms featured.

Next week

The next dev chat will be on Feb 27, 2013 at 16:00 UTC. Mark your calendar and join us in #wordpress-mobile on Freenode.

#dev-chat

Isaac Keyet 4:47 pm on February 6, 2013
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Weekly dev chat summary for Feb 6, 2013

Chat log.

Agenda

  • WPiOS 3.4 is out, what’s next?
  • WPAndroid 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. Updates
  • WPiOS Welcome Screen Wireframes
  • Mobile Handbook

WPiOS 3.4 is out, what’s next?

We highlighted that version 3.4 of WPiOS is now out! There’s a bug fix release in the works that should help with some of the issues that users are seeing. Among other things people are having trouble with the Stats screen. Fixes are coming but we have to resolve the critical issues first.

Next, we’re working on the Previews release which leverages the new XML-RPC endpoints in WP 3.5 to provide “real” previews of posts and better revision control (don’t want people losing their content ever, if we can avoid it).

A proposed new release schedule for bug fixes was proposed, where we’d release/announce major versions of apps on Mondays, spend a few days testing and hearing feedback while working on any bug fixes, then submit any bug fixes that Wednesday/Thursday the same week.

WPAndroid UI Updates

We have an ActionBar in trunk, and @willnorris got commit access. Things are moving along nicely. The new menu drawer exists in a branch currently that’s being merged to trunk, should be in before the end of the week in a rough state (possibly no icons, and in need of polishing).

Will has been creating some wireframes/mockups for the app that’s out of scope for this release but should be interesting to see for future discussions (and wrapping our heads around the new style updates and what they can lead to). There will be a few options posted to the dev blog shortly.

WPiOS Welcome Screen Wireframes

We discussed the wireframes made by @karmatosed at WC Norway and concluded that we’re all very excited to get started on something like this. Karmatosed opted to create some additional wireframes and start mocking it up, as well as start a discussion around the copy which is going to be a central piece in the project.

We agreed that a new user flow like this could work for all the main apps we have and would be a good starting point for a more unified experience, so we decided that this is a project that could go in parallel with any other updates to the app that we’re working on.

Mobile Handbook

We’re slightly behind in the contributor handbook schedule and are looking to catch up. We’re currently supposed to have the Requirements sections of the Handbook ready. Some parts of the Mobile Handbook are in good shape and are close to being finished from our end. We all vowed to iterate more on the contents and to talk more about it in next week’s chat.

Other

@daniloercoli noted that v 1.9.3 of WPWindowsPhone has hit the store and that WPBlackBerry (OS10) 2.2.7 is in review, both being bug fix updates.

Next Week

The next dev chat will be on Feb 13, 2013 at 16:00 UTC. Mark your calendar and join us in #wordpress-mobile on Freenode.

#dev-chat

Isaac Keyet 5:47 pm on January 23, 2013
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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

Isaac Keyet 4:48 pm on January 9, 2013
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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

Isaac Keyet 4:44 pm on January 2, 2013
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Weekly dev chat summary for Jan 2 2013…

Weekly dev chat summary for Jan 2, 2013

Today’s chat log.

Agenda

WPWindowsPhone 1.9

The dev team provided a little heads up for the progress on WPWindowsPhone 1.9: the update is due to be submitted tomorrow (Jan 3). It includes Featured Images, media improvements, crash and bug fixes (see Trac). Announcement post needs to be drafted.

Mobile Handbook

We acknowledged that there’s content to be written for the Mobile Handbook. We’ll all review it and discuss leading up to next week’s dev chat. We decided that there’s a need to have a section on Windows Phone development, @daniloercoli and @aerych will tag-team on that. We also said that it’s better to stay ahead of the curve and start writing ASAP. We’ll all start writing within the next few weeks – some of us have already started.

WPiOS Mockups

We discussed @karmatosed‘s wireframes briefly, and decided to continue discussing in the comments of the post leading up to next week. We’re also looking forward to some revised/new wireframes and a review of the (iOSiOS The operating system used on iPhones and iPads.) WP app – pain points and revelations.

Next week’s dev chat

The next dev chat will be a regular one and we’ll have it on Jan 9, 2013 at 16:00 UTC as usual. Mark your calendar and join us in #wordpress-mobile on Freenode.

#dev-chat

Isaac Keyet 12:38 pm on December 28, 2012
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Got a table of contents ready for the…

Got a table of contents ready for the Mobile Handbook – and spent the last few hours thinking about how to best greet new users. Added/rearranged articles and categories as I saw fit but let’s discuss all of this.

For reference: https://make.wordpress.org/mobile/handbook/

Also started writing the Design Contribution basics.

So, thoughts on the ToC? We also need people to write some of the new pages.

#handbook

Isaac Keyet 10:46 am on December 28, 2012
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Dan Danilo and Jorge check out the Handbook…

Dan, Danilo, and Jorge: check out the Handbook schedule posted here. It contains deadlines for parts of the handbook that you’re writing.

To the furthest extent possible I think we should try and stay ahead of the curve and create basic documents in all categories – should be easy since we’re splitting the work and have immediate peers that we can pingPing The act of sending a very small amount of data to an end point. Ping is used in computer science to illicit a response from a target server to test it’s connection. Ping is also a term used by Slack users to @ someone or send them a direct message (DM). Users might say something along the lines of “Ping me when the meeting starts.” about layout and content.

I’ll get a draft handbook overview started with placeholder pages – should be a good way to kick this off. Hello 2013!

#handbook, #todo

Isaac Keyet 5:07 pm on December 26, 2012
Tags: , , wireframes,   

@karmatosed will create some wireframes of a re…

@karmatosed will create some wireframes of a re-imagined NUX/set up flow for WPiOS over the next few weeks. She’s also added to this p2 so you’ll see her posting here occasionally.

#headsup, #ios, #wireframes, #wpios

Isaac Keyet 4:40 pm on December 26, 2012
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Weekly dev chat summary for Dec 26 2012…

Weekly dev chat summary for Dec 26, 2012

Since most of the team is away celebrating the holidays today this week’s meeting was a little different. Basically Noel Tock and I discussed a responsive admin instead of going through the usual. A summary of this chat is here, you can also read the chat log.

We discussed the need for a responsive admin and the different ways we can go about it. In the end we were pretty much in agreement over how we think it should be done, but acknowledged that it’ll most likely be up to 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. team to figure out a plan and decide how we should go about the project. What we suggest though is the following:

  1. Define screen resolutions we want to focus on (and understanding that the UI should be fluid beyond the pre-defined grid)
  2. Wire up general concepts around key elements and their break points (ex admin bar, navigation) and get a discussion going
  3. Start working on any low-hanging fruit that comes out of these discussions – an easy win is a big win since the release cycles are long
  4. Wireframe and discuss individual pages from the top down, starting with the pages that would have the most impact for mobile users (ex Comments list, Posts/Post Editor, Settings pages). Start individual tickets and have teams for each page.

For instance it would be a huge win to create a working navigation for screens at 480px or less, regardless of the responsiveness of page responsiveness in the admin. [Editor’s note: IMO this should definitely be a priority for 3.6 if we had to pick just one thing to make the mobile experience better. Maybe coupled with a collapsable admin bar.]

We also discussed the need to clean up the markup of the admin. In our mind this project can not be about creating more CSSCSS CSS is an acronym for cascading style sheets. This is what controls the design or look and feel of a site. and more JS to “deal with” small screens, but rather a chance to rethink key elements of the admin and make sure they’re implemented in the best way possible from the ground up – for all screen sizes. This is something that’s been brought up in many other discussions about the responsive admin in the past as well.

Noel is interested in helping out on the technical side once there’s work to be done.

Next dev chat

The next dev chat will be a regular one and we’ll have it on Jan 2, 2013 at 16:00 UTC as usual. Mark your calendar and join us in #wordpress-mobile on Freenode.

#dev-chat