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Weekly Roundup: 29 June 2009
I surface from the depths of cursing at my Dreamhack (where I'm currently scowling at the bug to allow you to define a separate email address to show on your profile from the email address we use to send you comment emails and the like, after spending the morning trying -- and succeeding, mostly! -- to build something that will let you customize the footer text on crossposted entries) to realize that oh yeah, it is Monday. That means it's time for me to sound like I know what I'm talking about, dear readers, so come with me on a tour of this week's high points.
This week saw the resolution of 38 bugs, including:
None of these fixes are live yet -- they won't be until our next codepush. If you're ever curious about whether a fix is live on the site yet, you can view the Code Status page.
Meanwhile, in![[site community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/comm_staff.png)
dw_dev, we're coordinating a Fix-It Marathon. This week is the Week of Bugfixes -- we're trying to get down under 400 open bugs by next Monday's update. We started at 472 at the beginning of the weekend, and are already down to 455, with lots of patches still waiting to be reviewed and committed. If you're thinking about joining us, check out dw_dev_training. We'll even give you your very own Dreamhack.
(If you've already got the code set up, but don't have a lot of time to tackle fixing bugs yourself, why not try reviewing some patches? We'll be starting up a discussion on code review indw_dev soon.)
We've been doing some new features lately, both big and small. Little things in the works are:
There are some bigger features on the way, too, and we wanted to tell you about them so you aren't surprised. (In the bad way. We hope you're surprised in the good way.) Sometime in the next few weeks, we should be seeing:
Custom colors on the Reading page: Re-implementing LiveJournal's "custom friend colors", so you'll be able to view your reading page with the custom colors you define used as backgrounds. Right now, it's been implemented in Negatives and Tabula Rasa, and there's a patch waiting to be committed to implement it in Transmogrified.
Crossposting via downloadable client: Relatively soon, if you've set up your account to crosspost to another site, it will also crosspost if you update using a desktop client (as well as when you use the Update page on Dreamwidth itself).
Customizable crossposted footer text: You'll be able to define your own footer message for crossposted entries (the message that currently reads "This entry was originally posted at [link]. Comment there using OpenID.") and you'll be able to choose when that message gets added to the remote entry: always, never, or only when comments are disabled on the remote entry. (Okay, yeah, I'm really proud of that one. Enough to mention it twice. It was hard, okay?)
The icons page address will be changing: As the very beginning step in our efforts to get a bunch more pages into "your journal"-space, we're going to be changing the URL of your icons page. Instead of http://www.dreamwidth.org/allpics.bml?user=denise, for instance, my icons will be at http://denise.dreamwidth.org/icons/. (Yes, this means that eventually the icons page will look like the rest of your journal! We're going to be doing that to the profile, too.)
The display of names on your profile will be changing: People have let us know that they find the deleted accounts cluttering up the sections of their profile that they don't have control over -- the Has Access To / Subscribers sections -- really annoying. To fix this, we'll be changing that page so that deleted and/or suspended accounts don't appear in those sections of the profile only, unless you add ?mode=full to the end of the profile URL. (You'll always be able to see the full list in the full view mode.)
The segment for which I was interviewed aired this week on NPR's Morning Edition:
Social Networks: They're Popular, But Do They Pay?
Meanwhile, a reminder that both Mark and I will be appearing at Azkatraz 2009 as a part of their MPA track on Monday, July 20. (Tickets are still available!) We'll also be attending, but not speaking at, OSCON '09. As we get closer, we'll also try to organize a Dreamwidth meetup in the Bay Area for the week that I'll be living on Mark's couch.
dw_biz has been fairly neglected lately while we've been concentrating on code improvements, but that doesn't mean it's entirely dead. Beginning this week, one of our Terms of Service team will begin posting regular summaries of Terms of Service inquiries and policy questions so that everyone can know the answers, as part of our pledge towards transparent operations. We'll also have another open Q&A session soon.
Welcome to new Supportites![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
fairlight and dilate_andrea! (Meanwhile, we're all watching the support high-scores race between zarhooie and domtheknight to see which one is going to overtake ![[staff profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user_staff.png)
mark first, or whether Mark will pull ahead even further.) If you're interested in helping out your fellow Dreamwidth users, check out dw_support_training for more information.
I mentioned this week's Fix-It Marathon, and it's important (I think, at least) to remind everyone that we don't just consider "this is broken" to be a bug: we also consider "this isn't working as well as it could be" to be a bug. If something's preventing you from enjoying your Dreamwidth experience 100% and beyond, we want to hear about it. Our methods for getting your input are a little clumsy right now, but that doesn't mean that we don't want to hear it!
A reminder: we're looking to expand our selection of themes available for the Tabula Rasa layout! Every submitted theme that's accepted will get its creator one month of Dreamwidth paid time.dw_styles has more information in Soliciting Tabula Rasa Themes, and so does the introductory post in dreamscapes.
*
That's it for this week! Time for me to go back to scowling at recalcitrant Perl modules (after I eat this slice of chocolate cake that's staring at me, of course). In the meantime, if you'd like to come hang out and be social with us in irc, we'd love to have you: irc.dwscoalition.org, port 6667, channel #dw.
We'll see you next week.
1. Development: Bugfixes
This week saw the resolution of 38 bugs, including:
- Fixing a bug causing errors when posting to a community with strict tagging permissions
- Multiple style tweaks
- Multiple fixes for better error messages, clearer workflow, etc.
- Fixing errors like missing tags on the "post an entry" preview screen
- Multiple cases of better/clearer error messages, workflow, site text, etc
None of these fixes are live yet -- they won't be until our next codepush. If you're ever curious about whether a fix is live on the site yet, you can view the Code Status page.
2. Fix-It Marathon
Meanwhile, in
dw_dev, we're coordinating a Fix-It Marathon. This week is the Week of Bugfixes -- we're trying to get down under 400 open bugs by next Monday's update. We started at 472 at the beginning of the weekend, and are already down to 455, with lots of patches still waiting to be reviewed and committed. If you're thinking about joining us, check out dw_dev_training. We'll even give you your very own Dreamhack.(If you've already got the code set up, but don't have a lot of time to tackle fixing bugs yourself, why not try reviewing some patches? We'll be starting up a discussion on code review in
dw_dev soon.)3. New Features
We've been doing some new features lately, both big and small. Little things in the works are:
- Allowing Inksome! as an import source
- The addition of the Network page to navigation menus for paid users
- The addition of a Delete Comment link to the Recent Comments page for comments you've made
- The addition of "view in original style" links to the navstrip if you're viewing a page with ?style=mine
There are some bigger features on the way, too, and we wanted to tell you about them so you aren't surprised. (In the bad way. We hope you're surprised in the good way.) Sometime in the next few weeks, we should be seeing:
Custom colors on the Reading page: Re-implementing LiveJournal's "custom friend colors", so you'll be able to view your reading page with the custom colors you define used as backgrounds. Right now, it's been implemented in Negatives and Tabula Rasa, and there's a patch waiting to be committed to implement it in Transmogrified.
Crossposting via downloadable client: Relatively soon, if you've set up your account to crosspost to another site, it will also crosspost if you update using a desktop client (as well as when you use the Update page on Dreamwidth itself).
Customizable crossposted footer text: You'll be able to define your own footer message for crossposted entries (the message that currently reads "This entry was originally posted at [link]. Comment there using OpenID.") and you'll be able to choose when that message gets added to the remote entry: always, never, or only when comments are disabled on the remote entry. (Okay, yeah, I'm really proud of that one. Enough to mention it twice. It was hard, okay?)
The icons page address will be changing: As the very beginning step in our efforts to get a bunch more pages into "your journal"-space, we're going to be changing the URL of your icons page. Instead of http://www.dreamwidth.org/allpics.bml?user=denise, for instance, my icons will be at http://denise.dreamwidth.org/icons/. (Yes, this means that eventually the icons page will look like the rest of your journal! We're going to be doing that to the profile, too.)
The display of names on your profile will be changing: People have let us know that they find the deleted accounts cluttering up the sections of their profile that they don't have control over -- the Has Access To / Subscribers sections -- really annoying. To fix this, we'll be changing that page so that deleted and/or suspended accounts don't appear in those sections of the profile only, unless you add ?mode=full to the end of the profile URL. (You'll always be able to see the full list in the full view mode.)
4. Hear Us Speak
The segment for which I was interviewed aired this week on NPR's Morning Edition:
Social Networks: They're Popular, But Do They Pay?
Meanwhile, a reminder that both Mark and I will be appearing at Azkatraz 2009 as a part of their MPA track on Monday, July 20. (Tickets are still available!) We'll also be attending, but not speaking at, OSCON '09. As we get closer, we'll also try to organize a Dreamwidth meetup in the Bay Area for the week that I'll be living on Mark's couch.
5. The Biz
dw_biz has been fairly neglected lately while we've been concentrating on code improvements, but that doesn't mean it's entirely dead. Beginning this week, one of our Terms of Service team will begin posting regular summaries of Terms of Service inquiries and policy questions so that everyone can know the answers, as part of our pledge towards transparent operations. We'll also have another open Q&A session soon.6. Support
Welcome to new Supportites
fairlight and dilate_andrea! (Meanwhile, we're all watching the support high-scores race between zarhooie and domtheknight to see which one is going to overtake mark first, or whether Mark will pull ahead even further.) If you're interested in helping out your fellow Dreamwidth users, check out dw_support_training for more information.7. Suggestions
I mentioned this week's Fix-It Marathon, and it's important (I think, at least) to remind everyone that we don't just consider "this is broken" to be a bug: we also consider "this isn't working as well as it could be" to be a bug. If something's preventing you from enjoying your Dreamwidth experience 100% and beyond, we want to hear about it. Our methods for getting your input are a little clumsy right now, but that doesn't mean that we don't want to hear it!
- We're going to be implementing a better way of collecting suggestions soon, but until then, comments to dw_suggestions are the way to leave a suggestion for specific improvements. If there's a change you'd like to see, no matter how small, leave a comment there.
- If there's something that you do regularly that you think should be easier (but you're not sure how), or if there's an offsite tool that you use to make your life easier (like a Greasemonkey script or something like that) that you think would be awesome if everyone could use it, leave a comment in dw_coolhunters.
- If you're absolutely not sure where your feedback should go, you can email feedback@dreamwidth.org or open up a Support request in the Feedback category. It's private, and the only ones who can see it are me and mark.
8. Styles
A reminder: we're looking to expand our selection of themes available for the Tabula Rasa layout! Every submitted theme that's accepted will get its creator one month of Dreamwidth paid time.
dw_styles has more information in Soliciting Tabula Rasa Themes, and so does the introductory post in dreamscapes. *
That's it for this week! Time for me to go back to scowling at recalcitrant Perl modules (after I eat this slice of chocolate cake that's staring at me, of course). In the meantime, if you'd like to come hang out and be social with us in irc, we'd love to have you: irc.dwscoalition.org, port 6667, channel #dw.
We'll see you next week.
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