Hi, I'm JT and these are my thoughts on community, content management, Plain Black, and WebGUI.
Hi, I'm JT and these are my thoughts on community, content management, Plain Black, and WebGUI.
In the past few years we've been getting a lot of requests to add features from one asset into another. For example, recently someone asked if we could add comments to the Wiki, and of course comments are used all over WebGUI. And before that we've had RFEs for adding Subscriptions to virtually everything. We've also had many requests for RSS feeds on lots of assets.
These common subsystems have always created a lot of work for us because we have had to copy and paste code from one asset to another. This also means if we fix a bug we have to fix it in multiple places, and if we update the feature we either update it everywhere, or one asset gets an enhanced version that the others don't get.
Luckily in WebGUI 7.6 those hardships will be coming to an end. The thing that will close an era will also open a new one, and it's called Aspects. Aspect-Oriented-Programming (AOP) is an extension of object oriented programming. It has been around for a few years now and it goes by many names. Some call it an aspect, others call it a role, and many call it a trait, and still others call it a mixin. If you have heard any of these terms then just know in WebGUI they are called Aspects.
NOTE: Though this is technically a programmer benefit, know that if you aren't a programmer, anything that benefits programmers means that you will get more features faster, and those features will work better.
The first aspect that we've implemented is Comments (WebGUI::AssetAspect::Comments). The comments aspect allows a programmer to add Bazaar style comments to any asset with about 3 lines of code. Starting in 7.6.1 this aspect has been attached to Wiki Pages, so wikis will have comments. Later in 7.6 development you'll also see this aspect used in the new Matrix asset. I'm sure eventually this will also be added to the Calendar and Gallery.
Next we'll be working on the Subscribable aspect, which will allow Collaboration System style subscriptions to any asset. And beyond that we have planned about a half dozen aspects. I'm sure more will come up as we progress.
Comments (2)
One of the more interesting things that came out of the last RFE day is template upgrade protection. A mistake that many novice WebGUI users make is to edit the default templates and then use those edited versions in their site. The problem is that WebGUI needs to be able to modify those templates itself as things change in the code. Therefore, if WebGUI does modify those templates, the users that edited the templates will often lose their edits.
We haven't changed this though because we do want users to be able to edit the templates in case they find a bug in one, and our own developers and designers edit the templates for upcoming releases. Therefore we just weren't sure how to fix this problem.
Starting with WebGUI 7.6 we've finally figured out a way to keep them editable, but also warn the user that they shouldn't edit default templates. (See the attached screenshot.) The user will now be prompted with a big warning that the templates should not be edited, and they'll be given an option to make a copy of the template for their own use.
Please join us on the next RFE Day on October 21, and help us make WebGUI the best it can be.
Comments (4)
Starting today there is an entirely new way to get your WebGUI on. We have just launched WebGUI TV (WGTV), which is an archive of all of the past WUC's, and other video set's we've created through out the years.
We've been holding on to this archival footage for several years (we have footage going back 5 years) now and weren't sure quite what to do with it. Earlier this year we decided we were going to release all of them for free to the community. What a great resource that everyone can use! The video quality varies, but where possible we've uploaded PDF versions of the presentations so you can follow along in the PDF even if you can't make out the action on the screen.
In addition, we figure that you, the users, may have a desire to post your own videos. So you can! Simply upload your video to your favorite video site (YouTube, Viddler, Blip.tv, etc), and then paste the player code into the box on the WebGUI TV page. Then that video will be available for the whole community.
There is a catch to this free video archive. We don't want to diminish the value of the WUC to those who paid their way to go. Don't get me wrong, these videos are nothing like being at a live WUC anyway, but the people that attend the WUC are really the people that pay to create these videos, so without them this video archive wouldn't be possible. To ensure they got their value out of the WUC and don't feel short changed, we'll release the videos from the previous WUC (in this case WUC 2008) slowly over the course of the year. When we're done, it will be time for another live WUC event; and we hope you'll attend having seen the amazing quality of the knowledge you can gain from the WUC. After all, the more people that attend the WUC, the more presentations we will offer at the WUC, and the more video will make it's way into WGTV!
I hope the community at large finds this resource to be as valuable as I think it is. There are years of knowledge archived in these little videos. And hopefully you can expand your knowledge with what is contained in them. Go check out WebGUI TV now!
Comments (2)
One of the new features to expect in 7.6 is a new New Content menu. This is actually a whole series of related changes, but I'll get to those in a minute. First let's talk about the new content menu in the admin bar.
The New Content menu is now hierarchical (see attached image). This means you have asset categories containing all the assets. Since we have so many assets these days, categorization seemed like the best way to handle it. Now it may look a little different when the final 7.6 release comes out. For example you may be able to collapse the categories so that the list is a little shorter if you don't use all of them. But in general this is how it will be structured.
You may also note that Packages has been moved under new content, and prototypes have been separated out from regular assets.
The categories that are listed here, and where the assets appear under them was created by polling a few novice WebGUI users to see what their instincts were. I'm giving you, my readers, one opportunity to change my mind about what the default configuration should be, and this is it. Please reply here and tell me what you think of this categorization.
As I said at the beginning of this post, there are several other features that come with this new content menu change. You can create your own and rename the categories, and choose which asset belongs in which category on your own site by editing your config file. You can also set UI Levels and groups on each category. You can modify the properties of each asset, including default values, field labels, and even which tab fields appear on. For that matter, you can even create new tabs that didn't exist before.
As an example of how this can work I edited the properties of the Folder asset. I decided that folders should have a tab called FOO, and that the title should be on the FOO tab. And the title should be renamed to "My Big Title", and be displayed as a text area instead of a text box. Oh, and I never want the menu title to be displayed for folders, so I gave it a UI level of 99. Don't believe me? Well I've attached an image to this post to show you what that looks like. And here's what the config file directives look like to do that:
"WebGUI::Asset::Wobject::Folder" : {
"tabs" : {
"foo" : {
"label" : "FOO"
}
},
"isContainer" : 1,
"fields" : {
"menuTitle" : {
"uiLevel" : 99
},
"title" : {
"tab" : "foo",
"fieldType" : "textarea",
"label" : "My Big Title"
}
},
"category" : "basic"
},
Anyway, I hope you find these new features both useful and exciting. This amazing level of configurability adds power and flexibility for admins, and new levels of usability for users. Just a few more great reasons to use WebGUI.
EDIT: I've uploaded a split view of the new content menu because after the blog resized the full length one it was hard to read.
Comments (5)
As long as there has been an admin console (and to some extent even before that) people have been asking if we could make it pluggable, meaning so they could remove features they didn't want and add features they did want to the admin console menu. Starting in WebGUI 7.6, that's exactly what you've got!
We've added an option in the config file for you to configure the admin console. You can not only add and remove things, but you can change their icons, relabel them, and set both group privileges and UI levels for each item in the admin console.
Here's part of the config so you can see what it looks like:
"adminConsole" : {
"loginHistory" : {
"icon" : "loginHistory.gif",
"uiLevel" : 5,
"url" : "^PageUrl(\"\",op=viewLoginHistory);",
"title" : "^International(426,WebGUI);",
"groupSetting" : "groupIdAdminLoginHistory"
},
"clipboard" : {
"icon" : "clipboard.gif",
"group" : "12",
"uiLevel" : 5,
"url" : "^PageUrl(\"\",func=manageClipboard);",
"title" : "^International(948,WebGUI);"
},
...
You can even add your own items in without programming anything. For example, let's say you wanted to link your site to an external W3C validator, you could easily do that like this:
"validator" : {
"icon" : "validator.gif",
"title" : "Validate This Page",
"url" : "http://validator.w3.org/check?uri=://http://www.mysite.com^PageUrl;"
},
If that were added to the config and you placed an icon for it in the /data/WebGUI/www/extras/adminConsole folder, then you'd be able to automatically validate any publicly available page in your site by browsing to it, and then clicking on that link in the Admin Console.
We think this feature will give a lot more control, power, and flexibility to site administrators out there. Have fun with it.
The first beta of 7.6 will be out this Tuesday, so check out this feature and others that have been added so far.
Comments (0)
I've just uploaded a new Chat with the CEO movie about WebGUI releases and stability. This has important timing, because the WebGUI release coming out today (7.5.24) is the release you must decide whether you're an early adopter of 7.6 or not.
Let me back up a bit. For those of you that don't know how releases of WebGUI work either read on or watch the video.
We have two versions, beta and stable. Stable releases are good for those concerned with as bug free an environment as possible. The current stable release is 7.5.24. Beta releases are used to showcase our latest features and to get input from the community about bugs in the new release before it goes stable. The first 7.6 beta release will be out next Tuesday. You can download both the beta and stable from getwebgui.com, and you can demo the beta and stable versions as well.
We also provide shunt releases that allow you to upgrade from a stable to a beta rather than waiting for the beta to turn stable. This is for you early adopters out there. Incidentally, if you would ever consider using a beta for a new feature then you are by definition an early adopter. We typically only provide one shunt release to get you from the current stable to the new beta, and that's happening now. That shunt release to go from 7.5 to 7.6 is 7.5.24. You must make the decision before upgrading to 7.5.25, because once you've gone to 7.5.25 (or higher) you must stay on the stable release until the beta becomes stable.
The beta releases are generally fairly stable, but are labeled beta because they haven't gone through the rigorous testing and bug fixing periods that a stable release must go through. But, plainblack.com and webgui.org are always running the latest beta releases before we release them. This helps us guage the stability of the release. We also provide hosting on both versions (though we don't recommend hosting on the beta unless you are an experienced WebGUI user and you know exactly what you're getting yourself into).
To be absolutely clear: You only need to care about the shunt release if you want to use the beta version. You will always have an upgrade path to go from 7.5 stable to 7.6 stable, once 7.6 stable becomes available.
I hope the combination of my text explanation, and the video will allow you to make an informed decision about whether you want to switch to 7.6 beta or not. And my dev team looks forward to your feedback about any bugs you find in the beta.
Comments (8)
At the WUC I announced that the Plain Black staff will be having RFE (Request For Enhancement) days several times a year where we knock off as many RFE's from the top of the list as possible. The first of these RFE days is tomorrow (Tuesday, September 16).
I'd like to encourage the community at large to join us. The more people working to close RFE's the faster everyone will get the features they want. Even if you're not a programmer, you can work on RFE's. Here are some ideas on how everyone can help.
Comments (10)
The 2008 WebGUI Users Conference in my opinion was the best one we've ever done. We had 37 sessions and attendees from four continents. Things ran quite smoothly, and we had some very interesting topics.
That said, we've gotten lots of great feedback on how we could make the 2009 conference even better.
This year we had a new format. We did two days of three tracks (beginner, intermediate, and advanced). Almost everyone that replied in the survey liked the three way split, but they wished that the conference was longer. They missed the three day conference we've done in the past. In addition, for some reason many people either didn't know or didn't think about the workshops that we did before the conference, because about 20% of the surveys were wondering why we didn't cover topic X. But topic X was covered at the workshops, so we thought we shouldn't cover the same material twice.
In an effort to remedy those things we're going to make another change next year. We're getting rid of the workshops and merging them into the conference. We'll then have three days of three tracks each day. And instead of just having just lectures in the conference, we'll also do a lot of hands-on stuff right in the conference. That's going to be more than 50 hours of training available to attendees.
Unfortunately the cost of putting on the conference has gone up significantly over the past five years. We never make money on the conference, but this year even though we had a record attendance, we still lost a bunch of money on it due to increased prices of food, facilities, travel, swag, shipping, and more (and that doesn't include the human cost of writing speeches and organizing the event). So next year we're going to have to raise the rate of the conference by $100. The early bird price will be $600 and the standard rate will be $700. But the news isn't all bad. For your extra $100 you'll be getting an extra 20 hours of sessions to choose from. It seems like a fair trade to me.
Another big area for improvement is after hours events. It seems a number of you would like Plain Black to arrange after hours gatherings, like pub time, restaurant meet ups, etc. For the past few years we've told you what's going on after the WUC each night, but we haven't actually made arrangements for you to go do those things. Next year, we'll make reservations in advance for several after hours activities, so you'll know where everyone will be if you want to hang out, make some new friends/contacts, or just get some food with people you know from the conference.
A couple of you pointed out that some presenters had some problems with the quality of their presentations this year. The big example was that screen shots were often too small to read. While we have direct control over our own employees, we can't control the presentations that other people in the community give. However, next year we'll provide all presenters with a list of guidelines they should follow to make the experience better for you the audience. And we'll provide a review service for presenters that wish to get their presentations critiqued in advance by Plain Black.
Overall the biggest hiccup of the conference was the flakey wifi. It worked great for some, and not at all for others. One of the reasons that we use the hotel we use is that they have a pretty hefty (as far as hotels go) pipe (10 megabit full duplex) to the internet. And they have wifi repeaters on every floor in the hotel. Not to mention free wifi in all the guest rooms. We'll be working closely with the hotel over the coming year to make sure that the internet is up to our specifications. If they are unable to provide us with what we need, then we'll bring in our own internet pipe and wifi for the WUC.
The only other area of the survey that seemed to hit home with everyone was that half of you love the fact that the WUC is in Madison, and half of you want it somewhere else. Of those of you that want it somewhere else, nearly all of you want it at your home town (or close to it). The fact is that in order to do that we'd have to double the price of the tickets for the WUC, and then none of you would come. We'd have to fly to these cities to do a site visit, because we don't have people on the ground there. We'd have to fly all of our staff and equipment there (most of which live in and around Madison), which would cost more. And many cities around the country are more expensive than Madison is, especially the bigger ones. Madison is a central location, so people on the west coast, and east coast, and down south all have to travel about the same distance. And finally, if we moved it to *your* home town one year, and then somewhere else the next year, and so on, we'd still have just as many people wanting us to move it to their home town; so we therefore wouldn't really change anything from how it is now.
Overall most of you also thought that this year's conference was the best you've attended. 94% of you gave a positive response that you would either definitely be back, or would probably be back in future years. I'd say that's a success no matter how you measure it.
If you're interested in taking a look, we've uploaded all the photos from the WUC to the gallery. If you have some photos you've taken, please feel free to add them to the gallery.
Also, if you have ideas on how we could make the WUC better, please feel free to reply here and let me know.
Comments (1)
We did something a little different this year with Contributor of the Year (CotY). First, we split it into two awards, one for individuals and one for organizations. Second, we recognized the efforts of everyone, not just the winners.
This year's organizational winner contributed to the Windows WRE, posted wiki entries, fixed bugs, contributed patches for SQL Form, created many templates and other uploads for the community to download, and helped out in IRC and the forums. In general, they churned out a lot of work for the community. This organization is Knowmad Technologies, a small WebGUI integrator from North Carolina.
The individual CotY winner did some bug fixing, increased standards compliance, and occasionally hung out in IRC. But his big contribution is so big it's immeasurable; especially when you consider that until spring of 2008 no one in the community (myself included) had ever heard of Ernesto Hernandez-Novich. Ernesto's feat is that he single handedly got WebGUI listed in the next release of Debian. It may not sink in just how big that is, but it potentially opens up millions of new users to WebGUI and allows them to install it by typing nothing more than "apt-get install webgui".
Ernesto couldn't join us at the WUC, so he sent a little video expressing his thanks.
But the news doesn't end there. Ernesto edged out someone that's familiar to pretty much anybody who's been around the WebGUI community in the past few years. His name is Colin Kuskie (aka perlDreamer). Colin is a two time winner of CotY and was well on his way to winning it a third time until Ernesto edged him out. So to reward all the work he's put in over the years, we've decided to rename the individual contributor of the year award to the Colin Kuskie award.
Comments (1)
At the WUC I unveiled the path for the remainder of WebGUI 7.x. Now I'd like to share that with those who weren't in attendance. These are the things that I think will be in 7.6 or 7.7. As usual, schedules and needs change, so don't anticipate a feature until it's there.
I spoke about the continued improvement to the WebGUI administrative interface as we get closer to WebGUI 8. The two main things will be to make the asset manager even faster by adding even more ajax calls, and enhancing the search to have even more options so you can search based upon who created an asset, or how big it is. We'll also be adding a new New Content menu, which has categories. That should make it easier to find your way through the New Content menu.
We'll also continue to improve the shop by adding Pay Pal and USPS support. We may even add a point of sale mode to the shop for in-person sales.
The gallery will get some image editing features (crop, rotate, resize, and maybe annotate). And we might even add a video plugin to the gallery.
Next we'll completely rewrite the Matrix and Survey assets, to bring them up to date with modern techniques and user expectations.
And finally we'll be building a new asset called Story Manager, which will make publishing static content and news oriented sites much easier in WebGUI.
You can read all about these changes, and see some screen mockups in the roadmap. And as always, I'll update the roadmap periodically through-out the year as things change.
Comments (1)
