Torchmodders
TorchModders => Suggestions & Feedback => Topic started by: Phanjam on August 10, 2014, 08:34:15 am
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Placeholder thread, to discuss any plug-ins (mainly joomla?) we test to support the mod projects...
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This Project Fork (http://http://extensions.joomla.org/extensions/clients-a-communities/project-a-task-management/1389) project management extension for joomla looks interesting and I think it's free (from what I could tell from the info page on extensions.joomla.org)
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Looks very interesting. I'll check it out. Thanks!
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You're welcome :mrgreen: actually there's a whole bunch of these (http://http://extensions.joomla.org/extensions/clients-a-communities/project-a-task-management)...
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Right. Well... Let's find the best one for our needs then. :roll:
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Hehe sorry about that...
Okay I went thru all of the free project-management extensions and BeestoWorkflow (http://extensions.joomla.org/extensions/clients-a-communities/project-a-task-management/20605l) seems to have the basics (I like that thye didnt try to do too much!)
This could be worth a try :)
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Sweet! I'll check out the demo site for it and install it to our Joomla.
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I've rearranged the Project Boards a bit. The public and developer child forums are now gone and there's only one board for each project.
My current idea is that the boards here are open for everyone to discuss and comment on the particular mod project, just like any other board here. And that the development talk and communication instead takes place in a Project Tracker module in Joomla.
I've found a Project Tracker I believe will be a good solution for our needs and I am in the process of configuring it. The tracker is called: Projectfork (http://www.projectfork.net/). The Project Tracker will only be available to members who are in a 'Developers' group. Right now it's enabled for any registered user, (look at the front page) but I'll start working on the Groups and Policies for it.
Any comments/ideas/suggestions?
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@Phanjam
I see you've set up some child boards in the TLCP Project Board. I was thinking we could have some of this in the Project Tracker, as much of it is really only of interest to the developers. (?) The Tracker supports forums/discussions.
Not saying this is the best approach though... What's your take on this?
Edit: What I mean is that we post everything public facing in the boards and keep all the development talk and organizing in the Project Tracker. The tracker also as a repository function for sharing files.
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Hi Wolven!
I started trying out Projectfork (PF) first. It's not that easy to use, so I shifted to using a forum format for a while just to "feel" if I could get over the differences.
Then I shifted back to PF and I got further this time (have a look see (http://torchmodders.com/index.php/component/pfprojects/projects) :) ). I feel we can use this plug-in but it may need workarounds because it's not that intuitive. I'll also need to write a very thorough "how to" guide for it!
Here's a list of my observations so far...
- Although I've created a project, PF doesn't show any data in the "created by" fields. I could not find a solution for this.
- There is no easy way to browse an "all projects" list (I got the URL for the link I used above purely by chance). Is it possible to add a link to that URL, to the Projectfork component links on the right side of the page?
- "Milestones" and "Task Lists" are confusingly similar. I know you're able to nest task lists under milestones (and milestones under projects), but using them in tandem was confusing to me. But in-use, task lists seem more intuitive (at least for me) to use and they give a better "overview" of the project.
- The dashboard does not show you what has changed which I think is the important function of a dashboard. I guess the plug-in is not easy to edit, so I will try a workaround by embedding a google group in the project description (there's a "source code" option in the editor which I hope will take html). This group can then receive all notifications from the plug-in (are PF notifications working yet?)
But like I said, yes I feel we can use this ;D
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Ah, alright.
There are some more options for PF in the back end. I'll have a look and see if I can bring some of those options to the front end.
I'll try and dedicate this evening to setting up groups and tweak PF.
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I'll try and dedicate this evening to setting up groups and tweak PF.
Thanks Wolven!
By "groups" do you mean another extension you found for Joomla?
Depending on what features it comes with, groups could be another option for small groups to organize their mod project :-\
So I just spent a few hours using PF. We need to stress test this, meaning we need a small group to really try and use the extension and see how it works for everyone.
I'll pester RnF and gytfunke to move our TL1CP work over here already ;)
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Hmm. I thought I post a reply to this a few min ago...
Anyway. Joomla already has groups, so what I mean is to create one or more groups in Joomla who have access to PF. Not sure if we need two groups, but I was thinking Developer and Project Owner. I was thinking the PO would organize the Project in the tracker and could give individual Developers access to their project(s). Not sure if we need strictly two groups, at least not to begin with, as I assume we'll start off rather small with both developers and members in general. But I might do it anyway, so I don't have to reorganize further down the road.
I'll set up the groups here in the boards, and make them so that users can apply to be a member of the groups. When/if permission is granted here in the boards, JFusion will sync the groups and users access across the web applications, giving the user(s) access to the Project Tracker.
Testing PF with a small team is a great idea. We need feedback. P.S. I just found how to enable some more options in the front-end for it, so have a look.
EDIT:
Seems the only component which is not available in the front-end for PF is the option to create Categories. You can do this from the back-end though, so if we produce a list of categories we think would fit, I'll just add them there. Other than that it seems anyone with access to PF can create and tweak projects as they see fit.
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I've just added some categories to Project Tracker. And I've played around with it a bit. I find it very easy to use and simple to organize projects and tasks. It might be because I'm used to working with issue trackers and ticketing systems as a professional, some of which have been pretty horrible to work with...
Projectfork is very simple and easy to understand, and I quite like it feel of it. It also have all the features, and more, we'll ever need to organize projects for a small/medium groups of mod developers. The colors in the theme makes it a bit hard to read and see some things now, but that can be fixed. I also need to get the groups right. But as it stands now I think PF is perfect for this purpose.
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Thanks for the work on the tracker @Wolven !
Yeah my time here on the site goes either to the tracker or to the wiki (more of the latter, lately - installed a few plug-ins :P ).
I think my plan is: slowly move all the articles from the previous wiki (like 1 or 2 articles a day) to be able to spend more time with our project (TL1CP) on the tracker. I think this is important because we're the first people who should be stress-testing this site :)
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Yup PF gets easier the more you use it :D
yeah would be nice if we could have darker pages for the tracker (my eyes!) I remember it was dark before, but the text was barely readable ??? If it could be all-white text on a darker page that would be sweeeeet!
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I'll see about the theme. We need an overall good one for Joomla. I find the whole thing a but confusing and daunting still, but I know I'll get there.
I set the theme to the light one to see the tracker better, but I also prefer it to be dark, so once I know what I'm doing it will be. ;)
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Currently unable to add or edit anything on the project tracker or post on the project tracker forums.
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Try now. I've added you to the Developer group and set up access in the Tracker for that group.
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I think I have the access to the Project Tracker set up right now. To be able to access the menus and create/view/comment, etc on projects, you need to be in the developer group. let me know if something doesn't seem to work right.
Edit:
I've done some testing and it seems to be set up correctly now. However many of the individual items for some of the projects have their access level set to Public. So go through the items you don't want non-developers to see.
This is a great feature in PF, cause you can set access levels all the way down the tree, so we could set up a project with public access to the repository for downloads. It would also be possible to set it for registered user to comment on tasks, or any other item you desire.
When you create any new item in the tracker you set the access level right then and there. I think it defaults to Public, so be aware of that.
As it is now any member of the developer group have the same access level to all projects. We can change this, if we so desire, but I think it's good like this it is for now. If we get a lot of projects and developers, we can look into groups within the developer group.
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Thanks so much Wolven and thanks gytfunke!
Wolven just so you know, I started adding a "projectfork" tag to some of the posts here (including some of yours) so we can find them later for making a "how to" guide.
Let's use that tag whenever appropriate pls ;) thanks!
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Hi Wolven.
I gave the Project Tracker its own sub-forum over here (http://torchmodders.com/forums/mod-project-tracker/).
I was thinking...
- it would be good to highlight it with its own sub-forum since its a major offering of our site
- as it starts to get usage it will need to be easier to find
Hope this is okay with you ;)
EDIT - oh and i LOVE the new color scheme and font-sizing on the tracker / much easier to work with :)
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OK, cool.
Yes' it's starting to look like something now, finally. I spent all night trying find or create a usable template, but it's hard when you have no clear idea of what the layout should look look like. It's also quite a lot of work to do it all from scratch, at least when you don't really know what you're doing.
Anyway, the current theme is work in progress, it needs a few tweaks. But I'll get there eventually. ;)
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Hey Wolven,
Would there be any way to signify the presence of unread comments on Project tasks, etc? Currently there's no notice if someone adds a new comment to one of those threads. Maybe a little TL gear next to the task or somesuch?
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I don't think it features any visual alerts for new comments or posts. The only thing I can find is the Email Notifications (http://projectfork.net/docs/15-basics/79-email-notifications)
In the Pro version there's a User Activity Stream (http://projectfork.net/blog/13-releases/49-user-activity-stream-released) feature. I think having that would help a lot with the issue you're bringing up.
The Pro version (http://projectfork.net/pro.html) also have some other nice features I'd like to have, so I have been thinking about buying it. The price is $99, which is not too bad, really. Not sure if I can include that in my budget this month, but maybe next.
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Is that $99 a one-time fee (I certainly hope so)? and it buys you support as well?
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Yes, it's a one time fee for version 4. pro extensions.
Lifetime access to all pro extensions & templates for Projectfork 4.
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I don't think it features any visual alerts for new comments or posts. The only thing I can find is the Email Notifications (http://projectfork.net/docs/15-basics/79-email-notifications)
I confirm i receive mail notifications regularly from projects im a member in.
So it should be possible to make the TM mule account a member of each project and have it forward notifications to a google group (1 for each project).
You could then embed each group back here in TM, into the project it belongs to, giving you a kind of "changes" dashboard per project.
What do you think?
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If some projects want to go that route, I'd have no problems adding the mule account to the appropriate group.
I'm also open for looking at other solutions for working with collaborative projects. If there's a different add-on for Joomla we could use, or if there's a different system, which is not a Joomla add-on. I just need to be able to set it up without too much hassle.