Katie started a discussion on the Dev List: What is next for Chandler
desktop? I'm replying on the design list with a design proposal for
both desktop and server. http://lists.osafoundation.org/pipermail/
chandler-dev/2007-September/008759.html
After a bottom-up review of the 1300+ open bugs we have for both
Desktop and Server, here is a first pass at a top-down view of the
bugs and design issues we need to resolve for 1.0. It includes much
of the user feedback we've received thus far.
While I've included a list of feature enhancements at the bottom, the
gist of this list is to 'fix what's broken' and leave adding new
feature areas until after 1.0. When reviewing the 'NEW FEATURES'
list, let's think about what we can get away with *not having* as
opposed to what's needed to round out Chandler as a PIM. In other
words, can we bank on Chandler's unique combination of "cross-
platform, desktop-web, read-write sharing" to draw users even though
as a standalone PIM, it doesn't measure up to what people use today.
Note: The list below is *in addition* to the 0.7.1. bug nominations
Katie and I compiled which are bugs that block early adopters from
using Chandler in earnest.
+ Desktop: http://chandlerproject.org/Notes/PostPreviewPlanning
+ Server: http://chandlerproject.org/Journal/KatieParlante20070831
Anyhow, here is the overview. I've tried to differentiate between
Desktop-only (D), Server-only (S) and Desktop and Server issues (DS).
Please review and respond with what's missing and/or thoughts about
how I've framed this discussion.
Mimi
1. FIX WHAT IS BROKEN
There are some significant issues to revisit and work out around the
Addressing stamp and the Edit/Update workflow. In particular:
DS How do provide users with the ability to attach 'who-ness' to an
item. The Addressing stamp is our current hack, but it's overwhelming
email-ness discourages people from using it as such.
D Sent/Received messages become drafts as soon as you edit them, even
if your edits are not intended for email updates.
D Do we need to further combine sharing notifications with edit/update?
Recurrence (Grant, Bobby, Jeffrey, please fill this list out if I'm
missing anything major.)
D Find some workaround for problems resulting from recurring events
always being sent, edited and updated as an entire series.
DS Disallow applying edits to "All events" and "All Future Events"
for weird edge cases
DS Review conflict resolution issues, make sure there's nothing
egregious
S Display all modified occurrences in the Dashboard view
Cleaning up the end-user mental model around mine versus not-mine
collections
D We've had a number of requests to allow for individual items to be
'excluded' from the Dashboard collection. This affects our remove/
delete mental model. There also bigger questions about how the
Dashboard collections is used, but I can imagine holding off on
tackling those issues until after 1.0.
Sharing
D Improve the conflict resolution UI. Mostly make it more
understandable to end-users. There's still a lot of jargon that rears
its ugly head depending on what attributes are in conflict.
DS Address item-soup on the server issues. (Thinking we can get away
with avoiding this for 1.0)
Fix whatever is blatantly wrong. This is a cop-out catch-all bin for
things like:
S Byline isn't updating correctly from ticket view
S Display items correctly, in correct order in the Dashboard
D Dialog for Removing a recurring event from a collection thinks I'm
deleting
Clean up the UI
D Fix placement of Quick Entry field on Windows (ack!)
D Baseline alignment issues in the detail view
D Improve the divider line between OOTB collections and user-defined
collections
D Improve usability of resizing with DnD on the calendar canvas (Server)
S Review collapsible DV wrt fitting into the window
S Continue to implement styleguide and tighten up UI
Improve Usability Ramp: From the KEI test session, it's apparent that
there are some sharp corners to round out in order to ensure that the
first 10 minutes of using Chandler don't make people want to pull
their hair out.
D Guide users towards sending out sharing URLS as sharing invitations
S Smooth out the 'Add collection to my account' workflow on Chandler
Server
D Make migrating between versions *more* automatic
D Warn new users when they're about to delete an item that belongs in
another user-defined collection
D Improve quick entry text parsing
DS Add calendar date picker and/or improve date parsing in DV date/
time fields
2. NEW FEATURES
Specifically for Chandler Server, what do we need to satisfy remote
access desktop users and/or standalone usage?
+ Overlays in the Calendar
+ Triage then Purge workflow in the Dashboard
+ Shortcut to jump to triage sections
+ Coherent story for sharing and subscribing from your account
+ Storing user preferences: time zones, last viewed collection/view,
etc.
?? Do we need:
+ Conflict resolution UI
+ OOTB collections that match the Desktop
+ Delete versus Remove?
+ Appears in field or Tagging?
Oft-requested Dashboard Features
DS Auto-triage events to DONE when they pass in time
DS Finer gradations for triage status
DS A way to sort events in the Triage Table View by event start time
Sharing: Modeling syncing with thyself correctly
DS Share all attributes with yourself, but apply sharing filters for
others
DS Keep track of subscriptions and settings on the server
S View and manage subscriptions from Chandler Hub/Server web app
Laundry list of feature additions
DS Recognize links in the Notes field
DS Month View
DS Print
?? Do we need:
DS Rich text editing
D Multiple detail views
D Clusters
DS Tagging and/or Tagging with user-defined attributes
DS Contacts
DS Rule-based collections
D View Selector
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