I have started a new thread on gnome-web-list list[1] about features for library.gnome.org. I am calling you to join a discussion and help me do this the best I can.
I am forwarding initial email to so you can see what it is about if you are not currently subscribed. -- Goran Rakic [1] http://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/gnome-web-list
--- Begin Message ---Hi, Quim's post make me thinking about user experience of upcoming library.gnome.org which I am making as my SoC project. In short, lib.g.o should provide web interface for all docs you see (for unstable, current and previous versions) in Yelp, distributed in two channels - for users and for developers. Localized documents are included and transparently loaded according to user's browser preference if suitable localization exists. (This can be manually overridden if setup is broken or inaccessible) What I am asking is: Do you have any new features to suggest, that will create better user experience? I think that user annotations are a must, and based on first comments, users will like the idea. Annotations can be anchored to paragraph, image, list item or a table, function or constant definition in API references and can contain text, lists, links and remotely-hosted images. (I am taking care of XSS). They are loaded in "AJAX" manner, stored on server side. (At first, I planned to store them in cookies on client side, but it will disable some other features) Also, they can be rendered anchored (displayed on mouse hover) or as a comments, at the end of a page or in a side pane. There will be annotation manager, from which users can "subscribe" to annotations. Some scenarios I am thinking about: 1) Michele wants to write something down, like "Never try to do this again" or "This is changed in Ubuntu" or "Here is more info on this" 2) John wants to improve docs, so he write what he will add/replace in new annotation anchored to selected paragraph. 3) Sarah, Peter and Paul, 3rd grade hi-schoolers wants to subscribe to theirs school teacher's annotations adding additional help to User Guide for a project they need to do. So, all annotations will be public and shared in read-only way. Docs editors will be able to review (by subscribing, and special made interface I am planning to do after project is done) and remove all offending or inaccurate annotations. Remember, annotations will not be displayed on default, and user must subscribe to some other user's annotations to view them so there should not be many deletions to do. What I am unsure is if there is a need for grouping subscriptions, with group editing support. This will be out of plan for first release, but there would be nice if I can include initial support in underlying code as soon as possible. Then, users will be able to create an InsertYourDistroHere group, or group for specific locales and join their annotations together, making easy for other users to see relevant annotations. The other solution for this problem is to implement annotations tagging, with "tag masters", coordinators that can approve/deny inclusion of specific tag to annotation. It is better as one annotation can have both language and category(ies) tag(s), and other users can subscribe only to specific tags on specific language(s). Languages list also can be loaded from browser preferences, as a default value, but as annotation manager is server side script, it can have additional customization for overriding browser settings. Besides annotations, I do not know what other valuable features can be implemented in order to enhance usability (probably not for first release but sometime later but it is good to know ToDo features in early stages of development). 1) Bookmarks already exists in browsers and bookmarks sharing must be implemented on browser level. 2) Subscriptions can be useful, but I am already planing to provide RSS feeds for alerted documentations for every of both channels per every supported languages (language on which at least one part of a single document is translated) so user can choose what feed to subscribe. 3) As is, I don't see any need for other personalization ("About me" page is not valuable) and docs can be static pages. (more secure and faster) regenerated on every new docs release. I am eager to hear comments on this, how do you want to use lib.g.o and how do you think others will? What do you want to see there, what do you think about annotations sharing I am suggesting? What do you think about live translating and editing solutions? What do you think about task oriented help, and how users can participate in creating open library? After all, users are doing tasks and reading help. -- Goran Rakic _______________________________________________ gnome-web-list mailing list [email protected] http://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/gnome-web-list
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