By Robert Castelo on

The Project module has been really useful for creating a standardised way for users and developers to report bugs, ask for features, and make a note of tasks.

What I think is missing is a user friendly way to have a more freeform discussion about each project, for instance to talk about the best way to implement features, optimise code, what the status of a project is, or advise n00bies on installation, use, and modification (of particular themes or modules).

This is happening already on the forums, but in a very frustrating way. Post about projects are added to either of the three categories "Usage, support and troubleshooting", "Module development" or "Theme development". - That's as much classification as posts get!

If you want to see posts about a particular module you are interested in, you have to do a search using some keywords related to that module (you hope), then spend time picking through the results to get to get to any information which might actually be relevant (if you're lucky).

I think it would be useful to give each module and theme it's own sub-section on the forum.

Want to know about the Birthday module - go to:

Forum
- Module Development
-- Birthday Module

The current set-up is inefficient for module/theme developers because to support their contribution they have to read ALL discussion going on in the "Usage, support and troubleshooting" and "Module development" or "Theme development" sections. I'd much rather be coding than following the discussion on Project X, Y or Z which has nothing to do with me.

It would be much easier if I could just check the Forum sub-section for my module/theme every day to see if there's been any activity.

Obviously this would also benefit users, as they can find info more easily, and there is more chance of getting support more quickly.

Any drawbacks to this idea? Opinions?

Comments

dziemecki’s picture

dziemecki commented

First, let me give out a resounding, "me, too!". I like your solution. Among others, it possesses the virtue of being easy. I just recently spammed the entire Drupal development team in order to get an answer to a question about the roadmap for forum.module. Your suggestion would have enabled a much more sensible method.

I should also say that this site could do a lot more than this, in the area of making it easier to use these modules. Here's a suggestion I sent in, coiincidentally, today. Maybe it's worth adding this to the debate.

There are a lot of projects in CVS that might be interesting, but not all of them are listed on the project page. Even all the ones in CVS aren't under "Module" - some are under sandbox, and this isn't necessarily an indicator of how ready for prime time a module is, especial with regards to the current version of Drupal.

What I'd like to see is a more structured approach to 3d party add-ons. The projects page should list every project, but have extra tools to separate the wheat from the chaff. Each project would have to indicate what versions it has been certified for. It should also have a rating apparatus, so that the user community can help newbies decide how useful and solid any given module is.

And then, direct links to the appropriate package, by version, would be a sensible add-on.

Sounds like a lot, but this would reduce a lot of the help requests by steering people away from unstable mods (unless they really need them). As it is, I'm spending inordinate amounts of time attempting to implement modules that "80%" complete for my version.

Just something else to wish for...


Wacky diatribe goes here

Robert Castelo’s picture

Robert Castelo commented

I saw your email to the dev-list, you had some good ideas...

"There are a lot of projects in CVS that might be interesting, but not all of them are listed on the project page."

A module's forum page(s) would be useful for talking about the day to day status and direction of a module. It would be useful to make modules more visible at the development stage, before they get released.

"It should also have a rating apparatus"

Good idea, should also encourage developers to make (even) better modules, I think user comments would also be useful for both users and developers.

It would also be nice to see download stats for each module, and to get some feedback from users about how and where modules are being used, it'll make a nice change from bug reports and support requests - always nice to see your hard work being appreciated!

---- I post therefore I am ----

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Drupal Specialists: Consulting, Development & Training

Robert Castelo, CTO
Code Positive
London, United Kingdom
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dziemecki’s picture

dziemecki commented

Download stats: double plus good.

For now, we should prolly pin our hopes on project folders. If we talk too much about coding mods, some core developer is going to agree and suggest we knock it out!

Wacky diatribe goes here

moshe weitzman’s picture

moshe weitzman commented

until the comment thread below a project becomes too unweildy, i'd say we already have a sufficient mechanism for discussion. no project has such a comment chain today.

Robert Castelo’s picture

Robert Castelo commented

Where is the comments thread on project pages?

Do you mean bug reports, feature requests etc.?

---- I post therefore I am ----

------------------------------------------
Drupal Specialists: Consulting, Development & Training

Robert Castelo, CTO
Code Positive
London, United Kingdom
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dziemecki’s picture

dziemecki commented

I've seen evidence of no such thing. Where is this comment thread you speak of? Where is the appropriate place for me to drop a query to the module owner in the nature of, "Do you plan to do X?" or "Is the module supposed to do Y" or "Does this work in 4.3.0?"

Robert Castelo’s picture

Robert Castelo commented

I think if we want this to happen we'll have to sell the idea....

I'll draw up a list of advantages and disadvateges tomorrow to get the ball rolling

---- I post therefore I am ----

------------------------------------------
Drupal Specialists: Consulting, Development & Training

Robert Castelo, CTO
Code Positive
London, United Kingdom
----

Kjartan’s picture

Kjartan commented

What would you place in a forum/comment that dosen't fit in a project issue? They currently cover:

  • Bug reports
  • Feature requests
  • Support requests
  • Tasks

The addition of forums or comments will result in users submitting things that should be in an issue elsewhere instead. I don't see the benefit from adding more places of discussion. So far I have seen nothing in this thread that wouldn't fit in one of the above categories.

--
Kjartan

Anonymous’s picture

(not verified) commented

Sharing ideas... planning and determining 'next steps' is important.

moshe weitzman’s picture

moshe weitzman commented

for planning, writeup a feature request. this is a more structured way to discuss things. for example:

"add personal galleries to image module" is a title and your proposed specification for how it should look or behave is the body.

dziemecki’s picture

dziemecki commented

Stuff like "does this module do x" or "would anyone be interested in my mod this module". Unstructured stuff that doesn't fit neatly into a project plan or task list.

Robert Castelo’s picture

Robert Castelo commented

The Project module is a good ticket system, but doesn't work well for discussions. A forum would be a better place to have many different kinds of discussion about a module.

------------------------------------------
Drupal Specialists: Consulting, Development & Training

Robert Castelo, CTO
Code Positive
London, United Kingdom
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Robert Castelo’s picture

Robert Castelo commented
+

FAQ for Module

At the moment questions about a module get posted to the forum and are lost - yes, you can search for information, but it's very hit and miss, frustrating and time consuming.

By creating a sub-forum for a module, users can see all posts for that module more easily, find answers, and avoid posting the same question over and over again.

------------------------------------------
Drupal Specialists: Consulting, Development & Training

Robert Castelo, CTO
Code Positive
London, United Kingdom
----

Robert Castelo’s picture

Robert Castelo commented
+

Monitor New Posts

Currently module/theme developers need to read ALL discussion going on in the "Usage, support and troubleshooting" and "Module development" or "Theme development" sections if they want to see posts about their module/theme.

It would be much easier if I could just check the Forum sub-section for my module/theme from time to time to see if there's been any activity.

I know the Projects module does a good job of centralising all this at the moment, but not everything fits in to Project's categories, hence the posts.

------------------------------------------
Drupal Specialists: Consulting, Development & Training

Robert Castelo, CTO
Code Positive
London, United Kingdom
----

Robert Castelo’s picture

Robert Castelo commented
+

Feature Discussion

Once a feature has been suggested it would be nice to discuss it and develop ideas of how to implement this - I think threaded discussions are ideal for this.

------------------------------------------
Drupal Specialists: Consulting, Development & Training

Robert Castelo, CTO
Code Positive
London, United Kingdom
----

Robert Castelo’s picture

Robert Castelo commented
+

Code Discussion

It would be nice to have somewhere to discuss the coding of a module's features. A small community of coders could develop around each module. Users would see activity, and what the current state of projects are. Again, I think threaded discussions are ideal for this.

------------------------------------------
Drupal Specialists: Consulting, Development & Training

Robert Castelo, CTO
Code Positive
London, United Kingdom
----

Robert Castelo’s picture

Robert Castelo commented
+

Co-ordinate Work

The Project's Task option is excellent, but it would be useful to also have somewhere to discuss between coders (of a particular modue) who is going to do what, before assigning tasks.

------------------------------------------
Drupal Specialists: Consulting, Development & Training

Robert Castelo, CTO
Code Positive
London, United Kingdom
----