Mini-beta and redesign of Crossforum Theatre

[Thomas von der Elbe]

On Sun, 22 Apr 2012 18:27, Michael Allan wrote:

> Maybe you were looking at a page that changes the display title?
> http://zelea.com/w/Property:Display_title
>
> I don't think we should do that any more.  It's confusing, as you say.
> Here's a position draft that doesn't change the display title.  It
> clearly belongs to Frank-FlippityNet and the poll is Sys/p/sandbox:
> http://zelea.com/w/User:Frank-FlippityNet/Sys/p/sandbox

It was this one: http://zelea.com/w/User:ThomasvonderElbe_GmxDe/P2P/p/dorf

It didn't change the page title itself, but the poll-page did. And that 
seems to be pulled to position pages too.

Now since we try to use short url's, the automatic given title usually 
does not say enough. The short description is an option then to give it 
a proper title, but the font size is too small. I made it bigger, now it 
looks a bit strange a the bottom of the page, where it is repeated. 
(Btw, I think, it would be better without the dot in front of the 
description.) But anyway, the user is now really clear.

Another thing: I personally would like to have the track stay on top of 
the screen all the time and let the page scroll underneath it.

And I still like the idea of using the unused space in the middle of the 
track for making navigation clearer, by telling the user where he is, 
i.e. in votespace, diff-bridge, postition-page, ... What do you think?


> There's a lot of tension in the space requirements. Maybe it's better
> to let that tension pull the visual into two pieces, each of which can
> then use space as it wants to:
>
>   (1) A votespace track where space is squeezed into a minimal,
>       horizontal view (track).  It sits more-or-less permanently on
>       stage on all pages.
>
>   (2) A dedicated votespace view that makes maximum use of space.  It
>       appears on stage only when requested.  It obscures most of the
>       scene (but not quite all) becoming itself a temporary scene.

Ah, I understand. It opens up on top of the page, covers it partly, lets 
you navigate around in votespace and closes then, uncovering the scene 
again. Like this?

more below

> REVISED PLAN FOR MINI-BETA  (proposal)
> --------------------------
>
> The development target is still ease of use for small-group consensus-
> -making practices of up to 20 participants.  The basic stage and link
> track (a) are already deployed.  Here are the main tasks remaining:
>
>   (b) Votespace track.
>
>       A navigable view of votespace.  It focuses on a single actor,
>       showing his/her voters, co-voters and candidate.  The focus is
>       shiftable in single steps (up, down and across) to anywhere in
>       the forest.  This track replaces the navigation controls of the
>       in-draft bridge footings and also appears on non-draft pages.
>
>           (i) Mock up votespace and pollspace tracks.
>
>               The pollspace track is needed for (iv), where otherwise
>               the link and votespace tracks would be non-functional.
>
>          (ii) Code the votespace track.
>
>         (iii) Code the pollspace track.
>
>          (iv) Stage the home page.
>
>               This is for purposes of showing off.
>
>           (v) Stage the mailing list archive.
>
>               This will be neat.  The stage will parse each message and
>               the tracks will light up accordingly.  There is always an
>               actor; there is sometimes a poll and/or difference.
>
>       With this, the mini-beta will be ready for seasoned alpha users,
>       its look and feel more-or-less final.  The remaining tasks are
>       primarily for the benefit of new users.
>
>   (c) Automate the creation of initial position drafts.
>
>       This is what happens when the user clicks on "My draft" and
>       there's no actual draft.  We'll query the user for creation
>       parameters and confirmation of intent.  We'll include an option
>       to cast an initial vote (because the drafting tools are optimized
>       for co-voter collaboration).  Then we'll place the user on a
>       newly created draft page with initial content, ready to go.
>
>   (d) Single sign-on.
>
>       Implement a single login that covers all servers (pollwiki,
>       vote-servers, etc.) of the local network cluster.
>
>
> What do you guys think?

I like the plan. Only I would jump over staging the home page (and the 
necessary poll-track) and go to the rest instead. I feel, the time for 
showing to others what a potentially good tool we have is over. Now it 
is time to use it. So lets think, what we want to change in the world 
and start.

Thomas