What we do with feedback - Comments

'You can use Comcode' is removed: The button to add a Comcode tag was added only recently, and it never occurred to us that this means that this makes it obvious Comcode is supported and that therefore a link to the tutorial isn't necessary anymore.

To me that always came across as help for how to use Comcode, not purely as announcement that it can be used.

Does the recently added Comcode button also include custom Comcode tags? I assume it does, but just checking as that was a nice surprise when I saw my custom Comcode tags on the Comcode help page.

Does the recently added Comcode button also include custom Comcode tags? I assume it does, but just checking as that was a nice surprise when I saw my custom Comcode tags on the Comcode help page.

Yes. Shows all tags user has permission for, except if WYSIWYG is on it doesn't include things that the WYSIWYG editor can do itself such as bold.

After reading article about what you do with feedback, it also occurred to me that people are missing a great opportunity to provide feedback by voting for feature requests in the tracker. I am certain that this information is taken into consideration when prioritizing coding projects although the ultimate "vote" is sponsorship of the project.

So go visit the Tracker (Feature development tracker - ocPortal - just to make it even easier) and let your preferences/wishes be known.

Bob

This post has been rattling inside my head over the last few days as a new year approaches and people start making resolutions and other lists.

I've re-read the original article and feel a bit dismayed that users are not using the tools afforded them to help the developers make a better product. Specifically, I am thinking about the tracker and voting for which issues you care about.

I'm not sure why people don't vote for items - it costs nothing and in no way commits you to sponsorship. It is just a way to provide feedback to Chris. If "voting" for the item makes you uncomfortable, log in to the full tracker with your user credentials and hit the "Monitor" button on a specific issue - you just voted for it. Certainly if you take the time to post an issue to the tracker, you should vote for (monitor) it.

The reason I am posting this is because feedback is fundamentally important in providing the developers a sense of what the users' priorities are versus their more insular look at their preferred development track. This is important for them on a number of levels, many of which Chris touched on in the article. Even if you can't think of anything that needs improvement, a perusal of the items in the tracker will likely highlight something or another that might strike a chord and, when this happens, you should vote for it. You can always reverse your vote if your priorities or opinions change.

ocPortal appears to be making significant strides forward largely due to paid development which means that someone came to Chris with an idea for improving some specific thing. Even for those not in a position to provide paid sponsorship for development, your ideas and opinions are valuable and they should be expressed. It is in merging those user priorities with the developers' plans that we will see interesting and timely improvement of ocPortal.

Okay, I'm done lecturing but I do hope that people take the time to vote and help Chris make ocPortal an ever-better product.

Bob

Bob, I don't vote or look at that stuff, because I don't know where it exists.   Heck, I came straight to the forum, have looked at some of the tutorials and programmers guide, but haven't got much past that.    Heck, I don't even see where the 'news' is.

Well, I can help with the tracker which is a custom front-end for the main Mantis tracker. It is located at Feature development tracker - ocPortal

The full issue tracker can be reached from links on the tracker page or at My View - ocPortal feature tracker. You can login using the same credentials used for the forum ocPortal website.

If you want to review what the developers have been working on, you can check the commit log at github: https://github.com/chrisgraham/ocPortal/commits/master. You'll often have to read between the lines but you can at least get an idea of where they are headed.

I always just look for news in the admin main page - always hoping that a new version is going to pop up.

Bob

Thanks for the links Bob.  

It is a heck of a lot to weed through.

BobS said

Well, I can help with the tracker …

Since I have the retention span of a goldfish, I assist myself by adding 'important' (to me) reminders in the Admin Notes which I've placed as the first block on my Admin Dashboard, e.g.



… and when I'm not performing like a headless chicken I click on a link and try to absorb the information on the relevant page.

It also helps to keep current topics fresh in my mind.

 

Just thinking out-loud here and I am sure the coders may not want to spend their time on this idea but I will suggest it anyway. Perhaps the way to get more activity in the feature voting would be to add a random feature/new feature block to this website splashed in the forums somewhere and or as a block that can be activated on end users sites (at least in admin area) like an rss feed.

Out of site out of mind as they say and I am sure part of the problem is many users don't A) know the tracker even exists and B) even if they did they might have partially perused it one day and then forgot about it and don't keep abreast of the items in it. I myself fall into the later category and know I may have offered 1 or 2 votes when I first learned of it but I have not revisited it since.

That reminder with a headline of the feature may just catch my eye and keep me coming back to vote for more. Also note I like to only vote for 2 or 3 top choices because then they have more relevancy where as I may think a couple dozen features I would also like to see which perhaps monitor might be a nice thing to do, as you suggest.

Duck-

I think that is a good idea. I tend to follow the tracker because I have my eye on several features which I am considering sponsoring in 2012 but I think that many people don't even bother to look to see if there is a recommendation to improve something that has been bothering them.

And people should remember that they can add their own feature requests which might be something that would be very popular with ocPortal users. Just explain clearly and concisely (and vote for it since it *is* your idea) and see if others are interested in this issue/feature too.

I don't expect Chris to turn ocPortal into some egalitarian enterprise but he has made it very clear that he values reasonable and reasoned input from users.

Bob