[Demexp-dev] Development priorities for the Drupal module (and for the server)

[Augustin]

Hello,


This project is decidedly taking some exciting turns (long live the Swedes!). 

As I said yesterday, I am back from my little break and I am now ready to 
shift gear so that I can release a stable, useable module as soon as 
possible, even if it means postponing a little the implementation of some 
feature requests.


Until now, we (the developers) have been telling the rest of the community 
(the non-developers) to wait before advertising a lot our project. The 
rationale was that the software was not yet ready, stable, etc.

Correct me if I am wrong, but from what I remember reading in the archives, 
Etienne Chouard (and others) have offered to spread the news about Demexp, 
but they were told to wait until WE (the developers) were ready.
It means that they are sitting on their thumbs while waiting for us. 
Instead, they could be and should be active doing what they can do best 
according to their own abilities. 

The chicken and egg syndrome has been mentioned in the fr list. Because we 
were not ready, we told the others to wait, and since the project was not 
advertised, other developers did not hear about it and didn't join us to help 
us getting ready...
I want to break this vicious circle.


So, from today, my primary objective for the development of the module is NOT 
to implement all the feature requests (I will, but later), but to release a 
*useable*, *stable*, *debugged* version of the module, so that it can be used 
with confidence on a live site.
Once this live site is setup, the whole non-developper part of the community 
can then become very active promoting the project all around them, and do 
everything that is necessary to ensure the success of the Democratic project. 

This way, instead of having a handful of developers working on their little 
corner, we'd have a whole community working for a common goal, each 
individual contributing according to their own ability and willingness to 
help.



What we need to do now, is identify which parts are critical for a useable and 
stable release, and which features can be left for later. 
If you want to make sure I don't forget about everything that will be labelled 
as a "feature for later", you might want to get a Drupal account and submit a 
new issue here:
http://drupal.org/project/issues/demexp
You don't need to do so for everything else that has already been mentioned in 
the last two weeks and that is critical because I am going to work on it 
anyway.



By focussing on the most important and having a clear goal, I hope to have the 
module installed on the live official web site within a few weeks. 



Here are some specifics about what I consider critical or not:



Critical, and necessary for official realease (to be used on live web site and 
official server data):
*********************

1) all basic features must be implemented: 
* the import of data from the server is mostly done, 
* updating of the imported data is mostly done, too, but not everything yet 
(tags).
* mostly done as far as I am concerned: user login and registration procedure 
(part of the registration can still be made manually like it is now).
* to do: Ability to create new questions, add answers, vote and modify the 
vote.

2) I disagree on 2 or 3 points that have been made before. I will detail this 
in separate emails. Those points probably will need to be resolved before the 
stable module can be released. 

3) other points not mentioned here but that you will bring out.

4) testing and debugging. 

5) All of the above supposes that the server remains stable, as it is now. No 
new feature is required from the server at this stage.



For later development only (for a second, updated, stable release):
*********************************

1) all the demexp administration stuff: the current demexp admin all have a 
hard client to use, so it is not critical to be able to perform the same 
tasks on the web. All of the admin tasks can be implemented in the second 
release of the web client.

2) A lot can be done with the Drupal taxonomy to make it easier to browse the 
questions and find the ones of interest. The current implementation is enough 
for now, especially what is made possible with the tagadelics.module : 
http://demexp.ouvaton.org/demexp_tags. But this is an area where we can have 
a lot of fun implementing new, alternative, better ways to sort the questions 
and browse them.

3) Implementation on the client of new features developed on the server 
(different voting systems?).

4) and plenty of other stuff that will come up during the next few weeks. 

It will help if everything marked for later is submitted in the Drupal 
project's issue tracker.



For reference:
Drupal project:
http://drupal.org/project/demexp
issue tracker:
http://drupal.org/project/issues/demexp
test web site:
http://demexp.ouvaton.org/
live web site:
http://demexp.org/


yours,

Augustin.




-- 
http://www.wechange.org/
Because we and the world need to change.
 
http://www.reuniting.info/
Intimate Relationships, peace and harmony in the couple.

http://www.gnosis-usa.com/
Revolutionary Psychology, White Tantrism, Dream Yoga...

http://www.masquilier.org/
Condorcet, Approval alternative, better voting methods.