[Self-platform-dev] Feedback from using beta.selfplatform.eu

[Ciaran O'Riordan]

Hi all,

I started putting material on beta.selfplatform.eu for a licences course
that is given by FSFE's Freedom Task Force.  There are some glitches that
make using the platform frustrating, so I documented the experience.  I know
it's only in beta, so bugs are normal at this stage, but I hope this
feedback is useful anyway.

======================

I made an account ("ciaran") and logged in.

First time I added a resource, I got a "programming error" because of an
unallowed character before the word "Riordan" at character 216 (i.e. it
barfed when it saw an apostrophe in my name in the copyright field).

So I hit the back button and filled in everything again, minus the
apostrophe.  This time I was brought to the "My Resource Pool" which just
showed me a box saying "File already exists..." - which leaves me wondering
where the file is.

I click on "Add resource" (to add the same file again with a new name), but
then I change my mind and I go back to "My Resource Pool" to ensure I've
tried all available options to see the file I uploaded.  Instead of the
previous "File already exists..." message, I now get "Resources Not
Found..." (so where's the "already exsting" file that I've uploaded twice
now??)

Back to "Add resource", choose to upload a file with a different name, all
works.  Yay.

Next, I wonder if my uploaded material is public, so I search for the title
in the search box and I find it.  The "LO Information" is available, showing
title, date, etc. but I don't see any way to download the file that I
uploaded.

Maybe I have to add it to my bookshelf?  Try that, no.  I still don't see
how I can download the file I uploaded.

After some more clicking around, I find myself on the "Collection Manager"
page.  There's an "Add Course" button - maybe I have to add my material that
way?  No, that button doesn't do anything.  I wonder why I can't add course
material.  I don't see any information about what authorisations I have or
what authorisations are needed.

I look at some of the content listed in the lefthand box of the "Course
Manager".  I click on a course "Hardware Manager" and I see a sentence about
learning objectives and a sentence about content, but I don't see what I
have to do to look at or download this course.  Maybe it doesn't exist or
it's empty, but there's nothing to tell me this.

I see two dots in their own box below, also on the lefthand side, under the
box which lists the courses.  I click them and the page reloads but I don't
see that anything has changed.

I log out, to see what a non-logged-in person would see.  I search for my
project, and now in the "LO Information" box I get a URL instead of the
previous message which was something like "No URL available".  I click on it
and it's my file.  Yay.

I log in to check if the link will still be available when I'm logged in,
and it is.  Yay again.

Later, while reading a course, I click the "Add Content" button.  The main
window displays a text area where I can enter a title, course objective, and
content.  The title in the main window is "Afegir Contingut" (which I don't
understand - a web search suggestions it's Catalan for "add content").  On
another page I get "Afegir curs", so I'm sure now that this translates to
"Add course".

=========

Later, while logged out, I search for my course.  When the search results
are displayed, there's a button "Add Selected to my Bookshelf".  Since I'm
not logged in, I wonder what this does.  I click it and get the "Loading..."
animation.  30 minutes later, it's still loading.  (I guess it's stuck in an
infinite loop doing nothing.)

========

After I made the empty project, I sent someone the URL:
http://beta.selfplatform.eu/SELF/lessonsview?ssid=20397

Then I uploade some content, and I noticed the URL had changed:
http://beta.selfplatform.eu/SELF/lessonsview?ssid=20409

And going to the old "20397" URL continues to show a project with no
content.  So, I see that each URL is tied to a certain version of the
course.  I need to give someone a URL that will always point to the most
recent version.  I couldn't find any usable URL.

This is a big practical problem.  The other problems I found are problems
for me, and I will accept them, but this is something that makes a problem
for readers of the website, and we can't be sure they'll accept it.

(The current best workaround is to send them to one of the versioned URLs
and tell them to click on the rightmost dot in the rectangular box below the
lefthand menubox - or tell them to start from the home page and select the
right category and then select the course.)

========

Hope that helps!
-- 
Ciarán O'Riordan, +32 477 36 44 19, http://ciaran.compsoc.com/

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