Related
Ok. Short story of what I want to do and why.
I am a developer and I feel that I don't contribute enough to this fantastic site and its users. After the recent unpleasantness I went away and thought about what it is that I could do to try and fix this. My idea is a site or section of the wiki built specifically to track bugs and issues in new roms (I was specifically thinking WMXL but there is no reason this can't be used for all of them).
I am currently working on my own XML based site with PHP5 driving and if people think it will be useful I'd write and host this service before I continued with my own site (hopefully before WMXL 0.30 is released).
I want to try and restrict the way people enter and search the information relating to problems with new roms and try to cut out the background noise. I was thinking about having fields such as ROM version (drop down list), radio version (text box), boot loader (drop down list), main program affected (text box), extent of interference (drop down list), description of problem (text area), how to reproduce error (mandatory text area!).
This will hopefully encourage more people to think about what might be causing the problem rather than just posting what they cant do and expecting someone else to work everything out. Forcing a description of how to recreate the problem will hopefully find most users not needing to post after they work it out, and if the recreation steps dont work then the post will be closed. Hopefully people will think enough that I will be able to moderate this forum (type thing) myself and maybe someone in another timezone (closer to the UK) can take care of it while im asleep.
No one can stop n00bs posting silly questions but hopefully we can reduce the amount this annoys everyone else.
Sorry it took so long to describe my idea.
Maz
UPDATE: STARTED!
I got started as soon as I'd got a couple of replies but I still need you all.
For the chef's and other brilliant people:
1. What info do you need with each ticket to try solve them?
2. Do you want to be the only one to close tickets? Or should the submitter be able to?
3. What info do you want to store for the roms to filter to the smallest pool of specific tickets?
For the users:
1. How do you want to be able to search this?
I DON'T ASK FOR DONATIONS! ALL I ASK IS THAT PEOPLE SEARCH BEFORE SUBMITTING!
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http://maz.net.au/
Bugzilla? yes please
This is a very good idea. In fact, I think that we need too a place to store the temporary fixes generated after each ROM publishing. It will be a good place for this too.
Good Idea.
It Would Help A Lot, Sounds Like Finding Answers Would Be Easier And Should Cut Down On The Hostile Atmosphere.
Cheers
Yes, very good idea.
This become easyest forum for everyone.
If it would be of any use, i can host this on one of our UK servers so we get very good speeds? I know 'iammaz' has said he can host it but he is in Australia so for the UK guys it might be a tad slow.
If not then no worries, but just trying to do my bit!
jaso2005 said:
If it would be of any use, i can host this on one of our UK servers so we get very good speeds? I know 'iammaz' has said he can host it but he is in Australia so for the UK guys it might be a tad slow.
If not then no worries, but just trying to do my bit!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Cheers and I'm sure everyone appreciates the offer. My site is hosted in the US. At the moment this is being built as a module to my current CMS. Whether or not this adds too much overhead I won't know until I try. The problem will be if I use too much cpu time im sure it's against the ToS with my hosting company and they will shut me down.
I hope that I will have it built as a stand alone object by then and anyone else can take this and run this on php5 hosting or in fact I could run it as web services from my personal server at home.
Progress goes well. Just working on possible searching and indexing algorithms to make searching fast and useful.
Maz
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I can't believe I forget to type this.
http://maz.net.au/
Great idea
It's 2am. I'm piking for the night. I'm expecting a phone call at 7am tomorrow so will be back into it then for 5 or 6 hours. Hopefully will be almost done by the end of that.
I need to work out how you want to have logins work. I don't think i can make it authenticate against this forum (i havent tried integrating with vBulletin before). Do I allow open registration? do I try make it force you to register the same name but PM'ing the password to that username here? do i manually add people as they ask and restrict the group?
let me know in the next 6 hours or so.
Maz
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Badly styled CMS can be seen here. (new version looks so much better )
http://maz.net.au/
Open registration, but obviously grant privileges to those of us who classify as developers.
Olipro said:
Open registration, but obviously grant privileges to those of us who classify as developers.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
And super-user privileges for the chef's for bug tickets that apply to their cooked roms.
Maz
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hard at work again at http://maz.net.au/
i would love to see a website specifically for g1 themes. with images of all themes, all linking back to the developer. as well as all themes and other downloads being hosted on local server, instead of having to use FTP services like megashares etc.
if anyone with web development/programming experience would be interested in assisting me it would be appreciated, and i think a site of this nature would benefit the android global community as a whole.
may i also state that i have a server with enough bandwidth and server space to handle the high traffic volume that follows a site like this.
i see some great possibilities with this, but in order to get it off the ground i will need some help.
I would love to say yes but my web dev skills have never been used in a real environment.
I would like to see something like this get off the ground. Its such a great idea.
although i do not have a crazy lot of time i do have an extra website that i currently do not use. Its good for a little less than a year and i "could" use iWeb or something to put a site together since it would take crazy less time. Its unlimited everything so i could host the .zip files right on it and just have people download from there. If enough people would use it though. I would def have to have everyone's permission though as i am not getting in trouble with people over something like this. if its something some of these Theme devs would enjoy i could use my current site on DreamHost and allow the download straight from the site with Pictures. Could have a page for each one of them too. Let me know as i would be willing to do this so it would be 100% easier to find things.
Email me at [email protected]
I would be willing to put the time in too since i could add an Ad at the top for some income towards the renew cost if necessary. And i do know what i am doing but it would def have to be a use site not just something 10 people use. www.edgewoodcma.org is my newest site i got up and running for a church.
thats pretty much the idea, it doenst really matter which server is used, however i do have a little over 2 years on mine, but it is unlimited just as yours is. however i do not think a page made in iWeb or something will work quite as nicely as something designed for dynamic updating by many devs.
im looking into a PHP CMS engine that will allow devs to name their .zip files and upload with a thumbnail of the theme. and have the site automatically post the new theme with the naming convention used in the .zip and show the thumbnail as a link to the direct download from the server.
i wanted to try and stay away from another forum site, as well. this is the forum site for android pretty much, we may have a discussion area in the theme site, however the downloads and updates will be on another portion of the page as to eliminate the need to sift through threads to find the themes you want.
The reason i posted that i would be willing to make and update the site is so that useless things will be kept out. I would be willing to accept all photos and .zip files in my email then post onto the site so that duplicates and useless things are kept to a minimum. I would also make multiple sections showing what update you are running (i.e. RC33, ADP 1.5, Dude, ect) and a complete breakdown so that it is as easily as possible to do things. The reason i would use iWeb is because of its simplicity. You could update a site within 2minutes for whatever is needed. I could update anywhere in a matter of minutes which would mean more thing up and running. Just an idea though as i too am wishing it was far easier to locate things instead of sifting through hundreds of posts to find the one decent theme out off 100.
that sounds great, will iWeb allow you to create dynamic websites for the dev to upload his work? or will you manage the whole thing as a static database (updated when devs send you their work)?
if you wish to create this, then please do. i shall continue to look for a permanent, maintenance free*, catalogue of themes. but until an engine is created for that purpose your offer sounds perfect. the android community desperately needs someplace organized to find these themes.
thank you for your offer, if you would like any sort of graphic help just let me know and ill do my best.
Dynamic sounds best, you could accept members (ie theme creators) and only have have control over posting themes and updates to their own themes?
We are actually working on this right now. Just purchased themesdroid.com a couple days ago.
We have a dedicated server we are going to be running it on. We are actively developing the site now. Perhaps we should combine our efforts.
awesome, let me know if you need any help, or any server space etc.
id love to help in any way i can.
--peace
It does seem like a good idea, although I have read in the past something about "why have many resources in many places"...one central location for it all is great, so it would have to have many advantages for it to work. I know instant thumbnails would be 1 (forums it doesnt work like that). Local files is another. Purchasable is probably something considerable.
Ive built for big corps before, and know a lot about that stuff. If you guys need help with doing anything I know almost any solution. Something like "if you donate you get extras" or something, and only those that did donate can get certain things. Helps the developers for their time and effort (like the apps, makes sense).
We are currently investigating a couple options for ThemesDroid.com. We have started working on a download site from the ground up, but we are also looking for possible alternatives. Does anyone know of any decent open source CMS/DMS systems? We have not seen anything that was worth a darn, but if anyone knows of a good one then there is no sense in reinventing the wheel.
kronarq said:
We are currently investigating a couple options for ThemesDroid.com. We have started working on a download site from the ground up, but we are also looking for possible alternatives. Does anyone know of any decent open source CMS/DMS systems? We have not seen anything that was worth a darn, but if anyone knows of a good one then there is no sense in reinventing the wheel.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What are you looking for in this CMS/DMS system?
well php-fusion is always a safe choice, there was something new... what was it.. http://expressionengine.com/
Ive always found Joomla to be the most flexible system to date, complicated but it will do 'everything' your looking it to do. It has great theme support as well (great flexibility for customizablity). Very secure too.
@malaeus, sorry to say but php-anything is almost always a bad choice, they have many loops/hackable holes.
Xoops is good too. Drupal is good. Or if you have a M$ server (asp), dot net nuke is good, has many add-ons for great flexibility.
Just some suggestions for you guys (btw, all those are free [opensource like android ]
I've been building Drupal sites for years now... if you guys need help, let me know.
http://img38.imageshack.us/img38/6613/demo1z.png
http://img34.imageshack.us/img34/3173/demo2.jpg
Started it 3 hours ago, thats how quick and easy it is. Its just a demo to show you what you can do with it. If you like cool, if not I at least recommend you check out joomla, thats what I created that with (there is no "starting from ground up" with it, its just there to "put the stuff in"). That template is free too (there are plenty out there, I also make my own which takes time). Just threw it together because I had the last three hours off from work and wanted to play with it again.
Drupals good, but I just dont think it has the best of plugins, they are ....awkward or something I dont know.
@kdf2883: Something geared towards downloads. Something preferably lightweight compared to Joomla/Drupal etc
@theslam08: I currently have a test of Joomla + DocMan I have been playing with, but Joomla seems like overkill for what we are doing. It doesn't all our needs so we would still have to modify it yet it does a bunch of junk we don't need. Then there's the usual update every week or get hacked bit...
We are leaning towards just doing everything from scratch. I could have a Joomla site up in a day or two or we can give it a couple weeks to build our own system from the ground up. What do you guys think?
for something like this, we may want to try something as simple as wordpress. each post would be a new theme, images and text would include server direct download link. its at least one of the most compatible backbones i can think of.
i have little to no experience in drupal and joomla etc. however when it comes to the design aspect of the website, thats closing in on my specialty.
@slam nice job on that layout btw. especially considering time spent.
Look at the Lock 2.0 themes site. They use WordPress and in my opinion it's a mess.
Hi!
You may know me as the guy who made blownfuze.org. I've done it again (I'm doing it, rather) and the address is tilt2.blownfuze.org. Basically it's a good place to unleash your phone, beginners to vets, while hiding from ad banners, thread chaos and rapidshare links.
The site, targeted specifically at the AT&T crowd but useful for all TP2 owners, is divided into a dozen chapters including how to flash a rom and my reflections on the various existing roms, the usual stuff to install (like flash, mortscript, MSCF and MSVC), a collection of Opera builds and other browsers and RSS readers, tweaking tools (advanced config, hd tweak), email guidance, GPS stuff, multimedia (players, tones), recreational stuff (dopewars, facebook), expert stuff (vpn client, packet sniffing) and perhaps most importantly what you need to get your phone back to its out-of-the-box stock condition (the software at least) for warranty compliance if you have ever flashed anything. It's the kind of site you might bookmark.
I only recently started this thing and though it is a little premature to post it publicly like this (it will get better over time..) the important sections like installing hardspl, flashing roms and warranty issues, they're good to go and I got some fresh cabs lined up for you too so c'mon down to tilt2.blownfuze.org.
In addition to plugging my site (thanks xda mods), the purpose of this thread is to invite suggestions from you (for example this part is good or that sucks or you should add this and remove that or cite this developer for that cab) so please do that, I will listen, or you can contact me in the contact form thingy at the bottom of my site.
Yours, Doug
Thanks Doug. Your sites are AWESOME and very useful! I don't have a fuze but I've found some sweet programs on your site for my tilt. I look forward to the new site.
Looking good, thank you!
great site, great infos. many thanks.
Looks very good actually, bookmarked it and having a good flick through now. Some very very usefull stuff on there!
Id be tempted to suggest trying to improve the GUI a bit though, theres an awfull lotta text sitting there.
Im Feelin it
This is perfect, Everything works and enhances the phone. Cant complain
thx for the repo guide
NB: Your ZoomAdds thread (http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=572270 -- linked to in section 5) has been superseded by this one: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=578420 -- the earleir one is a version that can't be uninstalled.
Really? I liked downloading and keeping CABs.
Yes you have to use the marketplace. I think the market saves all of your downloads for you.
Yeah but it's not the same is it?
If something is no longer available for WinMo 6.x, but if you have an old CAB you're ok. This new model takes the power from us and gives it to the vendors. This isn't in my interest at all.
at45 said:
This isn't in my interest at all.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't agree, at least in my experience it has been much easier to get my applications back with the MS store than with CABs for several reasons. After I flash a new ROM (analogous to a new phone, etc.):
I simply log in to get my store applications - 1 button push to 'install all'
I get the latest version
I don't forget which CABs I have to install, and don't have to make sure they're all up to date.
It's a trade-off, but it is in your interest.
I guess that's ok if you trust the apps to remain available.
I don't have to do much work either though after a hard reset or new ROM. I just run Sashimi which configures every part of the phone exactly how I told it to. I know this is a mile from what MS is doing with WP7 and that's not a bad thing.
But I am hopeful that devs will find a way to let us install apps independently of Marketplace. It might be that someone writes a great app that MS doesn't allow onto the marketplace, mightn't it?
I too am not a fan of the fact that MS gets to dictates which software I can and cannot use. Whilst I consider them to be far more liberal than Apple how can I be sure that what is permitted today will be allowed tomorrow.
It is conceivable that something I download today is retrospectively deemed to be in violation of some hitherto non existent rule- this could be the result of a legal ruling or MS regime change.
Nor am I comfortable about the fact that one firm will have the low down on ALL of the software that I buy.
Whilst i can see some advantages to the market place, what happens if I need to hard reset in an area with no internet access? Or if I am abroad?
An advantage of the cab scenario is that I am only reliant on my sd card. I can carry my backups wherever I go and reinstall at no cost and virtually instantly.
Straying off topic, perhaps, the success of yet another o/s orientated market place might have very serious implications for the way that we source software for our main computers...
whilst that may be true that it is nice to have cabs you can install yourself, the reason for just 1 market place is the fact that you'll end up with experiences like android where multiple market places exist and carriers are changing the market place so you can't access another. and then it's up to the developer to make it available in all these variations of market places. where as at least with iOS/WP market places, it's a 1 place submission.
you also get stupid conditions as well such as amazon's (future?) android marketplace where no app can be released before them in an update. they must be released all at the same time. how hard is that to co-ordinate?
clean thread.
I believe the answer was given. closed Thread.
Request 1: Add HTML Tidy to the xda wiki stack
Template:Navbox @ Wikipedia said:
Using this template on other wikis requires HTML Tidy to be turned on. A version that does not require Tidy can be found at Wikipedia:WikiProject Transwiki/Template:Navbox. (That version generally shouldn't be used here on the English Wikipedia.) More detailed information on copying {{Navbox}} to other wikis can be found on the talk page.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've been doing a LOT of work adding stuff to the xda wiki, but I've hit an impasse, some of the most complex templates used on Wikipedia depend on it being 'scripted' with HTML instead of pure wikimarkup.
The main example is Template:Navbox. While this specific template does have a pupre wikimarkup equivilent (if it even is an equivilent, it's not maintained at the level of the normal one). The other templates I wish to use dont have equivilents.
Template:Navbox subgroup is the one (among others) that I wish to add in but cant because it depends on HTML Tidy. The Template itself is already on the xda wiki, but if you attempt to use it it's completely broken.
I cant say it's as simple as "install on server and turn it on" but the fact of the matter is that without it most of the fun/magic stuff on wikipedia cant be brought over to the xda wiki.
Some examples of recent stuff i've made (for reference):
Samsung Galaxy S Series Navbox
Samsung Galaxy S II Series Navbox
New Samsung Portal on Main page
Entirety of Dell devices page
If you look at the several navboxes I've made they have hacks in the code to get around the fact that I'm just a normal level editor.
Request 2: We need MOAR editors!
Also this doubles as a request for more editors on the wiki: XDA is the largest android development based site on the internet, yet here we are weeks after the release of the Galaxy Nexus and Galaxy Note and the pages didnt even exist until I made stubs for them.
As of this past quarter I've generated more edits then possibly nearly every other user combined, but there's only so much I can do at this point by my self. (With my primary style being to organize page layouts and tidying stuff up vs writing new content for devices)
[Edit count itself is a bad metric, but edits that arnt mine only number in the dozens a month]
Sure it's reasonable for minor devices and varients to be stubs, but the Note has sold over a million units and yet not a single person has even bothered to make as much as a scribble on the wiki about the device. That's just an example, but ultimately if this were wikipedia, the amount of pages rated 'good' or higher would only number in the dozens. (There's also the fact that my belief is that it's a bad idea to add anything intensive for a device you dont own, standard fare on one device can super-brick another due to quirks)
It's a rather sad state of affairs that for such a large web site with 22000 active users at any one time that there's not a single good consistant repeat editor besides me.
Edit: changed wording to not be inflammatory
Request 3: Turn on Subpages on the main namespace
Mediawiki:Subpages are by default enabled on the template and user namespaces, but not on the main namespace. I believe it's done this way because of editor policy and not technical reasons.
The xda wiki would HEAVILY benefit from having it enabled since it already currently manually uses them, the previous example of:
Samsung <Series>/<model number>/article has long existed this way but without the automatically generated anchors.
The majority of pages are already ready to accept it, it might simply need to be turned on.
XDA Wiki
TheManii said:
there's not a single good editor besides me.
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Click to collapse
IMHO that is a rather sweeping statement and is likely to put off anyone from editing the Wiki. I would dispute even your claim as a good editor would not make sweeping changes to categories without discussion on the pages involved. Should I just "undo" them?
XDA has a problem with repetitive questions leading to user dissatisfaction with overlong forums and the loss of good developers such as AdamG.
One solution may be to create a FAQ Wiki for any thread over a certain size (for example 1,000 posts) and automatically link to that thread at the top of every page and above the reply box.
Cheers
Tom
It is sweeping, but the fact is there arent many repeat editors, many devices havnt not seen edits in months because a great deal of the changes dones are a one-time batch job with a single theme.
I'm not at all saying that the other editors are bad, though yes that what the impression was (and perhaps I should have worded it better). I'm saying that few wish to stay with it for the long-haul.
There's few editors that consistantly return to add/update/expand artitles for their own devices or other devices. That's my main issue. I actively want to be proven wrong in this regard, I'm inviting other to prove me wrong. I myself am somewhat guilty of this myself, I primarly concentrate on the dell devices, but I've kept them very up to date for the previous year.
One example I have issue with is: Acer A500 -xda wiki the entire page are just forum links. I have no issue at all with the contents of the posts (just as much my opinion on them is irrelevent) but the fact they are just links and not part of the article. The fact it's not on the wiki means that other editors cannot make changes themselves, which rather defeats the point of the wiki, which leads to,
The other issue is, unless the OP is excellent at keeping the thread organizied, you often have to wade though the entire thread to keep up to date. With a thread with +200 posts even if you wanted to it's a huge effort to do that. Even in the most complex of topics, they can be broken down a couple bullet points and approx a paragraph each to elaborate. There's also 'bad' advise that doesnt get edited away on topics ('bad' as in it may simply be the case that it was the right thing at the moment but there was eventually a more 'correct' method discovered later and the original 'bad' one is still reposted for whatever reason)
I could copy the posts onto the wiki verbaitm, but you really should have the poster's permission, what if the poster isnt active? It would be a bad idea to paraphrase advise/guides without context, what if you remove an important small detail. The right way to be to frequent the device and get context, but that triples the amount of work to do so properly.
It's no secret that there's always users that refuse to read topics and simply skip straight to posting repeat questions. Short pages with clear instructions are much easier to recommend then having them read though dozens and dozens of posts (which they skipped as they posted without reading in the first place)
Discussions dont really work on a wiki, esp one without consistant-repeat (or even repeat) editors. There's a fair amount of edits for various devices, but there are obviously more devices then editors. Lets walk though it: I want to make an edit, do I post it on the topic's talk page? Short of doing so on wikipiedia proper on a popular change, you wont recieve much feedback.
Do you make a post on each of their device's forums? XDA has sub-forums for each device, but not really a sub-forum for the family itself (back to the SGS/SGS2, there's the main device's subforum and each varient's subforum but none for the entire family, i think) That means making dozens of posts to talk about each major change.
What if it's an old device such as the winmo devices? The HTC HD2 is the only one left on the active part of the xda forums, because it's obviously not just a winmo device now. You're going to have to wait a very long time as they naturally only get a couple posts a month now.
Just as much, unless a mod/admin states to the contrary, you can always assume Wikipedia:Be Bold is implied to apply. I honestly have no issue if my edits are reverted if they are constructive reverts, as that's how wikis work.
If anyone has a issue with the edits I make, you're welcome to discuss it with me and hopefully we'll find a middle road.
Also I've made a reply on User_talkaveShaw#Page Name & Categories (as a fun note: & is translated to _.26_ in links while / isnt, though mediawiki has no issue with either of them, though you cannot directly use & in page names while you can use /) You should read it if the critisim is directed towards me.
tl;dr prove me wrong, Be Bold, help make the wiki better
Edit: HTC_HD2 - NexusHD2 ICS CM9 FAQ is an excellent example of why things should be on the wiki as articles instead of just merely links to a thread. It's about 3 pages of topic points and contains the majority of the topic points instead of having to read 225 (currently) pages to get the same info. (Also, just as much if I inadvertently remove valid content, revert/add it back! That was not my intention, everyone makes mistakes. The xda wiki is pretty well off in that it has little/no intentional vanadalism, you can always assume an edit is in good faith, I dont recall more then 1-2 legitamitely bad edits in nearly a year)
I've asked someone to look at Request 1.
I'm not sure what can be done about Request 2, if people don't want to maintain it, we can't make then
Thanks!
I dont really expect req 2 to be fullfilled in any real manner. Just pointing it out.
Added request 3: enable subpages on main namespace
TheManii said:
Added request 3: enable subpages on main namespace
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Our server admin has told me this has been done.
Dave
I can confirm it's on now, all the subcatagorized pages seem to be working great now
TheManii said:
I can confirm it's on now, all the subcatagorized pages seem to be working great now
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks
Dave