30 March 2010, 19:50

I have installed Mahara 1.2.3 and everything seemed to work smoothly. I can log in, create groups, forums, users, blogs etc. all nice and smooth too.

 The one thing I cannot seem to fathom out, is how to make any of the website public. All the anonymous user gets is the introduction and login box. Nothing else is accessible at all. This site I am typing in now, for example, had public forums that I could read before logging in, and public profiles of users etc.

So what am I missing? Is there some "make me public" tick box that I'm just not seeing? I have public access set on everything I can see - groups, profiles, whatever, but still nothing more than an introduction page for anonymous users.

 -- Jason

30 March 2010, 22:05

Hi Jason,

Currently, the only way for unregistered users to find public content is for you to share the relevant URLs with them. When you create a view or group, there is an option to make the content public. If you then share the URL to the view or group, anonymous users will be able to see the content.

A very common request that we get is the ability to map certain public views or groups onto site-level navigation items, much like we have done on mahara.org (this is a site-specific customization at present). The good news is that the feature is currently under development, and should be part of the upcoming 1.3 release. Stay tuned!

Cheers,

Evan 

31 March 2010, 4:01

Cool. So would the navigation under development just be items that can be dropped into the anonymous view, and that would pull in links from the areas of the application that have been declared public?

Another thing that would be handy with this, is the ability to invite non-users to the site, a kind of "invite a friend" feature. I'm looking into putting together a system such as mahara for a professional membership organisation, and one of the benefits would be to help increase the membership base. Doing that by making it easy to invite non-members to take part in discussions and to share information is what is driving these two particular requests.

 --Jason

PS I can see how making URLs available publically to groups and institutions works (it wasn't working when I tried it last night, but is now - ho hum) but what should happen when people drill down further into the members? I have a view against my profile that is set to be public, but as an anonymous user, if I click on the link to my user, I get taken to a login page. Is it possible to make a user's details public? I have an account, I make a view, I make the view public - so why is it hidden from the public?

Mind, it even works that way on this site. It is one of the reasons why I never use Facebook - it is full of walled gardens that give you hints that they are there, but which I just could not be bothered with.

31 March 2010, 4:57

Coming at this with fresh eyes, there are many confusing things about the structure of the data. I find it is very easy to lose track of what you are actually looking at. Take the views, for example. The view name is used as a title for the page, and if it is not set appropriately then a visitor viewing the view may have difficulty understanding what it is they are looking at.

It may just be me, but I find it difficult to get back to a page I remember seeing previously. I know there was a page that publically showed my institution - but I can't find it now. I know there was a page that had a back-to-front (i.e. it looked like it was showing the current state, but it actually listed what state would be changed to if clicked) AJAX link to set the public view status of my profile (or was it a view?)

I know it is something that I will understand and get used to, but I know many of my users will find it completely confusing and will be unlikely to come back for a second time. Even differences between my portfolio, profile and settings - aren't they all the same thing, and if not - how can my users be informed and reminded of what the differences are. "Edit this View" vs "Edit View Details"? It might seem obvious once you are used to it, but for a learner clicking the wrong link takes you another step away from where you probably ought to be. If I don't create a view, what is it users get to see instead - is it a default view or something else - a non-view view? Do I get the same level of access control over the non-view view? If not, then what is it for - would it not be better to just jhave views (including a default view) and drop the whatever-is-displayed-when-you-don't-have-a-view "view".

If there a usability group or project going on in mahara? I think an exercise producing a map of a typical setup would be very useful.

- -Jason

PS So am I  correct in saying that a "profile page" is a default view that cannot be removed, and has a special name, but otherwise can be customised like any other view?

05 April 2010, 17:47

Jason,

You are correct - every user has a profile view that is exactly the same as any other view with a few changes. As you noted, it can't be deleted, and it's access can only be set to public or logged-in. There are also some blocktypes that are only allowed in profile views.

You bring up a number of excellent points. As it turns out, we are in the midst of a usability sprint to fix, among other things, the issues you've mentioned - particularly with respect to the initial user experience. One major goal is to strengthen the distinctions between the different components of Mahara and their respective functions, while improving consistency where those components interact. For example, the "My Profile" area, where user's edit their personal details, will be better distinguished from the "Profile view", where they display that information. The profile view will be listed in "My Portfolio" to reinforce the notion that it is a view like any other, albeit with some restrictions. 

Thanks for the comments - we are always looking for feedback from people like yourself who observe how Mahara is used by various audiences. Feel free to post any other thoughts that you have.

Cheers,

Evan 

05 April 2010, 19:02

Cool - that sounds great.

I thought it was just me, as I found the features a little confusing  afer a short time playing with the system. Other colleagues were telling me it all seemed straight-forward to them. However, half a day later they were coming back to me asking what the views were.

I guess my style is to skim over every possible feature I can find right from the start, rather than focusing on single tasks, so I was seeing mahara in a different light to most other users.

-- Jason