30 June 2014, 7:08

Hello,

I'd like to configure a portfolio so that I can allow feedback to be added to an empty block (either file or folder).  Is this possible?

thanks,

Fran

30 June 2014, 21:40

Hello Fran,

I don't think this is possible. The feedback only becomes available when you have a file or a folder because it is bound to these artefacts. If you don't have a file selected for example, you can't get to the page where you give feedback.

You can add feedback to an empty text box for example if it is enabled to have comments. But not to other files.

What do you want to achieve? Were it enough for you to allow feedback on all file types by default so that your users wouldn't have to worry about adding the feedback option to the files?

Cheers

Kristina

01 July 2014, 1:08

Hi Kristina,

Thanks for your reply!

An empty text box would work, too. I am trying to put several places on a single page where different people can attach specific kinds of feedback.

Two questions:  

1)  If I add an image to a page, I see that when I click the image I can place feedback. I also saw that I can only see that feedback is present by going back to that image's details page. 

However, I can not replicate this with a text box (either empty or with content in it). There's no way that I can see to "place feedback." We have upgraded to the most recent version of mahara - is there perhaps something I need to do on the Administration panel that I missed?

2)  Is there a way to know that feedback has been placed on a specific artefact by looking at the main page? or do you have to go to each artefact's details page to access the feedback?

thanks!
Fran

01 July 2014, 1:25

Hi Kristina!

So I've been poking around the text boxes, and can't find a way to enable comments when I add the text box to the page.  I did, though, find that if I go to Content --> Notes and edit the text box, that I can enable comments over there. Then, going back to the portfolio page I can  see a link called "Comments" beneath the empty text box. Clicking on that link brings me to a page where I can "place feedback" and upload a PDF file.

On the main portfolio page, there is then an indication that a comment has been placed "Comments (1)," although I still need to go to another page to actually get the comments. I'm guessing that is not easy to modify? It would be terrific if there were a way to see the comments / access the PDF files from the main page.

So my next step is to make a template with empty text boxes, and go to the "Notes" area in Contents and enable each text box to allow commenting. Then see if that property is preserved when someone makes a copy of that page.

thank you!
Fran

01 July 2014, 1:37

Commenting property does persist on a copied template.

So my remaining question (for now, anyway!) is this one: is there any way to configure a page so that the viewer can see the comments (in this case, attached files) on the main page and does not need to go to another "comments" page to get that feedback? 

thank you!
Fran

01 July 2014, 9:29

Hello Fran,

You found the correct spot where to enable text box comments. Sorry that it's so hidden at the moment. There isn't a setting like for files. If you want to enable comments on text boxes by default, it's probably best to do that directly in the code at the moment.

We have a couple of wishlist items to improve the feedback functionality:

https://bugs.launchpad.net/mahara/+bug/1037531 and

https://bugs.launchpad.net/mahara/+bug/1306373

What do you think of these ideas? Right now you always need to click on the artefact details page to view feedback.

It is possible to place a feedback block onto the page directly next to the area where you want to have it as per your feature request, but it will still be the feedback for the entire page and not an individual artefact, and since it's the page feedback, you can only place one block.

Cheers

Kristina

02 July 2014, 1:41

Hi Kristina,

I looked at the wishlist items you referenced, and saw the mockup you posted at https://launchpadlibrarian.net/112828955/artefact_feedback.png -- yes, that would work beautifully, especially given what you posted in the thread at https://bugs.launchpad.net/mahara/+bug/1037531 :

I should add a couple of notes for my quick mock-up:

1. You would only see the latest feedback (say up to 5) and then have a link which would take you to the artefact page to see all feedback.
2. Attachments aren't displayed, but just indicated and can be clicked.
3. Further feedback can be reached via the "read more" link.
4. I thought to cut very long feedback and provide a link to the rest to avoid much scrolling.

This option would work very nicely for our needs.

The feedback block on the page worked well - as long as people labeled their files properly and there weren't too many of them. We found that once you get to two screens of feedback items, displaying it in the middle of a page got people confused (when they click to go to the next page of feedback they were often disoriented).

I've added myself to the wishlist item as "affected by this bug" and added a comment there, too.

thanks,

Fran

04 July 2014, 12:44

Hello Fran,

Thank you for your feedback here and on the wishlist item. I put a link to this discussion on the wishlist item so we can also refer back to it.

Cheers

Kristina