02 September 2009, 13:45

Hi Stephen,

Wow, I missed this great thread due to my fantastically relaxing vacation. Thank goodness that it was picked up again.

> I added and changed a lot of artefact types for the profile and resume.

I don't know if you have seen our proposal for a way to add additional "My" pages like the "My Skills" and "My Goals" that was discussed here. Since the discussion ended, we (primarily Richard and me; Nigel is also involved) took the discussion to a closed area to talk about details (no code though as I am not a programmer ). Thus, the forum does not reflect the latest in the discussion. However, if you want to put in your opinion, it would be great to read from you.

Nigel mentioned elsewhere that the search within Mahara is basically defunct at the moment. It also takes some time to put a good search together and thus, we fund the development of a tag search which will tie us over, but is also useful in itself because finally the tags will be used. This discussion is here.

Your suggestions for the notifications as well as Elliot's sound great and I am looking forward to hopefully seeing them in a future version of Mahara.

Kristina

02 September 2009, 15:13

I do like the idea of an admin being able to create and edit forms. It would be extremely helpful if there was an easy way to add/edit/delete profile fields/artefact types, but as the code is written now, that probably would be difficult.  Still, hopefully something for the future.

My user search works great.  Users can search via names, keywords, employers (past, present or both), jot titles (past, present or both), schools (attended or graduated and a date range), skills, location (within x miles/km of their postal code), and a few other fields.  Many of the fields are boolean, so users can really get specific in their search terms by using AND, OR, and quotes for exact phrases.

Each of the other sections have or will have their own search functions (groups, forum posts, blogs, etc.).  I'm not going to have a site-wide search that searches profiles, blogs, etc. all at once.

The message center (messages from other users only) is almost done. I have it designed very similar to Outlook, where theres a list of folders on the left side (inbox with subfolders, saved, sent, deleted),  the list of messages in the middle with a search box above it, and a reading pane on the right side. The reading pane is populated when you select a message, without reloading the page. The folder list and message list can be collapsed to expand the reading pane if the user wants.  Again, it's very similar to Outlook.  I chose to do it this way because most users a pretty familiar with Outlook, Outlook Express, or Outlook Web Access.  I still need to completely finish it, though.

I'm also working on a photo section that includes albums.  No quotas for photos and all uploaded photos are resized if they are too big.  This I will hopefully be able to make public for others to use.  I don't think it relies too much (if at all) on modifications I've made to the core.

The logged in homepage might not stay a view. I'm working on creating an activity stream (Facebook style) so you can see what your contacts have been up to, post status updates, comment on activity stream items, etc.  I'm just trying to figure out the best way to accomplish this.

When I'm far enough along with all the changes and additions I'm doing to start allowing beta testers, I'll post a link to the site so you all can check it out if you want.  It probably won't be very recognizable as a Mahara-based site.  Almost every template of the theme has been greatly modified from the original Mahara default.  Hopefully, I'll be able to post something soon. I may post a few screenshots in the meantime. I REALLY wish I had at least one other person writing code. My business partner can't write code at all.

02 September 2009, 15:49

One modification that I did do that should definitely be added to the core is when a user logs in and they are missing required artefacts in the profile, it redirects them to the full profile editing page, rather than just asking them to complete just the required fields.  They can't leave the profile edit page(other than logging out) until they've entered at least the required fields.

I haven't checked in 1.2 to see how it handles this, though.  Maybe the change was already made.

02 September 2009, 17:42

02 September 2009, 18:44

When asking for the required fields by themselves, it seems a little odd out of context from the rest of the profile.  Plus, it greatly increases the chance that the user actually completes their profile instead of just filling in the required fields and leaving it at that.

03 September 2009, 17:42

03 September 2009, 13:43

Hi Stephen,

All I can say is wow. We should make this thread sticky for the time when there is time to revisit the Mahara search function. 

Good luck with finding a developer who can help you with your coding work.

Kristina