March update meeting report for PSE

Ttech 22/23 March  
PSE status meeting
Laura Whitehead
Chris Croome
Jim Kirkpatrick
Ed Mitchell

ACTIONS complete list:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
LW consider JK proposal for opening up cloned version of LIVE to another developer as part of infrastructure workstream
LW set up github for TN.org
JK: remaining work on widget as discussed
JK LW: meet early week commencing 26/3 for project profile stuff and widget design
LW: design work on theme for widget as discussed
LW: produce editorial recommendations for project profile upgrade following meeting with JK next week
CC: continue nginx work
JK: attend to jquery download from widget to our drupal for alpha
EM: contact webmasters with updates and timelines before handover to LW
(Other tactical hosting work in TN web project strategy workstream)

NEXT MEETING:
~~~~~~~~~~~~
8:30 pm Monday 2nd April UK Time
07:30 am Tuesday 3rd April AUS Time

Web hosting/hardware/nginx review
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
nginx - work going as expected - quite slow but steady - early work on easy bits done -
piwik - not working - being a real puzzle - piwik developers helping
hosting -
extra GB added since last meet as agreed - all additional RAM being used - an extra GB RAM for LIVE would be useful
heavy RAM users: Varnish, memecache, apache is limited
LW/JK: site faster in general - some laggy moments - but generally a lot faster - in good health
CC would suggest extra GB for Varnish, memecache, apache
DEV a little slow - has munin as well as DEV, and is deliberately less powered, website is 70MB now which is triple in the last year - lots of content and activities etc.
https://kiwi.transitionnetwork.org/munin/webarch.net/quince.webarch.net/...

AGREED TN.org is growing significantly - need to take some tactical actions to cope with this (which are in hand already with budget and research ongoing)

JK feels DEV not a great dev box
CC finding DEV OK for nginx
JK SUGGESTION for code dev and module updates: clone site - 'staging' copy; ie moving TEST to quince
ACTION: LW consider JK proposal for opening up LIVE to another developer as part of infrastructure project-ette

Github hacking incident - issue?
JK/LW - not a problem
CC: concern is about relying on any org to run services - dependency makes you uneasy
JK REQUEST: get TN a github acct
ACTION: LW set up github for TN.org

Doing software configuration/enhancement work in this phase to optimise software
- Chris did this - making the system components use the GB efficiently

Projects Directory: upgrade/tidy of project forms on TN.org
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Progress going OK: projects upgrade work related to widget, but not widget not dependent on projects upgrade work: confirmed
LW has sent in a pdf for all the fields in projects directory
LW been researching edit-able fields - will produce recommendations about the editorial task required following JK/LW meet
JK has enabled the new TN projects feature - like the old projects feature with a gulag field, also - simple flag for moderation
flag default = no on site, yes on widget

Next step: how to migrate to the upgraded CT

ACTION: JK and LW meet early next week

Widget development
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

JK been working on the wiki - see documentation here
https://wiki.transitionnetwork.org/Sharing_Engine/Drupal_features_and_mo...
https://wiki.transitionnetwork.org/Sharing_Engine/Widget_structure
https://wiki.transitionnetwork.org/Sharing_Engine/Technical_Proposal#URL...
http://www.transitionnetwork.org/pse/widget/view/1/136#

Most complicated bit done
Almost all key components built; being done in code
Nearly got a working entry widget - it displays the form but does not have authentication form; small bug: themes couldn't be referenced - shouldn't be saying that
Framework/structure (module point of view) in place, URL structures done
module: pse in place - provide set of pages to the system

2 types of view widget
pse/view
1. basic - done - needs design work - could also take some exposed filters for a bit more sophistication
2. more advanced with searches etc. - not done yet
http://www.transitionnetwork.org/pse/view/basic/1/136
http://www.transitionnetwork.org/pse/widget/view/1/136#

Entry widget
pse/entry
module still in pre-alpha - some bugs - but mainly it is there and working

(1) takes user id of webmaster and ti id to allow widget to know what's going on
(2) grabs copy of widget entry form, hides unwanted fields (not mandatory),
https://www.transitionnetwork.org/pse/entry/add-project/1/136

Registration/login now Important Thing
Working on drupal standard as agreed -
JK RECOMMENDATION: use third party id service (FB, Twitter, Yahoo, Google etc.)
EM: this has always been a likelihood with this project and likely to try -
AGREED: this is good for discussion with webmasters once the alpha is up with standard drupal authentication

Admin side of widget:
Uses views generally so not a massive job
All requirements do-able

Next steps on widget development

1. registration bit
2. further work to make full workflow and finish entry process
3. resolve bug
4. make clever version of view widget
5. design work
6. admin/moderation/reporting end

CC: using google ajax?
JK; yes, to download jquery if necc
CC: possible to serve copy of it on our server?
JK: should be OK to point it a jquery on our server - but would be a significant increase on our service with many users
CC: nginx would solve the problems - AGREED

ACTION: JK attend to jquery download from drupal for alpha

Deliverables/timeline:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
We can hope to see alpha widget in first week of April
Will need handy help text and page on TN.org etc. for webmasters only at this point
EM expects we'll contact the webmasters approx 2nd/3rd week in April for download
JK dedicated to committing alpha by 1/4; probably not more than 8 hrs work left
LW - ready to get in and 'theme it up' next week if possible -  following meet with JK

About the author

Ed is the Web Manager for Transition Network. This means that he works on all the web stuff from the day to day support, to tactical activities to strategic and special projects work for Transition Network about linking up all the Transition Initiative websites without them having to come to the main site all the time for updates and news.

He lives in Bristol, likes digging and climbing, growing vegetables and reading, bicycles and books, swimming, camping and generally being outdoors.