Difference between revisions of "Features/New ASLO"

Latest revision as of 13:55, 29 December 2015

WE NEED YOU!
Add your activity!

Summary

The new ASLO is a ground up rewrite of the aslo to make it work better for users and developers. Check it out

Owner

Name: Sam P.
Email: <sam@sugarlabs.org>

Current status

Targeted release: 0.106
Last updated: 6/8/2014
Percentage of completion: 70%

Number of activities: 65 (I think)

Detailed Description

The ASLO is an acronym for activities.sugarlabs.org. It is an activity store, currently based off the addons.mozilla.org software.

This project is to rewrite that with software built for Sugar today. The new software will replace the web interface and updated code. The new software will add a new build pipeline and will (probably) add a command line tool for submitting activities. The dataset for the new ASLO will be stored publicly on GitHub rather than hidden on our servers.

Benefit to Sugar

Right now, publishing an activity is a lot harder than it needs to be; making it easier gives developers more time to develop activities. The new ASLO automatically builds the activities and extracts metadata from their code/PO files. It integrates with GitHub to automatically build on push. Releasing a new version is as easy as changing the version number and "git push". Development copies are build on every push, helping get the latest versions to users who want to be more involved in the development process.

Commenting is also a very one way thing on the old ASLO; you can post a comment but developers can't reply. This is helpful to developers of Sugar - it only scares users off our activities. By integrating Social Help with the comments, the comments can start a discussion between developers and users. This will allow us to create software that better helps users. Moving the comments to Social Help also unifies the point of contact for Sugar users.

The new ASLO also loads faster. According to the Firefox Dev Tools, for ruler activity the difference is 53kb (1sec) vs 362kb (10sec) without cache. There is still an improvement with a primed cache. This comes from not using jquery or any javascript for example - this is just an app store, not interactive computer game.

Since the new ASLO uses a microservices structure, it can be simpler to maintain reliability. The web interface (what users see) can be run without any external dependencies on anything that runs docker. The backend (all the services oriented on processing activities to json) are based around a message queue for a clean service design.

The new ASLO will also provide a platform for innovation by making the dataset publicly available and versioned in git. For example, instead of manually adding forums for activities to Social Help, that can be automatically done with the new ASLO data.

Scope

Most of the code will run on the SugarLabs servers. See the GitHub repository: https://github.com/samdroid-apps/aslo

All activities will need to be migrated from the old site and developers will need to change their workflow (if they do not already use git and push when they publish versions).

The only part that is in sugar is the updater. It was merged in 0.102, but must be enabled via gsettings.

UI Design

This adds a new activity store with a new look.. Check it out: https://activities-2.sugarabs.org

How To Test

There are many ways to test.

Try the web interface and please report any bugs.

If you have made an activity, add it to the new ASLO and please report any bugs.

User Experience

New website!!!!
Fast
Better engagement with devs
Cooler
Feature parity with the old site

Dependencies

None

Contingency Plan

None needed.

Documentation

Every section has a README loaded with information, so look at the git: https://github.com/samdroid-apps/aslo

Release Notes

Switch to the new ASLO.

Comments and Discussion

Link to the discussion of this feature on lists.sugarlabs.org
See the discussion tab for this feature.

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
 <noinclude>
-[[Category:Feature Page Incomplete]]
+[[Category:FeatureLanded|New_ASLO]]
-[[Category:Feature|.]]
 </noinclude>
-{{Note/important|WE NEED YOU!|Can you translate?  I just know you can: https://github.com/SAMdroid-apps/aslo/blob/master/web/translations/example.json'''}}
+{{Note/important|WE NEED YOU!|[https://github.com/samdroid-apps/sugar-activities#sugar-activities Add your activity!]}}
@@ Line 15: / Line 14: @@
 == Current status ==
-* Targeted release: 0.104 (let's be optimistic!)
+* Targeted release: 0.106
-* Last updated: 31/Aug/2014
+* Last updated: 6/8/2014
-* Percentage of completion: 75%
+* Percentage of completion: 70%
+* Number of activities: 65 (I think)
 == Detailed Description ==
-The new aslo is made to:
+The ASLO is an acronym for activities.sugarlabs.org.  It is an activity store, currently based off the addons.mozilla.org software.
-* Let developers update their activities eaisly
+This project is to rewrite that with software built for Sugar today.  The new software will replace the web interface and updated code.  The new software will add a new build pipeline and will (probably) add a command line tool for submitting activities.  The dataset for the new ASLO will be [https://github.com/samdroid-apps/sugar-activities stored publicly on GitHub] rather than hidden on our servers.
-* Encourage a conversation between developers and users
-* Let users find activities faster/eaiser
 == Benefit to Sugar ==
-Right now, publishing an activity is a lot harder than it needs to be; making it eaiser gives developers more time to develop activities.
+Right now, publishing an activity is a lot harder than it needs to be; making it easier gives developers more time to develop activities.  The new ASLO '''automatically builds the activities and extracts metadata''' from their code/PO files.  It integrates with GitHub to automatically build on push.  Releasing a new version is as easy as changing the version number and "git push".  Development copies are build on every push, helping get the latest versions to users who want to be more involved in the development process.
-There are also issues with the current activity store.  The search only works in English; typing a Spanish word into the Spanish aslo will yield no results, but an English word will work.  Commenting is also a very one way thing on the old ASLO; you can post a comment but developers cant reply.  You could also argue that the current ASLO is not fun, ugly and annoying to use.  The new ASLO also loads a lot faster than the old ASLO as it uses new(ish) browser technologies.
+Commenting is also a very one way thing on the old ASLO; you can post a comment but developers can't reply.  This is helpful to developers of Sugar - it only scares users off our activities.  By integrating [[Features/Social_Help|Social Help]] with the comments, the '''comments can start a discussion''' between developers and users.  This will allow us to create software that better helps users.  Moving the comments to [[Features/Social_Help|Social Help]] also unifies the point of contact for Sugar users.
-The new aslo is also designed in a way to simplify hosting.  There are 4 parts.  The web interface is 100% static and can be run in isolation.  The comments system is almost like an add on to the web interface.  The bot master distributes activities to bots to host.  Currently the bot master is working well on sunjammer.
+The new ASLO also '''loads faster'''.  According to the Firefox Dev Tools, for ruler activity the difference is 53kb (1sec) vs 362kb (10sec) without cache.  There is still an improvement with a primed cache.  This comes from not using jquery or any javascript for example - this is just an app store, not interactive computer game.
+Since the new ASLO uses a '''microservices''' structure, it can be simpler to maintain reliability.  The web interface (what users see) can be run without any external dependencies on anything that runs docker.  The backend (all the services oriented on processing activities to json) are based around a message queue for a clean service design.
+The new ASLO will also provide a '''platform for innovation''' by making the dataset publicly available and versioned in git.  For example, instead of manually adding forums for activities to Social Help, that can be automatically done with the new ASLO data.
 == Scope ==
-There is quite a lot of code behind the new activity store.  It is on github:  https://github.com/samdroid-apps/aslo
+Most of the code will run on the SugarLabs servers.  See the GitHub repository:  https://github.com/samdroid-apps/aslo
-The only part that is in sugar is the updater.  This is just 1 file and is probably on a pr right now.
+All activities will need to be migrated from the old site and developers will need to change their workflow (if they do not already use git and push when they publish versions).
+The only part that is in sugar is the updater.  It was merged in 0.102, but must be enabled via gsettings.
 ==UI Design==
-This adds a new activity store with a (great [[User:SAMdroid|SAMdroid]] ([[User talk:SAMdroid|talk]])) new look.  (Most people will disagree [[User:SAMdroid|SAMdroid]] ([[User talk:SAMdroid|talk]])).  Check it out: http://www.aslo.cf  Please comment!!!!
+This adds a new activity store with a new look..  Check it out: https://activities-2.sugarabs.org
 == How To Test ==
@@ Line 46: / Line 51: @@
 == User Experience ==
 * New website!!!!
-    * Fast
+* Fast
-    * Real i18n!
+* Better engagement  with devs
-    * Cooler
+* Cooler
-    * Feature parity with the old site
+* Feature parity with the old site
 == Dependencies ==
-If the sugarlabs and github infrastructure are both hit by a big evil comet (or comment?) this feature may not be published :(
+None
 == Contingency Plan ==
-Be sad about the current aslo.
+None needed.
-Be rebel and only put your activities on http://www.aslo.cf and force your users to change.
 == Documentation ==