Re: new plan to replace flags with Readiness Markers

Hey Eliezer (and all),

I've been playing around with the test wiki, trying to figure out a way to
get a "show details" set-up to work.

One common approach is to use a hidden checkbox (so that the label of the
checkbox is the link, and a combination of :checked pseudoclass selectors
and sibling selectors is used to show hide content).  However, Mediawiki
converts any `<input>` tags to plain text, so that doesn't work.  Same goes
for `<details>`/`<summary>` tags, which also have the downside of not being
supported in many browsers.

Another approach, which is slightly better semantically but which has the
side effect of jumping the scroll position, is to use a same-page link to
target the details and then use a `:target` pseudo-class to display the
content.  I've got that implemented in the test template [1], so that it
prints to the page like

    *Page status:* <http://docs.webplatform.org/test/Property:State> Almost
Done Details...<http://docs.webplatform.org/test/css/properties/max-height#showStateDetails>

Note that to avoid having two different links one after another, I've
removed the link on "Almost Done" and instead added a link to the "Page
status" heading.  That link goes to the property page [2], which I've
edited a bit to show my idea of having it as a useful reference page, with
definitions of the different property values and links to
search-by-property for each value.

However, even in the test wiki I don't seem to have permission to make the
relevant changes to the common CSS file [3] to enable the show/hide
functionality.  It would need to be edited to add this block:

div#showStateDetails:not(*:target)  #stateDetails{
/* hide if the browser supports the :target pseudoclass AND
    the showStateDetails target isn't active */
display: none; speak:none;
}
div#showStateDetails:target  #stateDetailsLink {
/* hide after being activated */
display: none; speak:none;
}


[1]:
http://docs.webplatform.org/t/index.php?title=Template:State&action=edit
[2]: http://docs.webplatform.org/test/Property:State
[3]: http://docs.webplatform.org/test/MediaWiki:Common.css

-ABR
P.S.  I hadn't clued in to the fact that there was a full wiki copy for
playing around.  I'll know in the future not to dump sample code into an
email when I can create a functional sample page instead!


On 24 April 2014 22:07, Eliezer Bernart <eliezer.bernart@gmail.com> wrote:

> Hey folks!
>
> Today I worked on the new State templates (our old Flags Templates) on
> test wiki.
>
> I followed some of the points talked today on IRC.
>
> So here is a Summary of what I did:
>
> a) Using the name "State" for the Semantic Templates [1][2] and Properties
> [3][4];
>
> b) Keeping the text field "State Details" in the semantic form [5]. It's
> really large, but we can easily resize it to any dimension;
>
> c) State is a Dropdown with only the allowed values in the semantic
> property State [3]. We still have a blank option, that I'm trying to figure
> out a way to remove, if someone know how to do, please update the template
> or let me know.
>
> d) The field "State Details"[4] will not be displayed in the form when the
> user select the option "Ready to Use" in the State field.
>
> e) On the document [6], it's being displayed the link to all the pages
> with the same State;
>
> f) I was not able to find a way to create the <a> tag and make a button to
> hide and show the div which has the content of the "State Details" section.
> If someone has any idea of how do that, please let us know!
>
> g) The "Flags" template [7] was removed from the form, and in that place
> included the "State" template [1].
>
> If I forgot something or you think that something need to be changed,
> please let us know! To see the changes you just need hit the edit button in
> any document [6].
>
> Thank you all!
>
> [1] http://docs.webplatform.org/test/Template:State
> [2] http://docs.webplatform.org/test/Template:State_Form_Section
> [3] http://docs.webplatform.org/test/Property:State
> [4] http://docs.webplatform.org/test/Property:State_Details
> [5]
> http://docs.webplatform.org/t/index.php?title=css/properties/max-height&action=formedit
> [6] http://docs.webplatform.org/test/css/properties/max-height
> [7] http://docs.webplatform.org/test/Template:Flags
>
>
>
> Eliezer
>
> @eliezerbernart
> eliezerb
>
>
> On Tue, Apr 22, 2014 at 3:52 PM, Jen Simmons <jen@jensimmons.com> wrote:
>
>> Ahhh! This email escaped from me before it was done!!
>>
>> I was about to write a section about the open text field:
>> *      2) an open text field where editors can leave comments about what
>> is needed. *
>>           Rather than trying to organize information about what each
>> page needs into a pre-fab list of checkboxes (that everyone has to learn
>> about before it becomes accurate or useful), we decided to have an open box
>> where people can write whatever is appropriate. "Needs an example". Or "I
>> changed this foo thing, but I'm not sure. Will someone check it?" Over time
>> if we see a need to have something more, we can add some kind of flag
>> system later.
>>
>> We will use the readiness marker to also add a class to the body element
>> of each doc page, like:
>> <body class="almost-done">
>> That way we can use the class to style the page however we want. We can
>> put a colored stripe down the side of the page, or put a diagonal banner
>> across a corner, or whatever. The body class alone provides everything
>> needed to make the state of the page clear to the end user.
>>
>> We might want to consider adding the state to the text of the page as
>> well, for accessibility reasons. We should think this through. It's not
>> needed in cases where there is no screen reader.
>>
>> I'm hoping that having the readiness state clearly displayed on each page
>> will
>> 1) help improve the trustworthiness of our content, and
>> 2) encourage people to help edit the content. If it says "almost ready",
>> you can click & see in a clear box what's needed. Sign in, edit, change the
>> state, and save — and when you save, the color coding state for the whole
>> page will change. Exciting!!
>>
>> We also want to figure out how we can better make lists of things. I want
>> to see all HTML pages that are Almost Ready. I want to see everything that
>> was moved to In Progress last week, etc.
>>
>> Questions? Comments?
>>
>> Jen
>>
>>
>> Jen Simmons
>> designer, consultant and speaker
>> host of The Web Ahead
>> jensimmons.com
>> 5by5.tv/webahead
>> twitter: jensimmons <http://twitter.com/jensimmons>
>>
>>
>>
>> On Tue, Apr 22, 2014 at 2:44 PM, Jen Simmons <jen@jensimmons.com> wrote:
>>
>>> On today's call, we had a long and fruitful discussion about the flags
>>> on the site, and the plan to change them. We revised the revised plan.
>>> Here's what we decided:
>>>
>>> *A) Remove the mediawiki template that provides the current flag
>>> system. *
>>>
>>> This will keep the existing data in the database, but hide all evidence
>>> of it. Flags will no longer be displayed on a page for a regular user, and
>>> the flag form checkboxes will no longer show up for someone who's editing
>>> the page.
>>>
>>> This will fix the problem that's been happening — people being scared
>>> away from the site by a long list of RED THINGS that SOUND SCARY but are
>>> actually quite hard to understand. Rather than trying to implement a
>>> complex educational process to teach everyone what all those flags mean, a
>>> decision was made long ago to simplify them. Today we realized rather than
>>> replacing them with simpler editor-focused technical to-do-list terms, we
>>> should be replacing them with end-user-focused information about the
>>> quality of the content. Thus will will:
>>>
>>> *B) Add a "Readiness Marker" — two new fields to all Doc pages:*
>>>
>>> *     1) a drop down select with five choices: *
>>>               > Ready to Use
>>>               > Almost Done
>>>               > In Progress
>>>               > Coming Later
>>>               > -unknown- (default)
>>> *      2) an open text field where editors can leave comments about what
>>> is needed. *
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> There was a lot of discussion about the fact the current flags
>>> kinda-sorta don't even work right now. If you click on a flag term, it
>>> should go to a list of all content with that flag — and it doesn't. Of
>>> course, as smart developers in the meeting people's started thinking
>>> through how we could make this work... but a decision was made that this is
>>> not a priority and we have other things that are more pressing to work on
>>> (like getting the compatibility tables done). So we will *not* be
>>> working on any kind of flag system that makes lists of content anytime soon.
>>>
>>> It was agreed that we do need better ways for contributors to find
>>> tasks, and more easily find a set of pages to edit. We agreed that this
>>> should be approached from a design perspective (let's first ask: what kind
>>> of lists do people want? what kind of tools could be helpful? what is it
>>> people are looking for?) and then come up with a plan to choose technology
>>> to fulfill that need (which might include a new set of flags), instead of
>>> focusing on the flags alone and forcing a solution that might not meet the
>>> needs at hand.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Jen Simmons
>>> designer, consultant and speaker
>>> host of The Web Ahead
>>> jensimmons.com
>>> 5by5.tv/webahead
>>> twitter: jensimmons <http://twitter.com/jensimmons>
>>>
>>>
>>
>