Developer Network™

Creating roadmaps can be tricky. They are not static pages but rather dynamic documents constantly modified and improved over time. Below is the proposed roadmap for the Joomla Tracker.

1. Create an engaging website

The new Joomla! tracker should be engaging and user-friendly. The layout should be clean, open, and easy-to-navigate. Focus should be on two specific use cases or profiles. These profiles will help the website to display relevant information without unnecessary clutter or “data-overload” for non-registered visitors. Interesting studies have been performed on displaying relevant content website options based on user status (logged-in vs. not logged-in).

First, the non-registered, new user. The tracker should be clear in defining key call-to-action areas. Minimal use of content will encourage the user to look further into the website and how to join. Once the user has joined, they will be transferred to the second profile type. Sign-up process should consist of minimal steps and be easy to fill out quickly.

The second profile type is the logged-in user. This user will have a variety of possible levels depending on their involvement and past history. These users have visited the site and are familiar with the layouts of bug lists, features, ideas, etc. The user profile will play a prominent part of the site and will serve as a key point for users to start with each returning visit. This layout will reflect ideas listed in #5 below.

2. Hold Quarterly Idea Fests

The Joomla! tracker project should also reach beyond the simple confines of a bug tracker. Quarterly Idea Fests (QIFs) will be held where the sole purpose of the event is the generation and curation of new ideas. This will provide a community opportunity for individuals to present new ideas in creative ways, to raise support for their personal favorite ideas. These QIFs will be a light-hearted fun opportunity to improve Joomla! through a relaxed atmosphere of sharing and collaboration.

These QIFs would typically end in a voting process by all members present to pick the top 5 ideas that have resulted from the event.

3. Include user voting

The new Joomla! Tracker will incorporate the ideas board currently listed on http://ideas.joomla.org but revamped and improved. The new ideas section will be able to be tied closely to the tracking of issues, bugs, and new feature improvements that are made to the code and be deeply integrated throughout the site and user profiles. Ideas will be available for all users to vote on and users will earn votes to give to ideas based on other site activities.

4. Add motivational badges

Similar to other sites, the new Tracker offers users the opportunity to win badges based on certain activities. This gamification method will serve a dual purpose - first to encourage user interaction through friendly competition and secondly to provide other visitors the opportunity to see the stability, and day-to-day activity of the Tracker. Examples of these activities include:

• Current Active Streak (Days Logged In)
• # of Open Issues (1, 5, 10, 25, 100, 500)
• # of Comments Created (1, 5, 10, 25, 100, 500)
• # of Closed Issues (1, 5, 10, 25, 100, 500)
• Time Periods for the above: All-Time, Yearly, Monthly, Weekly

5. Create task levels

The Tracker may offer the ability to post levels on items, bugs, code suggestions, ideas to identify the level of difficulty associated with the code necessary. This would allow users to quickly locate those items which are most relevant to their current level.

6. Annual code contribution conferences

The CCC will be an annual meeting where users are eligible based on their user level in the tracker. This presents an opportunity for the top users to come together and spend a dedicated time in writing new code. This annual event is a reward for the hard work spent in the Tracker.

7. Faux SLA reports

In order for visitors to the Tracker site to gain a better perspective for the stability of the Joomla! environment and the level of support available on an Open Source project, the Tracker will provide some unofficial statistics based on issues fixed in the Tracker. These statistics include:

• Average time for Priority 1 issues to be resolved
• Average time for Priority 2 issues to be resolved
• etc...

8. Long-term stats

The Tracker will display some key long-term stats about the status of the Joomla! project. Long-term stats also present the opportunity to demonstrate to site visitors the stability of the platform. These stats would include:

• Most Active Users
• Total Commits
• Most Commits by User
• Total Active Users per Time Period
• Year by Year Progress

9. Short term stats

The Tracker will also display key short-term statistics on user profiles, similar in some aspects to GitHub (commit streaks, days active). Most active users in the last month and other short-term features will demonstrate the volume of activity in the overall project.

10. Code Contests

Code contests can be held within the Tracker at various times and for a variety of purposes. A code contest can be held to accomplish a particular feature based on the ideas listed by users. Fun code contests could also be set to encourage users to submit alternative methods of solving a single problem. This can be useful for a learning tool for new users as well as a challenge for older users to demonstrate their knowledge and expertise in a fun and constructive manner. New ideas will grow from these contests and in turn the Tracker will become a source for new code ideas and overall Joomla! growth.

The Joomla Tracker has a great roadmap proposed which presents a list of possible features to be included in the Tracker project. The opportunity to volunteer is abundant.

Find an Interest

Look through the list of proposed features or the outstanding issues on GitHub to find the item that you are most interested in and would like to help develop.

Get Feedback

Once you have an idea of what you'd like to work on you can create a discussion around the details of the idea (or simply begin writing the code) and request feedback from other users and developers. This process will help to refine the ideas and make sure the finished product works well within the overall Tracker projects goals

Submit Your Code

Whether your fixing an outstanding issue, or creating new code, the final step in the process is to submit your code as a pull request against the Tracker GitHub repository. When submitting your code be sure to be descriptive about the nature and purpose of the pull request and the issues you are addressing.

Once you've done those steps you will see just how easy it is to volunteer and you can start over with the next feature idea!