There is some strange navigation happening on the News Feed pages....

From My Nabuur, went to Masaka main page http://www.nabuur.com/en/village/masaka
From News Feeds section of that page, went to http://www.nabuur.com/en/village/gulwo/newsfeeditem/uganda-ray-apire-nob...
Then clicked on Project Room which took me to Busukuma http://www.nabuur.com/en/village/busukuma/project

So somehow it has the village links mixed up.

I can make this happen from other villages too e.g. Makadara News Feed page links took me to Kabondo.

Mary

Hi Frans,

The link you gave us does not work. It says: "Page not found"

Thanks, Sonja.

Have changed the link now.

Frans-

I think the new post form is great! It still has all the same functionality (plus some) and the overall look of it is much more simple.

One thing tough that might be confusing-it confused me...logging into the test site, it took me awhile to figure out how to get back to the main site. I got scared for a minute thinking that all my changes were gone again until I looked at the address bar. If people post to the test site, those posts are not showing here in the main page-I know I saw a couple of my LR's posts there that were not visible here re: SMS.

Jennifer

Hi Jennifer,

Glad to hear you like the new post form! Brought a smile to my face as well. :)

I believe you're referring to Min's test SMS post (http://dev1.nabuurtest.com/en/village/gamauli/newssms/testing)

Prior to launching the SMS function on the 'real' NABUUR.com, we asked a few local reps to help us test it. Min was kind enough to help out. We needed to test the function on the dev. site first, which is the reason you see Min's test post there.

Frans, I believe posting on dev. is now disabled, no?

Romina

Hi Frans

I agree the new posting form looks a LOT better, much less confusing.

On the old site it used to be possible to insert several images into the body of a message via a simple button. Now it looks as though you have to manually enter format tage (not sure how this works?) or use the image option down the bottom among the advanced options?

I don't understand the Content Types. Please can we have an explanation of what all the different options do.

Don't understand what Audience does. It suggests that you can limit who will see a post. I think every post should be visible to everyone, or am I missing something?

When replying to a post, will the title now be automatically prefilled?

Mary

Hi Frans,

When I tried to go to the test site, I was able to login, but if I used the second link you provided and I was told "Access Denied." Is there a new link to access the test site?

Also, maybe this has already been mentioned, but I can't seem to find it. I want to change the existing text on Kyomya in the background and overview. The project background and overview description was written quite some time ago and things have progressed quite a bit, so the content is no longer relevant. I tried using the edit button that is present on some pages, but I cannot see the existing text. Do we have the ability to change this or do you have to do this? Also, for pages such as background there is no edit button, I can only reply to the background, which really doesn't make sense to me because it should be a static piece of information that doesn't require commenting on....

And finally, I know this has been discussed, but how do I fix the images in the gallery that have their heads cut off?

Thanks,

Barb

Frans, the new posting format is better, but I suggest you make it even leaner than it is now.
Somehow, when I posted there, my reply seems to have disappeared... so I am posting my observations here.

First of all, I would add the "Submit Button" to the right of the Title box, or directly after this text entry box. This would allow the user to see everything on one single screen.

The categories, content type and keywords are extras that can confuse some users... The same for the other options and explanations you have below the text entry box. I'd personally prefer having all that under an "Advanced Users" posting form, with a link from the basic entry page. That's what works best for other posting software I've seen before, since the user doesn't have to scroll at all.

And, somehow, when writing the "Title" for the post (which should be automatically written as Re:(previous title that I'm replying to") I got to see many other titles from other activities (non-Nabuur) that have forms that I've filled. Not good. Confusing, in fact.

Remember that most people that drive "automatic shift" cars just want to sit, turn the key, grab the steering wheel, put the car in "Drive", and simply step on the accelerator.

This posting form is an improvement, but I think it still needs more simplification.

As for my "lost" reply in the test environment, I hope you find it.

Dear all,

As promised a quick update on what's been improved and what is being worked on:

- Introductory texts were put on the different search pages last week.
- Frans has simplified the posting option, which will be implemented tomorrow morning
- The How NABUUR works group has started. A daily news item will be posted here, explaining how to make best use of NABUUR.

All feedback has been gathered and is available in the attached document. Mind you, it's quite long: 13 pages. Recurring issues have been grouped: My NABUUR/User profile, Postings marked as NEW, Chat function, Simplification, Rights issues (including facilitators with too many edit rights), the order in which posts appear.

If you're interested, browse through it. I'll try to make a friendlier overview... for the moment this is it though. If you feel something is being missed, let me know. At the moment work is done on: My NABUUR page, simplification, rights issues and fixing the Bugs. (see also the plan that I posted here last week)

I do hope this list will shrink soon!

Warmly,

Pelle

Overview site feedback 8 sept.doc

Hi Barb,

About changing the background, it is a bug which was already reported earlier. Pelle and me have tried to solve it yesterday for about an hour, but we really don't know what is causing it. We have put it on the bug list, and will certainly solve it in the future.

If you are in a hurry to change the background of 1 or 2 villages, please send the text (and image) by email to info@nabuur.com. We can submit it for you.

Warm regards, Frans.

First of all, thanks for taking the time to test and give feedback on the new form.

I have uploaded it now to this site.... I am writing this now in the (first) simplified form:-)
I have changed some small things based on your feedback:

• Added the automatic Re: title
• Removed the groups block with Audience and public
• Some small help text changes
• Limited the number of video's to 1

@Jennifer: I can understand your confusion. At dev1.nabuurtest.com we use a database from a month ago, that's why you thought you lost all recent posts. And the url-bar is not the best place to discover you are on the wrong site. I will change the background color of the dev1 site before the next test.

@Mary: We decided not to take images into the body of the new site. In the first place it is difficult to place images in the right place for most people, and on the other hand it is much easier to have a consistent look of the website (although we lost it already by importing the existing posts with images as complete as possible.
Explanation of Audience: In the new possible to write one post, and add it to more than one Village. Say you are a member of 5 Villages (a, b, c, d and e), you can make your post visible in Village a+c+e. This is very handy when you found a resource or website what is of interest for the 3 Villages, you don't have to write the message 3 times. Because it is not really usable in the task posts, I removed it here. For News posts I would propose to keep this possibility.
Explanation of Public: This affects the visibility of your post for Neighbors. If Public is checked, everyone (anonymous, logged in, and Neighbors/members of this village) can see your post. When Public is unchecked the post is only shown to Neighbors/members of this village. I removed the checkbox for now, but it can be discussed if this is a feature we want back.

@Manuel: A submit button next to the title seems confusing, then it looks like you can submit a post after filling in only the title. The automatic "Re: title" is one of the things I put in yesterday. The Content Type and Keywords are important features of this site. With keywords we can make post easily searchable, and with Content Type you are able to show your (or another's if you are Local representative or facilitator) post as an Resource (for example a link to an important article or website or document) or a result for the village. The tab Resources in the villages are automatically filled with posts marked as Resource. I agree it can be confusing for new users, but it is not Required to fill in these fields.

@Barb: I think you where not logged in, in the test site. Like I admitted to Jennifer, the test-site was confusing because you it is not visible you are not on the nabuur.com site. I will change this for future tests.

Warm regards, Frans

Hi Frans,

Thanks a lot for these explanations.

I was confused about why I could not see some posts while logged off. As you now explained, I understood that the authors did not thick the box for that?
For example, when a post is written by someone who is not the neighbour of the village? Is that the reason?

I think that the Audience and Public options are useful, but there should be an explanation next to them what exactly they are for.

I agree with Manuel that there should not be much scrolling; how about having two submit (and preview and cancel) buttons - one at the top and one at the bottom of the form? I have seen it in some forums and I liked it.

Besides, I think we would need more postings displayed in this form (we had this on the old website) - sometimes I reply to more than one posting and it would be easier to have them on one page while writting, rather than openning a new window with the discussion. Some public computers I used recently did not allow me to open more than one window at a time :-S.

I also like Content type option, but, as I said, it should be explained what it is for.

The new form is far better now. Thanks.

Sonja

I am no longer receiving notifications of new posts on the My Nabuur screen.

For example I didn't get notifications of new posts in Kabondo, Busukuma or this group. I think this started happening yesterday.
http://www.nabuur.com/en/village/kabondo/project/task/agricultural-train...
http://www.nabuur.com/en/village/busukuma/project/task/we-need-a-help-pe...

I only spotted this because Frank is on my friends list so it turned up in the list of recent friends posts. Now I have to go through all the other villages I belong to and have a look...

Mary

Hi Mary,

Sorry to hear this... I've checked my own screen: didn't get the notification either :-(
Making the MyNABUUR page more user friendly was already on the priority list for this month. I think the notification needs another look as well.

I'll keep you updated.

pelle

YAY you added a response title! :)
Okay that's not why I'm posting...I think someone mentioned it already but didn't see it in your list of items. New messages in my villages are not showing up on the My Nabuur page as new posts. I'm finding that I'm missing them simply because it looks like there's nothing there. I have happened to see a couple when I open the village pages themselves, but not until a few days after the fact.
Jennifer