Invision Community 4: SEO, prepare for v5 and dormant account notifications By Matt November 11, 2024
Will Munny Posted June 29, 2008 Posted June 29, 2008 Forgive me if this has been addressed before but I've never really taken much interest in forthcoming releases... however, I've heavily customised my IPB installation to my website these days, both at the core files level and skin level. With this in mind, I'm wondering what will be the policy with beta releases, as it would be a great help to me if I can get my hands on the software to start working on moulding the software to my website. What is the likely course of events?
Guest Posted June 29, 2008 Posted June 29, 2008 probably same as they did with previous releases: * internal release to a few beta testers * public beta release * actual release
Will Munny Posted June 29, 2008 Posted June 29, 2008 I've done a lot of work on fiddling around with the software... I wonder if it's possible to become one of these beta testers... It would sure be a benefit to me and I'd be happy to reciprocate the help by thoroughly testing.
henke37 Posted June 29, 2008 Posted June 29, 2008 Don't forget the part where we get to be gunieapigs on this very forum while they do live testing.
Microo Posted June 29, 2008 Posted June 29, 2008 Hmm as far as I remember back with 2.2.x it was encoded... Which basically doesn't give you much access to the core files... I don't think that Private Beta Testers get an non-coded version... I don't know how will be the V3 but I sure think first versions (before) final will be encoded.... Cheers, -Lone, W.
Rikki Posted June 29, 2008 Posted June 29, 2008 As others have said, it's very likely that the beta versions will be encoded. We do this so that we can set an expiration date on them - a problem we used to have is people would use the beta versions indefinitely, which was a nightmare from a support standpoint.
henke37 Posted June 29, 2008 Posted June 29, 2008 Of course, if people have a genuine need for the unencoded files (more than "my server does not support encoding X"), they might just get them.
CharlesC Posted June 29, 2008 Posted June 29, 2008 Hopefully nobody will use the 3.0 beta on their website like with Nexus.
China J Posted June 29, 2008 Posted June 29, 2008 Hopefully nobody will use the 3.0 beta on their website like with Nexus.Well like IPS always state, Please do not use on or in live enviroment site. People just don't listen lol.
Will Munny Posted June 29, 2008 Posted June 29, 2008 I sure have no intention of using it on my live site but I keep a private 'test bed' for the development I do and it's carefully segregated from the actual live website... Anyways, just for the record, if there are any Invision staff reading this... I hereby volunteer myself as a tester with no expectation of any support in return... I just genuinely want to get working on my own developments and would gladly offer my feedback in return for your trust. Thanks.
Brandon D Posted June 29, 2008 Posted June 29, 2008 Well like IPS always state, Please do not use on or in live enviroment site. People just don't listen lol. Which is why I thought it was funny when they were using the beta release of IP.Tracker for a couple months. Fun times not being able to edit your bug report :P I guess it's no different from any other IP product, as they test them here.
henke37 Posted June 29, 2008 Posted June 29, 2008 Yeah, no hypocrisy here, it's ok to break your own recommendations.
Guest Posted June 29, 2008 Posted June 29, 2008 Well it is a little different running test versions of your own software live on your own site, as you have the experts that developed it on hand to fix any problems as and when they arrive, whereas customers don't, and thus would complain if their site was broken as a result - especially when they get no support. :)
Brandon D Posted June 29, 2008 Posted June 29, 2008 ... as you have the experts that developed it on hand to fix any problems as and when they arrive ... Which is why we couldn't edit our bug reports for at least a month? I don't really care either way... was just pointing it out.
Guest Posted June 29, 2008 Posted June 29, 2008 Which is why we couldn't edit our bug reports for at least a month? I don't really care either way... was just pointing it out. I guess that there were other priorities at the time, I dunno, but the point is that the developer of the software is in a much better position to run their own test software live than a customer would be.
Digi Posted June 29, 2008 Posted June 29, 2008 Which is why we couldn't edit our bug reports for at least a month? Sounds like a non-emergency issue when you can simply reply again to it :P
Rikki Posted June 29, 2008 Posted June 29, 2008 Also bear in mind we don't develop Tracker ourselves :) The process for making updates for that application is slightly different to our main products.
henke37 Posted June 30, 2008 Posted June 30, 2008 Besides, it was only quick edits that where broken, I think.
bfarber Posted June 30, 2008 Posted June 30, 2008 When we open up beta testing we generally post something publicly and ask for people to apply for it. Just keep an eye on our announcements forum. I am not sure if we already have a beta testing team, or if we will accept new testers, so all I can say is watch the forum as the time gets closer. Generally our process is to first supply our internal QA team with as many releases as needed to iron out all the major issues. Then we involve a private team of external testers who generally use the software in different ways (maybe some skinners, maybe some people who don't speak English, or people just really knowledgeable with the software, etc.) to try to iron out as many noticeable issues as possible. This can take a while. Once it's "stable" we put it up on our site as you often find a different set of bugs when it gets tested en-masse like that. Things like email notifications not sending become much more apparent in that case. Or topic markers not working. Things that are harder to catch when it's just you clicking around. When it's time, we open up public beta testing and stay in that stage until the software is ready for final release. We always test the software on our site live here before releasing, as I said, to try to catch major issues that we simply didn't notice clicking around. With 1000 people clicking different pages and areas you're going to catch more things than one or two people clicking around and doing specific tasks. This is relatively standard in our industry. The reason we instruct our customers not to use the software on a live site is because we won't support it while the release is still in beta-testing. This puts everyone in a bad position, and we'd much prefer to just avoid that altogether. ;)
FCB-Mo Posted June 30, 2008 Posted June 30, 2008 So will you be inviting the same group as the ones who tested out IP Dynamic, Nexus and Converge or will you bring in new BETA testers?
stoo2000 Posted June 30, 2008 Posted June 30, 2008 When we open up beta testing we generally post something publicly and ask for people to apply for it. Just keep an eye on our announcements forum. [b]I am not sure if we already have a beta testing team, or if we will accept new testers, so all I can say is watch the forum as the time gets closer.[/b] Generally our process is to first supply our internal QA team with as many releases as needed to iron out all the major issues. Then we involve a private team of external testers who generally use the software in different ways (maybe some skinners, maybe some people who don't speak English, or people just really knowledgeable with the software, etc.) to try to iron out as many noticeable issues as possible. This can take a while. Once it's "stable" we put it up on our site as you often find a different set of bugs when it gets tested en-masse like that. Things like email notifications not sending become much more apparent in that case. Or topic markers not working. Things that are harder to catch when it's just you clicking around. When it's time, we open up public beta testing and stay in that stage until the software is ready for final release. We always test the software on our site live here before releasing, as I said, to try to catch major issues that we simply didn't notice clicking around. With 1000 people clicking different pages and areas you're going to catch more things than one or two people clicking around and doing specific tasks. This is relatively standard in our industry. The reason we instruct our [i]customers[/i] not to use the software on a live site is because we won't support it while the release is still in beta-testing. This puts everyone in a bad position, and we'd much prefer to just avoid that altogether. ;)So will you be inviting the same group as the ones who tested out IP Dynamic, Nexus and Converge or will you bring in new BETA testers?
kissybissy Posted July 3, 2008 Posted July 3, 2008 Is there a estimate date for the beta-testing? Just curious.
Malefickus Posted July 3, 2008 Posted July 3, 2008 Yep. Usually they don't even give an estimated release date, but have in this situation (Q4 2008). But I highly doubt that they'll give a public estimate of when a beta will be. Having said that, I'm sure it is going to be more than worth the wait for the beta and final to be released. I have a feeling that this will be an extravagant piece of software.
Guest Posted July 5, 2008 Posted July 5, 2008 Yeah, no hypocrisy here, it's ok to break your own recommendations. Sarcasm duly noted. I think the point you're missing, however, is that IPS are the developers of Nexus. Therefore, if anything should go wrong, they can fix it on a case-by-case basis, rather than fix it in a software package and release an entirely new version of it.
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