IPS4 Feature Plan

[Vikestart]

Feature plan is gone?

[NewRockRabbit]

@Vikestart

[Vikestart]

Oh, oh well.

I hope they give the roadmap part a nicer look, or make it a tab above 4.0.9

[Meddysong]

Was anyone able to figure out why this doesn't work on 4.0.8? 

@Charles @Rikki

[Part of] the problem seems to be that when Pages imports the XML, one of the template files (tableFooter, I think) gets put into a separate template group instead of the one that all the others are part of. This has happened to me with the original XML and also the version that Black-Elmo made for himself and then shared. At some point I'll experiment some more and then shoot a video for Support, because this is clearly flawed behaviour and not localised just to my installation, given the number of other people who are reporting it too.

[Vikestart]

Looks great now as a separate tab on the Release Notes page!

[opentype]

I love how this list grows every day. All the stuff people have asked for to return or to be improved. Who said IPS doesn’t listen‽ 

[Charles]

Who said IPS doesn’t listen‽ 

Quite a few people but I don't listen to them  

[tzrtim]

Incase anyone having problems (i've helped 2 already) - If the xml upload doesn't work right.. do the following
Click Pages, Click Templates, Click New (drop down)

click "Add database template"

• Name: Plan
• template type : Record Listing (show when clicking a category)
• Assign to Database : content db 9 (this maybe different)

Then open each template
CategoryFooter
CategoryHeader
recordRow

and copy and paste the code from the .txt files (same for css)
- CSS problem?
Css works on the Pages setting
go to your Page, Click the Tab  "page includes" and select "CSS/Status.css" - and that will link the database with the css file - if unsure just reply here 

[NoGi]

The Like thing is actually really simple because everything in IPS4 is modular. As long as the reputation template has the variable for the record, you can put it anywhere you like. So in the list template, I added:

{{if $row instanceof \IPS\Content\Reputation and settings.reputation_enabled}}
	<div class='ipsSpacer_top ipsSpacer_half ipsType_center'>
		{template="reputationMini" app="core" group="global" params="$row"}
	</div>
{{endif}}

And that's it - nothing else required.

Which record template did you put it in? I tried in the recordRow template but it's only giving the option to like on the first one:

Incase anyone having problems (i've helped 2 already) - If the xml upload doesn't work right.. do the following
Click Pages, Click Templates, Click New (drop down)

Yes and thank you so much for your assistance. I'm almost all done now. Just need to get the like working and all set.

[chilihead]

There was stuff in the Feature Plan like Content Highlights, Physical Products Marketplace, etc. that I was following.This is not in the Release Notes Coming Soon section. Was a lot of this canned? Or are you going to list in somewhere? It was helpful, and exciting to see what is planned even if it's in the distant future. I liked being able to click on them and read the descriptions as well. 

[Charles]

The coming soon section is shown to be things truly coming soon as in a month or so. We thought that way more useful for your planning than things that could be way off in the future.

[chilihead]

Yeah even if far off it's good to see awesome stuff is coming. Shows just how good v4 is going to be in the future. Also lets us know it is coming so we don't have to suggest, but some may make suggestions for it that could help.

There was some good stuff there. Was just waiting patiently, figured some of it was a year or so away but was nice to see, and the ladder system was great. Oh well.

Maybe add a new category, but to the bottom slot of the current one; Planing/Early Development.

[NoGi]

Does anyone running their own Feature Plan have a fix for this error which started with the 4.1.x upgrades?

[rgf100]

On 6/25/2015, 5:56:12, Charles said:

The coming soon section is shown to be things truly coming soon as in a month or so. We thought that way more useful for your planning than things that could be way off in the future.

Tell us both. If you know something's coming, tell us. If it's a month, or three months, or you don't know how long away, tell us that too. If dates are subject to change, fine. Currently we have a situation where people are missing 3.4 functionality and nobody knows if they should give up on it, pay for a mod, or wait for it to be reinstated. We also need a list of functions that are gone and aren't coming back. 

Here's an example. That was being "looked into" in March. There was no further info given in that topic. There's no list of new / reinstated features to come, and there's no list of deprecated features to give up on. There's now an $8 dollar mod. Say you run a 3.4 forum which relies on that feature. What do you do? Wait for it to maybe turn up in 4.1.5, 4.2, 4.3? Pay for the mod and then see the feature come back and risk compatibility issues, or risk the developer going AWOL and the mod breaking with a later upgrade?

[opentype]

12 hours ago, NoGi said:

Does anyone running their own Feature Plan have a fix for this error which started with the 4.1.x upgrades?

The fix is described in the error message. You need to revert that template, either the way it is described the in the error message, or you just find that specific template in the theme template editor and click “Revert”. 

[h-y-b-r-i-d]

On 25/06/2015, 17:56:12, Charles said:

The coming soon section is shown to be things truly coming soon as in a month or so. We thought that way more useful for your planning than things that could be way off in the future.

Where might one find this coming soon section please?

[Meddysong]

15 hours ago, DealTrakr said:

Where might one find this coming soon section please?

Nowhere. The Feature Plan is no longer in use and has been consolidated within Release Notes, which only speaks about imminent releases rather than plans for further into the future.

[h-y-b-r-i-d]

It was actually a loaded question. The coming soon section was an area at the top of the release notes. Seems we have lost that now as well as the feature plan. Going backwards again. Meh.

[Meddysong]

Gah - you're right, of course! I was thinking of the different fields ("Up Next" etc) of the Feature Plan and thinking the question was about that.

[Shariq Ansari]

On 11/12/2015, 7:20:56, rgf100 said:

Tell us both. If you know something's coming, tell us. If it's a month, or three months, or you don't know how long away, tell us that too. If dates are subject to change, fine. Currently we have a situation where people are missing 3.4 functionality and nobody knows if they should give up on it, pay for a mod, or wait for it to be reinstated. We also need a list of functions that are gone and aren't coming back. 

Here's an example. That was being "looked into" in March. There was no further info given in that topic. There's no list of new / reinstated features to come, and there's no list of deprecated features to give up on. There's now an $8 dollar mod. Say you run a 3.4 forum which relies on that feature. What do you do? Wait for it to maybe turn up in 4.1.5, 4.2, 4.3? Pay for the mod and then see the feature come back and risk compatibility issues, or risk the developer going AWOL and the mod breaking with a later upgrade?

Quoting this whole post for emphasis. Agree 110%.

@Charles - release notes are great, but having something that reflects the status of things that have been confirmed as being worked on, with targets, is of great benefit, as is having a longer-term general understanding of the gameplan.

[CheersnGears]

On 11/12/2015, 7:20:56, rgf100 said:

Tell us both. If you know something's coming, tell us. If it's a month, or three months, or you don't know how long away, tell us that too. If dates are subject to change, fine. Currently we have a situation where people are missing 3.4 functionality and nobody knows if they should give up on it, pay for a mod, or wait for it to be reinstated. We also need a list of functions that are gone and aren't coming back. 

Here's an example. That was being "looked into" in March. There was no further info given in that topic. There's no list of new / reinstated features to come, and there's no list of deprecated features to give up on. There's now an $8 dollar mod. Say you run a 3.4 forum which relies on that feature. What do you do? Wait for it to maybe turn up in 4.1.5, 4.2, 4.3? Pay for the mod and then see the feature come back and risk compatibility issues, or risk the developer going AWOL and the mod breaking with a later upgrade?

Excellent points all around. 

[Square Wheels]

Sadly, they have taken this page down.  I really liked it, it gave us a sense of where things were going.  I remember one item that talked about a site moderation type of system where votes / reports would help moderate a site.  There were some really great features, I can't remember them, but now we're relegated to posting suggestions, that are often ignored.

Please consider bringing this back:  http://community.invisionpower.com/4featureplan/

[Tom S.]

On 25/06/2015, 17:56:12, Charles said:

The coming soon section is shown to be things truly coming soon as in a month or so. We thought that way more useful for your planning than things that could be way off in the future.

You say this like having both is not possible. Why? Vague information is better than no information. Have the 'coming soon' section AND have your plans for the long term. However, if for example, the real reason is you simply don't want to share your future plans or you don't want to spend the time to manage such a feature, I would understand that and accept it as your decision. But with regards to the reasoning you are currently giving, I don't see it as valid. You make it sound like you could do it, but we as customers wouldn't like it, which as you can see by the comments in this topic is not the case.

[chilihead]

Okay. Feature Plan is gone, and now Coming Soon is gone. 

[Lindy]

We know you guys liked the feature plan -- and we felt it was neat too; it's not something others really do. We need to regroup on it, however. If you look at the 4.1 release notes, you'll find much of the coming soon was completed -- other items were pushed back, but some items that were planned further out were pushed up and rolled into 4.1. 

I know I say this so much it becomes a broken record, but IPS4 wasn't just a rewrite - it was a complete rethink and reshape of how we approach communities. Admittedly, it was a bold and risky move; but we're happy we did so and the plan is materializing quite nicely. It is not, however, without disadvantage. Priorities are ever-changing... what we planned on next year, we've already done. As a result, other things we were planning on "soon" are pushed back until next year. Additionally, there's a few things we've re-evaluated and determined they will take more time, but can be done better or an opportunity we can use to incorporate multiple suggestions. 

There's also the point that here at IPS, anything you say can and will be used against you. We said we anticipated a release of IPS4.1 in October. A holdback to push through more bugs and updates held the release until November. We weren't even through October before the "you said October, lying evil jerks!" topics came up. The roadmap led to a barrage of support tickets and topics consisting of "will this be in 4.1 or 4.2? what will it do? should I buy a third party app or wait?" We want to involve our client base in the software production as much as possible -- it's fun, it gives you an opportunity to be a part of it and often, our ideas evolve based on that participation. At the same time, we discovered simply sharing our plans wasn't sufficient for many. We can't spend our day fielding "this should be 'coming soon' - this is critical for our community!", "are we talking 1 month, 3 months, 6 months???", "why would you even have that on there when there's so many other things to do?", "when you do this, could you do ... that?" Sometimes, there really is such a thing as too much information and too much discussion. Beyond the element of surprise and wow factor, curbing competitors garnering too much information, etc... sometimes it's just an outright distraction to open the curtains to the inside too much in a commercial environment. 

With that said - don't worry. We intend to do far more frequent blog entries to detail our plans and I'm quite sure we can come up with something for the "coming soon" section. Again, it just became somewhat irrelevant with 4.1 and we've not had an opportunity to revisit it. The rest of this year is going to be spent on performance, stability, third party improvements, etc. and we'll hit the ground running with more "cool stuff" in early '16. 

I was making a habit of trying to go through as many topics as possible with more information as it becomes available. I've been a bit distracted personally, but will make an effort to try and do more of that.