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Web-tech Todo for reboot.stlimc.org

Requested features for this website:

web-based contact/question form send notification to arbitrary email upon each submission

Q's -- on handling the e-Lists:


* Addresses used by IMC-StL are confidential, so only a few known people can be authorized to access and edit the lists on those grounds. For later, a 'Coordinating Secretary' would be responsible for this, with designated others allowed... For now, you, me, & who?...

* There will be several lists for IMC info & bizness, with some overlap in addresses, so those on-line files shouild should be set up for this. Suggesting this breakdown:

__Listserv - as is, voluntary subscribers for info & discussion, quasi-public forum.
__Crew - 'Re-Boot' list morphs into the active working group with new volunteers, for internal biz; ad hoc sub-lists for Editorial, Tech, & Co-Ops teams draw from this master list.
__OutCorr - orgs & media allies, from correspondence &/or targeted for outreach, a transient list... some addresses will shift to active stakeholders below, others are eventually archived.
__PubOrgs - advocacy groups & agencies, public-interest issues...
__MediaConnex - cooperating news sources & media contacts...
__IndyReporters - pool of contributing writers, videographers, etc...
__[others?...]*
The nitty gritty...

  • Fix image insertion problem with IMCE and TinyMCE
  • Add the bottom nav bar (need new theme?)
    Theme newsflash supports this. Goto: http://reboot.stlimc.org/admin/build/block
  • Add a links section similar to archive.stimc.org. This conflicts with current usage of weblinks module for "otherpress" content type, since you can't define multiple instances of the weblink content type.
  • Add cron-job to delete unused free-tagging tax terms so they don't appear in drop-down box on content submission forms. More info: http://agaricdesign.com/note/delete-unused-taxonomy-terms-from-free-tagging-vocabulary
  • Fix problems getting list of topics from views module. Has this been fixed?
  • Problem with IMCE image insertion not working under IE.
  • Serious problem with line ending conversion.!! (Under filtered HTML)
  • Opening up the banner logo image.
  • Problem with attaching RTF file to page (currently limited to image formats).
    This was fixed here: http://reboot.stlimc.org/admin/settings/uploads
  • User ratings system on comments (i.e. community moderation).
  • Add support for more image formats (PICT, TIFF).
  • Means for shared image folders.
  • Support for bulk uploads to drupal (e.g. batches of images, reference docs, and other miscellany).
  • *** Add events calendar to front-page. ***
  • More info about donation page. Who is fiscal agent? Setup paypal account, but don't quite have tax exempt status yet. Designate treasurer? Definite clearly what possible
    - media digitization expenses (i.e. transcribing from analog)
    - server costs
    - potential office rental
  • Member sign-up/opt-in form online.
  • Build out "Related Story" sidebar.
  • Button on website for media watch (i.e. "you saw some crap on MSM, report it here!")
  • Background of TinyMCE textbox is same as page background on Newsflash theme (dark blue). (Fixed by having TinyMCE use its own theme instead of druapl's.)
  • Have search function directed over HTTPS?
  • Use content_filter module to alert users to problems with form submission, e.g. separating free-tagging terms with spaces instead of commas
  • Increase default font size in TinyMCE. Too small.
  • Fix line-break problem with TinyMCE so it is compatible wiith standard Text/Filtered HTML input format. (Fixed by disabling linebreak removal in admin->settings->tinyMCE)
  • Add a filter to intelligently strip out line line breaks breaks but preserve paragraph breaks.
  • Use the taxonomy_defaults.module and not allow anyone other than admins access to the vocabulary that includes 'newswire'.
  • Form Filter: removes unwanted things from forms without hacking code
  • restore ability to attach files
  • fix forms that that pressing enter key submits (don't have to scroll all the way down)
  • Provide secure (non-public) space for users (esp. editors) to upload files
  • Problem with uploading movies whose filename extension is ALL CAPS
  • editors can't edit pages with no subject tag attached to it
  • allow OpenID logins
  • allow searching only by article type, no keywords
  • enable trackback module to permit linkbacks
  • cached version of main page (and tracker module output) doesn't update regularly (e.g. when new article/comment submitted).  Either fix the caching so that relevant pages are updated upon each submission, or add a blurb to be displayed after submitting that content won't appear immediately.
  • hidden nodes were still showing up in views, e.g. the newswire blocks on the front page (fixed by updating hidden module editing newswire views to exclude hidden nodes
  • encourage video posters (anonymous or otherwise) to submit to Internet Arcive (archive.org). More info:
    You want to use the "Embedded Media Field" module with the Internet Archive extension: http://drupal.org/node/288193 This is a 2-step process for the user: 1. Put the video on archive.org. 2. Create an article on Indymedia, and paste the archive.org page address in the appropriate place on the form. The module takes care of embedding a flash player, linking back to the archive.org page, and including any mp4 (uploaded or generated in archive.org) in a feed.

  • encourage posters seeking strict anonymity to use Tor (http://www.torproject.org/index.html.en) for all their surfing needs.
  • concern about users being tracked when they view Google/Youtube/Myspace embedded video player.  Options:
    the best thing we could figure (tho didn't have a chance to implement it) was to tweak the Drupal theme so that the embedded player would NOT be displayed in the page unless the user, anonymous or otherwise, clicked thru some sort of warning button that explicitly informed them of the logging problem. Or, you could tweak whatever module to tunnel the flash player thru a proxy.
ALso, here is info about migrating the old dadaIMC site to an archive form.