I Feel a Lot Better Now

I feel a lot better now as I managed to have a long conversation with Mark one of the technical people who manage Plone at Ultralab.

It was so great to talk to someone who understood what I was saying and to find that some of the issues I had identified - especially CSS which is something I am interested in right now - he was interested in too.

And far from barking up the wrong tree, this and some of the other issues I raised are issues he has on his long list to look into when he can free up some time from everyday management of the system. Got to manage this system must be a nightmare, especially with all those different personalities using the system - I don't envy him!!

I felt for the first time that I was not from Mars as far as my attempts to talk about technicalities on the boards to someone.

It is not that I can not learn from the others as I certainly can and their coming fresh as it were to this system has meant that they have had fewer preconceived ideas of how things 'should' work and have learnt a lot of things quicker than I have - Kat for instance is a great source of simple instructions on how to do things - I think she should write the FAQs for users of Plone that I keep on about.
And Rob has been very intuitive and testing of his exploration of what is possible within Plone using HTML tags.

It is more that the language I use to describe things from my web design, technology background is not always understood by others and I just can not seem to find the words to put it more simply .

This is something I am going to HAVE to work on as very few reply to me when I try to have a dialogue about what is possible or answer a question and try to help someone!!
I think I just lose them and this makes me feel isolated!

Well at least knowing I have some one I can talk to in Mark who understands the technical language I use has freed me up emotionally to start looking at the work

Which is a good sign

I started some work the other day but an feeling I can not continue until I get some feedback as it whether I am on the right lines from Alison

But I am sure I will be able to do more work in time!

Why, Why, Why

A list of today's Plone frustrations

1. 1. Why did none of the links on the main Cohort 5 main page work for most of yesterday? - yet there was no warning or explanation? I knew it had to be the Plone end but a new users might be confused and think it was something they did - and this could be very stressful! - well I lie it was stressful for me too! All the links on the images at the top did not not work and those on the to do list for all of Saturday until this morning - when someone must of fixed them? Yet there was no message to say that this had happened. All links consistently - on 3 separate computers I tried - returned an error saying it could not be displayed, or you had no permission or some such thing and I had to get to the discussions and modules using an obscure text link 'main page' half way down the C5 home page - but when I had just about had enough and was ready to email someone about it - all now works, but with no 'sorry' and explanatory message! It is almost more frustrating to find it now works before you can do anything about than it not work at all!!!
2. Why have an HTML capable editor for pages you compose online within Plone like KCKeditor or Kupu - I tried both- If none of the formatting or even the colours actually display on the page when you actually publish it? Therefore forcing you to use CSS if you want any control over the formatting at all -WHY THEREFORE GIVE YOU A TOOL TO FORMAT HTML WHICH YOU THEN SPEND HOURS USING , IF IT WAS ONLY A WASTE OF YOU TIME AND IT WOULD HAVE WORKED BETTER IF YOU HAD JUST USED THE DEFAULT WITH A COUPLE OF H1 AND H2 TAGS FOR THE CSS TO WORK WITH. THIS SILLINESS WASTED ABOUT 2 HOURS OF MY PRECIOUS TIME YESTERDAY?
3. Why if there is a character/word limit for comments on the discussion boards why does it not SAY SO? And of more importance, in terms of frustration level - why if to use over the word limit it actually BREAKS the board, does it 'ALLOW' you to post your comment at all? In all other systems I have used if you go over the word limit ( which is usually MUCH bigger than it is on these Plone boards) either you are returned to the compose form with your comment un-posted and a note to say that to post it you will have to cut down the number of words or characters or you get a pop up or alert box saying the same AND you do not lose what you have just spent time writing - none of this makes sense to me as surely an alert box or something could be written into an open source system when you type too many characters in a given area or on a given form, or some effective warning devised??
4. Why is the character/word limit set so low in the first place? We are supposed to be an online community, how can this really develop if everything we want to say has to be crammed into short bursts of 'text like messages - I do not like text messaging format anyway and certainly not as my main way of communicating with other students and lecturers/tutors on a course that is so important to me as a person.
5. Why are there no Plone user FAQs, or help sheets? - not just the tips written by some tutors on single aspects of using the system such as how to set up a message board - but a fully comprehensive reference.? There is the tech area discussion board but the word allowance does not allow an explanation of complex tasks and no answers can be referenced easily with its own URL. Even on the free 'ProBoards' I use there is a FAQs and a forum which can be referenced and cross referenced and users can post images to explain how to do something on the board itself.

I have been so frustrated!

It seems like all I do so far is moan! Well yes why not but I do also have a point, it is frustrating - it is not complaint for complaints sake - Anyway I see this as a place I can offload - I wonder if the Ultralab system has ever been beta tested for user friendliness by testers who use content management all the time?

Perhaps because I have done so much beta testing ( beta testing for Microsoft for my sins and tested windows XP and have been involved in beta user testing Linux stuff, so I am very picky and know the basics of what I expect)

It is not that it is not possible to get used to the Ultralab Plone as it is. I am beginning to ajust and learn what I can and can not do - but just that as a user it could be made better by the adding of a few user warnings/alert boxes etc, much more user information specific to the tasks you are trying to do and a comprehensive onlineFAQs or searchable user database or help.

Nasty Pink Legs

I have just realized that I have chosen the same Blogger template as Margaret:

Margaret is a researcher from Cohort 4.

It has taken me most of the day to work out that she was from Cohort 4 and not Cohort 5 like me and I was really puzzled at how she had been able to organize her space so well in just a week or two!

But I have now finally worked out that she has been on the course a year at least and the reason I thought she was from C5 was because she was friendly and welcomed us in the C5 discussion areas.

See Margarets Blog here: http://margaretbute.blogspot.com/

Anyway I hope no one thought I was copying her - sorry Margaret - but I used this template as I liked it and had used it before when I wanted to display my weird 'Pink Legs' digital art work, as the colours by co-incidence exactly matched the image and this saved me the job of writing a web page for it.

Pink Legs is a weird piece. It was constructed from digital photographs of my own legs shortly after I cam eout of the horrible frame after my accident. Its purpose was to reclaim my legs as a part of my body I loved, even though they were scared by the accident.

It was part of clawing back from the negative body image I had after the accident resulting from, as well as the scaring, putting on so much weight due to being unable to walk far or exercise.

So I made this image and it was pink for the same reasons as breast cancer awareness uses pink - because pink is a colour symbolically tied up with women's body image and appearance as well as feminist issues.

And I think this pink used for this blog template and my image is a particularly lovely kind of pink - Fushia - not a weak pink, but a pink that means strength.

And I am going to need strength to get through this course
Its been a steep learning curve already :-D

I have distroyed two boards now!

I seem to have scuppered the system yet again apparently by exceeding the character number allowed on any one comment!
Yet nowhere have I found any warning that only a certain amount of characters are allowed in any one comment??
There are warnings about using plain text only - but it does not say you will break the system if you go over a certain length! – or I can not find this information?

Maybe it is not expected that any user would want to post as many words as me - but I am a profuse writer and anyway could not think of a way of explaining my questions with more brevity.
However one of my points was that I would not need to ask the question I had or any of the many other questions I have if I knew where there was a reference/manual/FAQ about Plone for users of Plone?
If I had one to read I would not need to ask such long questions or perhaps any questions at all.
I am a qualified web designer/technician but I am getting frustrated at having to stumble around a system I don’t know like a blind rabbit and having to learn by stumbling into something hurting myself and then noting where it is and what it does ;-)
This is not how I like to learn at all so although my Vark learning styles test said I was a multi learner and more on the visual side I guess it got it wrong - because I defiantly here want to read the instructions first!!!!

take care
veriteeXX

CSS Mysteries or Miseries

When editing my main content panel - the only one I have done so far - on the 'Edit ContentPanels' page it gives the option to use Cascading Style Sheets if you understand CSS.
I understand CSS as I use it all the time in my web design work and I am sure I can work out how to change the default font on the content panel etc ( although I would like to know without trying to de construct the source what tag has been used to define the 'Description' of each panel that appears at the tip of each panel under the heading?

However what I most want to do it change the style of the panel headings!
As currently I am mostly using the built in template 'rounded' but I do not like the colour, which is blue - I would like to change these 'rounded' titles to a different colour.

Can this be done with CSS and if so what is the name of the tag has been used to define the panel titles shape and colour? ( as it must be a custom tag and I can not as yet work out what it is from the source as it refers to a pre-defined template stored elsewhere on the server) Or do I have to write a new CSS template – if so where do I post it – do I post it on the server or do I post the code for it on the edit content panels page? When positing CSS in the input box provided do I have to use the ‘style’ tag to enclose the CSS – or if you enter CSS in that box without the 'style' etc will it know that it is CSS

Can anyone help me on this? - I am happy usually to work things out myself but feel the need for a proper help section on these sorts of aspects of plone which I have looked for but can not seem to find ....
Am I missing it somehow as the only explanations I have found on how to do things so far are from the odd tips in here or in specific areas - i.e. in the content panel properties pop up window, it says at the top that you can use this window to change what the panel displays but there is no proper help/manual/reference available that I can find?
I have extensive internet experience of many different systems but not this one - and the way I like to work is to have a proper online 'manual' reference or help section about the technology and work it out from there so I can make it do what I want it to do given the limits of the technology and any permissions granted to me ( i.e the extent of which my status within the system allows me to alter and adjust things)

This way I feel I am working blind - for instance how can I use the technology to the full if I do not even have a basic reference/ manual/software explanation/help section that tells me what the software is capable off?
i.e I am asking you what CSS tags to use to redefine content panel headings design and yet I do not even know if this is even possible !!!!
I find this very frustrating, as this is not at all how I am used to working.

Is it me - have I just not found the manual or help for users of Plone? Or am I somehow failing to get my head round how this specific system/technology works and it is quite obvious how to get the answers I need apart form having to write a long request here rather than just search a manual or help database to find the answers for yourself?

Sorry to be a pain - but I think I am finding it harder because I write web sites all the time and know the programs I use inside out and I am not used to not knowing - so because I do not understand fully this system and can find no obvious reference to learn it - i am getting frustrated that at this early stage I can not have my area looking as I would want it. I agree it is a learning experience for me and challenging, but I would hope not to have to guess and try things out so much to learn – I find this a time waster of time I do not have .

Thank you

Veritee

Rave Against The Machine

Over the past 24 hours I have had so many issues with the way Plone works and how it loses my images etc and my comments in the technical and general discussion board if I dare to go over a number of words/characters when no one has indicated that there is a limit to the size or your comments.

I could find no FAQs, no help, no reference to answer my questions - I was right fed up :-O

But when I decided I'd had enough and posted my questions into the technical discussion area IT LOST THEM TOO!!! Because my questions were too long so it mucked up the board altogether and cut one of my posts and lot the others completely and until a tecky fixes it, no one can post there.

So for the record I will be posting my raves/questions about how to use Plone below

And hoping someone comes up with an online FAQ for it!!

Well I have to start somewhere!!

This is my first entry in my learning journal for my BA (Hons) degree in Learning, Technology and Research.








I do apologize for this horrible picture of me but it is all I have on my hard disk that was taken recently

I am very excited about doing the degree but I do not so far like the Plone software very much at all.
I have spent what little free time I have this week exploring the Ultraversity environment and the way Plone works and have become completely irritated by it !

Just now it seems to have lost all my images I have posted , I can not see what I have done to cause this , they were all uploaded and working fine my images folder on the Ultraversity site - then without warning when I went back an hour later they were represented by little Xs and did not work at all!!

I have been working with computers and on the web, uploading images all the time for nearly 10 years now - I JUST DON'T GET IT!!!
I am simply not used to either not already knowing a technology or being able to grasp it straight away!


I will expand on this later as I have truly had enough for now !
I will post some of my ravings about Plone very soon.

They make me laugh anyway! ;-)