UBIQUITY. Livecd and the forums. We need your help.

[sffvba[e0rt]

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/ubiquity-slideshow-ubuntu/+bug/894112

Please click affects me if you think this bug needs heat, this is preferable. Or leave a comment.
A comment creates noise which is not preferable . But a comment that has a suggestion is very welcome.
Also see this.

http://ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php?p=11483282&postcount=17



https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/ubiquity-slideshow-ubuntu/+bug/894112

Just a little heads up that the forum needs your help for the up and coming release...

Edit bodhi.zazen - please click "This bug affects me" as suggested by castrojo

404

[castrojo]

Please don't leave a comment, that just creates noise, selecting "This bug affects me" is preferred.

[nothingspecial]

I would say that this bug affects anyone who has ever received help on the forums along with any new user of Ubuntu.

[Bodsda]

I've sent a message to the Ubuntu-UK mailing list to spread the word a bit

Bodsda

[Elfy]

Thanks bodsda :)

Just seen it,

[Dry Lips]

This bug certainly affects me! :D

[Bodsda]

Looking through the package contents, there is already a support slide


<div class="header"><h1 class="slidetitle">Any questions?</h1></div>
<div class="main wide">
<div class="text">

<div>
<p>Check out <a href="http://askubuntu.com/">Ask Ubuntu</a>, the best place to get an answer about Ubuntu. With most questions already answered, and thousands of people ready to help, you’ll be sorted in no time at all. And if you need an answer on a deadline, you can get commercial support and more at <a href="http://www.ubuntu.com/support">ubuntu.com/support</a>.</p>
</div>

</div>
<img class="background" src="screenshots/welcome.jpg" />

<div class="twitter-stream" data-twitter-query="#ubuntu">
<div class="twitter-stream-header twitter-post-status-link">
<h2 class="title">Let’s talk Ubuntu</h2>
<div class="l10n-string twitter-post-status-text">I'm installing #Ubuntu</div>
<img class="logo" src="link/twitter-logo-16.png" />
</div>
<div class="twitter-stream-tweets"></div>
</div>

</div>
Would we be asking for an additional slide or a change to this slide?

Bodsda

[Elfy]

as well as I would think :)

[Bodsda]

Me and HTML don't get on very well, but I'll pick it apart tonight and see if I can come up with a new slide.

[nothingspecial]

That would be awesome :)

[winh8r]

Perhaps one of the reasons this has never been done before is this:


Ask Ubuntu has received help from Canonical Ltd, which has allowed the site to use their trademark. Canonical Ltd has also helped in the designing of the site, ensuring that Ask Ubuntu's theme follows the Ubuntu brand guidelines. [source:wikipedia]

Whilst I have no problem with AskUbuntu, I do feel that it has a very "abrupt" nature to it and does not encourage any sense of community around using Ubuntu. That is why I wholeheartedly support the inclusion of the Ubuntu Forum in the slideshow from 12.04 onwards.

Other possibilities that have crossed my mind, a "Ubuntu Forum" entry in the search box on the toolbar in Firefox.

A "Further Help" icon on the desktop of the Live CD.


An inclusion of the Ubuntu Forum URL on "error screens" before and during the boot process.

We are not trying to compete with Ask Ubuntu , merely trying to provide much needed help and support to new users of Ubuntu in general.

As I said in the original thread by philinux, there is a slide describing the benefits of Ubuntu-One in the slide show, and I am fairly certain that more people use this forum than use Ubuntu-One in the first stages of their move to Ubuntu.

[Jay Car]

Whilst I have no problem with AskUbuntu, I do feel that it has a very "abrupt" nature to it and does not encourage any sense of community around using Ubuntu.

winh8r, I think you've described the difference between AskUbuntu and Ubuntu Forums perfectly. I left a comment trying to say the same thing and couldn't find the right words. (Yes, I'm afraid I did what castrojo said not to do, leaving a comment and adding to the noise.)

Visiting AskUbuntu is useful in its own way, but it has no heart. Ubuntu Forums has heart and personality and humour and variety and Humanity...lots and lots of it. Humanity is what Ubuntu is all about, right?

The Ubuntu +1 forum is a particularly valuable gem for learning, and for encouraging others (like me).

I hate to admit it, but I fall squarely into that much maligned catagory called "normal users" (aka: "grandma" in my case), and yet, because of the incredible amount of information and help here, I've been able to test 12.04 from early alpha. I am not much help here (yet), but over the last several months I've learned how to report a bug (it was a very small one, and a duplicate, but I got through the process!). Yay! :)

I've also worked my way through the Unity testing process a few times and submitted the results. Small beginnings for sure, but maybe these things helped a little.

I've kept this current installation of Precise going since December and it's fast and stable right now.

None of those things are big deals, I know. But they are things I'd never done before, so I'm rather proud of them.

I'm thinkin' some of the regulars here on +1 might smile at these small accomplishments, but over on AskUbuntu no one would smile because they only need to care about answers not the people who ask the questions.

And that's's the difference.

OK, that's enough noise from me. I DO try not to make a lot of noise around here, I'm afraid it's just an unintended side-effect of being me.

:)

[Dry Lips]

My personal testimony:

When I need help with something, my gut reaction is to try to find a suitable forum where I can get help. When I was a new Ubuntu user I had problems with enabling my wireless connection, and I went here for help. If it hadn't been able to have my problem sorted out here, I wouldn't have used Ubuntu (or linux) today. Ask Ubuntu? I'd never heard about them. I didn't google "Ask Ubuntu" but "Ubuntu forum(s)".

I mean, there is a reason why this forum has 1,5 million members. There are many nations that has fewer inhabitants than that. Ignoring this forum is a terrible mistake.

(And yes, we're still eagerly waiting for the new branding of this forum.)

[philinux]

Please don't leave a comment, that just creates noise, selecting "This bug affects me" is preferred.

Post in ubuntu+1 amended as requested.

[Bodsda]

Alright guys, let me know what you think of this.

http://ubuntuforums.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=213814&stc=1&d=1331068712
http://ubuntuforums.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=213814&d=1331068709EDIT: I know about the spelling and grammar mistakes, please don't mention them, it's been a long day :).
EDIT2: I'll post instructions on how to mess around with this yourself in a bit.
EDIT3: Ensure the word 'this' is between "with" and "yourself"
http://ubuntuforums.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=213814&stc=1&d=1331068712

[nothingspecial]

At the risk of repeating myself.... awesome.

[lovinglinux]

i would say that this bug affects anyone who has ever received help on the forums along with any new user of ubuntu.

I agree with you. BTW, this issue is also present on 11.10.

[Bodsda]

Here's the instructions.

First off, we need to get the source files and make a backup


mkdir ~/ubiquity_slideshow
cd ~/ubiquity_slideshow
apt-get source ubiquity-slideshow-ubuntu
cp -r ubiquity-slideshow-ubuntu-53/ ubiquity-slideshow-ubuntu-53.orig
Next, lets create a clone of a slide so that we are not making direct changes to anyone else's work.


cd ubiquity-slideshow-ubuntu-53/slideshows/ubuntu/slides/
cp mobilise.html forums.html
Now, we need to edit the main index.html file to tell it that there is another slide to play. Open the file index.html in your preferred editor. Add the following line anywhere in the div id="slideshow" block (Note: The position in this list directly affects the order in which the slides are displayed)


<div><a href="forums.html"></a></div>
Your file should now look something like this


<!DOCTYPE html>

<html lang="en">

<head>
<title>ubiquity-slideshow-ubuntu</title>

<link href="link/base.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" />

<base target="_blank" />

<script type="text/javascript" src="link-core/jquery.js"></script>
<script type="text/javascript" src="link-core/jquery.cycle.all.js"></script>

<script type="text/javascript" src="link-core/base.js"></script>

<script type="text/javascript" src="directory.js"></script>
<script type="text/javascript">
SLIDESHOW_OPTIONS = {
timeout:50000,
speed:600,
}
</script>

<script type="text/javascript" src="link/twitter.js"></script>

<script type="text/javascript" src="link-core/slideshow.js"></script>
</head>

<body>

<div id="wrapper">
<div id="slideshow">
<div><a href="welcome.html"></a></div>
<div><a href="usc.html"></a></div>
<div><a href="photos.html"></a></div>
<div><a href="mobilise.html"></a></div>
<div><a href="music.html"></a></div>
<div><a href="social.html"></a></div>
<div><a href="browse.html"></a></div>
<div><a href="office.html"></a></div>
<div><a href="forums.html"></a></div>
<div><a href="accessibility.html"></a></div>
<div><a href="gethelp.html"></a></div>
</div>

<div id="controls">
<a class="control-arrow" id="prev-slide" style="display:none;"></a>
<a class="control-arrow" id="next-slide"></a>
<input type="hidden" id="current-slide" />
</div>
</div>

</body>

</html>
The next step is to add our screenshot. So:


Take a snap of anything you like
Load up gimp
Create a new image the same size as your desktop resolution
Paste your image
Go to the 'Image' menu and select 'Scale Image...'
In the Height/Width section change the dropdown to 'Percent'
Change 'Width' to 60%
Click 'Scale'
Go to the 'File' menu and select 'New'
Use the size 448 x 304
Paste your screenshot into the new image window (Note: This will effectively crop the image to an exact size)
Go to the 'File' menu and select 'Save as' > '~/ubiquity_slideshow/ubiquity-slideshow-ubuntu-53/slideshows/ubuntu/slides/screenshots/forums.jpeg'
Close Gimp



Now we just need to edit our slide to change the text and use our new screenshot. This bit is nice and simple. Go ahead and open up the forums.html file. Edit the text within the h1 tags on line1 to change the headline. Edit the text within the p tags on line 8 to change the side text. Finally edit the src attribute of the img tag to point to the correct screenshot file "screenshots/forums.jpeg"


Last of all, we need to change directory and run the test script. The test script will give a pop up message for you to select your distro. After selecting ubuntu (because that's where we made the changes), use the arrows to find your slide! :)


cd ../../../
./test-slideshow.sh

Bodsda

[winh8r]

Me and HTML don't get on very well, but I'll pick it apart tonight and see if I can come up with a new slide.

Well, you have done a great job with this!

Brings it another step closer to reality..........

Great work , thanks

[Bodsda]

Ok, only thing we need now is to agree on the title and side text. After that, and as long as everyone is happy with the screenshot, then I can submit the files on the bug report and contact the maintainer.

Anyone got any suggestions?

Bodsda

Edit: Email sent to the maintainers

[MG&TL]

Well done, bodsda!

Two comments:

-why not make a patch/branch merge-they seem to like that, it saves them effort. EDIT: one step ahead, as always.

-I think a whole slide may be a little excessive, not to demean your work. Maybe just have all the support venues on one slide? Do the L/X/K ones need that fixing too?

[Bodsda]

Well done, bodsda!

Two comments:

-why not make a patch/branch merge-they seem to like that, it saves them effort. EDIT: one step ahead, as always.

-I think a whole slide may be a little excessive, not to demean your work. Maybe just have all the support venues on one slide? Do the L/X/K ones need that fixing too?

1st comment: I thought about this, but don't know enough about bzr/launchpad and I don't know how to make a directory structure diff that would allow using patch to apply it. The changes are small, they should just need to extract a tarball over the source directory and re-upload - If you know how to do any of that, it would be helpful?

2nd comment: I refer you to piskies post on page 1 recommending it be an additional slide. And yes, they will all need to be done.

Thanks :),
Bodsda

[winh8r]

Just an idea for the sort of thing in the side panel, not exactly world class but it may help with the ideas:




For additional help and support with Ubuntu, visit the Ubuntu Forum, this is a free community run by and for Ubuntu users all around the world. You can register and become a member in order to ask specific questions or get help on any topic connected with Ubuntu, or simply browse the forum and view answers and solutions provided by other users. The Ubuntu Forum is used by many people,from absolute beginners to experienced professionals and all are welcome! You can find us at www.ubuntuforum.org


Hope this helps in some way

[MG&TL]

1st comment: I thought about this, but don't know enough about bzr/launchpad and I don't know how to make a directory structure diff that would allow using patch to apply it. The changes are small, they should just need to extract a tarball over the source directory and re-upload - If you know how to do any of that, it would be helpful?


I'll give it a go. I'll PM you my email and you can email me a tarball.

EDIT: Done, bodsda is just turning the Ubuntu wheels

[bodhi.zazen]

Looking through the package contents, there is already a support slide


<div class="header"><h1 class="slidetitle">Any questions?</h1></div>
<div class="main wide">
<div class="text">

<div>
<p>Check out <a href="http://askubuntu.com/">Ask Ubuntu</a>, the best place to get an answer about Ubuntu. With most questions already answered, and thousands of people ready to help, you’ll be sorted in no time at all. And if you need an answer on a deadline, you can get commercial support and more at <a href="http://www.ubuntu.com/support">ubuntu.com/support</a>.</p>
</div>

</div>
<img class="background" src="screenshots/welcome.jpg" />

<div class="twitter-stream" data-twitter-query="#ubuntu">
<div class="twitter-stream-header twitter-post-status-link">
<h2 class="title">Let’s talk Ubuntu</h2>
<div class="l10n-string twitter-post-status-text">I'm installing #Ubuntu</div>
<img class="logo" src="link/twitter-logo-16.png" />
</div>
<div class="twitter-stream-tweets"></div>
</div>

</div>
Would we be asking for an additional slide or a change to this slide?

Bodsda

I have discussed the issue on IRC, it has been suggested to post an updated block of code on the LP bug.

I will ask the FC to review and post an updated block of code on LP

[Bodsda]

I have discussed the issue on IRC, it has been suggested to post an updated block of code on the LP bug.

I will ask the FC to review and post an updated block of code on LP

I've also contacted the maintainers of the package to see if they would be happy with any changes.

It's worth mentioning again that it's not just a .html file, you'll need several, plus changes to an index.html and the scaled, cropped screenshot.

Bodsda

[bodhi.zazen]

I've also contacted the maintainers of the package to see if they would be happy with any changes.

It's worth mentioning again that it's not just a .html file, you'll need several, plus changes to an index.html and the scaled, cropped screenshot.

Bodsda

I think the question now is , how much (or little) work do you want to do on this ? There are many who can do the work, we do not want to steal your thunder.

Img - screenshot of the forums ?

If you have taken this as far as you wish, the staff will take it from here and credit you. See my PM.

[Bodsda]

PM pasted here for clarity to other users watching this thread.


Hi Bodhi,

I don't mind doing all of it if you want.
One thing that I could use your help with is coming up with the correct words to put on the slide.

I can have the work completed tomorrow evening

Let me know what you want me to do,
Cheers,
Bodsda


I'm more than happy to continue with this.

Cheers,
Bodsda

[sffvba[e0rt]

Awesome to see community in action :)


404

[Dry Lips]

Excellent work! This thread deserves a BUMP and a KDE star :KS

[Bodsda]

Ok, so not all of the distro slides actually list any support/community info.
Do we want the forum on a slide on every distro slideshow, or just on ubuntu?

As these forums focus heavily on Ubuntu rather than the derivatives, I would suggest it be just on the Ubutnu distro slides.

[Mr. Picklesworth]

The next step is to add our screenshot. So:


Take a snap of anything you like
Load up gimp
Create a new image the same size as your desktop resolution
Paste your image
Go to the 'Image' menu and select 'Scale Image...'
In the Height/Width section change the dropdown to 'Percent'
Change 'Width' to 60%
Click 'Scale'
Go to the 'File' menu and select 'New'
Use the size 448 x 304
Paste your screenshot into the new image window (Note: This will effectively crop the image to an exact size)
Go to the 'File' menu and select 'Save as' > '~/ubiquity_slideshow/ubiquity-slideshow-ubuntu-53/slideshows/ubuntu/slides/screenshots/forums.jpeg'
Close Gimp



Oh, nice detailed directions! One other thing: there's a (granted, somewhat hopeless) effort to avoid text-heavy pictures, and it would make sense for different translations to change the community slide completely. Perhaps the latest UDS group photo would fit nicely?

[bodhi.zazen]

Good to see you Mr. Picklesworth , thanks for your assistance with this.

I suggested

http://design.ubuntu.com/wp-content/uploads/brand-extensions-2.gif

From http://design.ubuntu.com/assets/ubuntu-logo

As an aside, to everyone, myself included, don't let some of the off topic comments that sometimes get made derail the effort, lol.

[Bodsda]

Hmm, I'm having some issues with css so that I can neatly add the banner. I'll post some info in the morning if anyone could help out

Cheers,
Bodsda

[bodhi.zazen]

Hmm, I'm having some issues with css so that I can neatly add the banner. I'll post some info in the morning if anyone could help out

Cheers,
Bodsda

Ah the dark art of css =)

If you get frustrated , post the code, there are several here who can help.

Community projects FTW!!!

[s.fox]

Hello,

What about something like this for the image :

http://i.imgur.com/kLjgJ.gif

And the text:

Check out Ask Ubuntu (http://askubuntu.com/), Launchpad (https://launchpad.net/) and Ubuntu Forums (http://ubuntuforums.org) where you’ll find thousands of friendly people ready to share their experience. And if you need an answer on a deadline, you can get commercial support and more at ubuntu.com (http://www.ubuntu.com/support)

[sffvba[e0rt]

Heck, if it is possible to have a live twitter feed (or was it planet.ubuntu.com feed?!) I am sure they can have something like an animation like s-fox suggests :)


404

[philinux]

Bump. Come guys .

Click affects me if you agree. Get a launchpad account if you've not got one.
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/ubiquity-slideshow-ubuntu/+bug/894112

[Bodsda]

Here is the html file and the css file. If someone can edit these to make an additional image (The ubuntu forums logo as pasted by bodhi.zazen earlier) appear above or below the image+text

HTML - http://paste.ubuntu.com/878283/
CSS - http://paste.ubuntu.com/878285/


Heck, if it is possible to have a live twitter feed (or was it planet.ubuntu.com feed?!) I am sure they can have something like an animation like s-fox suggests :smile:


404
In essence, its just a gui app that displays multiple html files in a certain order. In theory we could build any web based app into this :)

EDIT: Just tested s.fox's gif file. It works seamlessly in the installer. We could easily use this instead if we want to? The sizes need adjusting, but apart from that, it should be fine.

Thanks,
Bodsda

[MG&TL]

Suggestion-if somebody else can have a twitter feed, we could have a post feed.

I don't know how it would work, (don't know much about the web), but I imagine you could download a page from the ubuntu forums every 20 minutes (like the absolute beginner page), then grep (or equivalent for web) it for thread titles.

[Bodsda]

Suggestion-if somebody else can have a twitter feed, we could have a post feed.

I don't know how it would work, (don't know much about the web), but I imagine you could download a page from the ubuntu forums every 20 minutes (like the absolute beginner page), then grep (or equivalent for web) it for thread titles.

Sure, you could scrape the latest thread in ABT and display the title and mouse-over text. Just tested this in python, works quite well.

Bodsda

[yetiman64]

Bump. Come guys .

Click affects me if you agree. Get a launchpad account if you've not got one.
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/ubiquity-slideshow-ubuntu/+bug/894112
Done. I've quite often wondered about this when installing. Great to see movement, hope all succeeds. Cheers.

[s.fox]

I have been beavering away at this...

1) I made a new gif with larger logos and a fade:

http://i.imgur.com/Up1h1.gif

This has 2 issues - The file size is also quite large (something like 755KB) and also the fade is a little out at the end

2) I then redid the entire thing using a jquery lib (similar to my basement cat pics (http://serial-coder.co.uk/basement-cat/)) , which I added into the general slide html framework.

I have sent my work as zip file to bodsda to look at.

[MG&TL]

Well done s.fox! That looks...amazing. Maybe it's the rendering on Midori, not perfect as yet, but launchpad seems to be too quick, and ubuntuforums too long...perhaps you intended it that way, I don't know.

I love your cat btw. :)

[Bodsda]

I have been beavering away at this...

1) I made a new gif with larger logos and a fade:

http://i.imgur.com/Up1h1.gif

This has 2 issues - The file size is also quite large (something like 755KB) and also the fade is a little out at the end

2) I then redid the entire thing using a jquery lib (similar to my basement cat pics (http://serial-coder.co.uk/basement-cat/)) , which I added into the general slide html framework.

I have sent my work as zip file to bodsda to look at.

Any way you can slow down the transition on the askubuntu and launchpad slides by another .5 or 1 second?
it seems quicker in ubiquity than here on the forums.

The files you sent me, when I try and use them, it kind of kills all of the slides. I'm not certain if I put everything in the right place though. I extracted the zip into the same location as the slide html files. Did you manage to get it to work?

Bodsda

[Bodsda]

I've done some testing with bobweaver, nothingspecial and forestpiskie on IRC and everyone was able to get the test running with the new slide. Couple of issues with zenity, but that won't affect the actual use of the program and I don't think it was caused by our new slide.

Bodsda

[bodhi.zazen]

I've done some testing with bobweaver, nothingspecial and forestpiskie on IRC and everyone was able to get the test running with the new slide. Couple of issues with zenity, but that won't affect the actual use of the program and I don't think it was caused by our new slide.

Bodsda

Very nice work Bodsda (and team).