Restarters.net software updates (changelog)

Help & feedback
11

Late June 2020

:art: Redesign

:email: Email invites

  • We improved layout of the automatic event email invites you can send from the event’s page. It now begins with your personal message to give the recipient some more context.

:bug: Bug fixes

  • fixed an issue with wiki account creation & login
12

Early July 2020

:whale: MobiFix: a new microtask

:wrench: Minor improvements

  • We’ve updated some older text around the site (e.g. changing ‘A new Restart Group near to you’ to ‘a new repair group near to you’)
13

Late July 2020

:art: Redesign

  • We’ve redesigned the Fixometer page to highlight the impact we all have as global community and to make it easier to add new data and browse the database of repair attempts.

:translate: Localisation

  • You can now set your preferred language in your main profile, which will also set your language on this forum, Talk.

    Don’t see your preferred language in the list? We’re looking for people to help us add new languages - if you’re happy to help, send me a message :slight_smile:

:bug: Bug fixes

  • Restarters.net and therestartproject.org had a falling out. We worked with both of them and now they’re talking to each other again.
  • The main menu forgot how to speak human language, reverting back to code. We’ve taught it English again and will introduce new languages soon.

:bulb: Suggest new features and vote for other people’s ideas in Feature requests

:bug: Report any bugs or errors you find in Bug reports

14

Early August 2020

:translate: Localisation

  • We’ve improved our process for adding new languages on Restarters.net and extended translation to the main menu here on Talk.

    If you’d like to help us add your language, get in touch! And if you already use the site in a language other than English, you can report any untranslated text you find.

:bug: Bug Fixes

  • Our system didn’t quite understand how big the globe is, so couldn’t believe how far away some people are based. We’ve now taught it how to read a globe properly and fixed the location for those of your previously identified as living in the ocean.
  • Group hosts who want to add themselves to their group’s past events can now do so (they couldn’t previously)
  • We fixed the language switcher and sent a few other small bugs to live on a farm upstate.

Coming soon…

:jeans: Record unpowered items at events

We’re working hard on adding support for recording non-electrical/electronic (‘unpowered’) items at events. The first phase of this work will let you record any item you see at an event on the Fixometer.

This will go live in September :spiral_calendar:!

Future updates will extend this across other parts of the site, for example, by displaying basic stats for unpowered items along with your powered devices.

:bulb: Suggest new features and vote for other people’s ideas in Feature requests

:bug: Report any bugs or errors you find in Bug reports

15

Late August 2020

:translate: Localisation

  • We published updates to a number of languages, most notably French (Belgian) - thanks @Florine_Paquay for your help with that! More updates on the way :wink:
  • We also neatened up the navigation menu in different languages and made some bits of text translatable that weren’t previously

:jeans: Recording unpowered items at events

  • We continued to working hard on this behind the scenes - keep your eyes peeled for news in this soon!

:bulb: Suggest new features and vote for other people’s ideas in Feature requests

:bug: Report any bugs or errors you find in Bug reports

16

Early September 2020

:jeans: Record unpowered items at events

  • We added support for recording non-electrical/electronic items seen at repair events
  • We redesigned the section on event pages that displays event stats (items repaired and environmental impact)

    :bulb: Learn more about these changes here

:translate: Localisation

  • We made some bits of text translatable that weren’t previously. If you use the site in French, you should now see less English!

:bug: Bug fixes

  • We fixed some illegible text on the forgotten password page; forgetting your password is frustrating enough without dealing with invisible instructions!
17

Late September 2020

:art: Redesign

  • We’ve updated event pages to reflect the new design. They should now be easier to read and it’s more obvious how to record how many people attended.

:spiral_calendar_pad: Events

  • Events in CET (Central European Time) or CEST will now become active when the event actually starts, not an hour later

:bug: Bug fixes

  • People who sign up now automatically get a Talk account without having to visit Talk first
  • We fixed an issue with deleting certain items from the Fixometer

:bulb: Suggest new features and vote for other people’s ideas in Feature requests

:bug: Report any bugs or errors you find in Bug reports

18

Early October 2020

:art: Redesign

  • We’ve started updating group pages. They now look more consistent with event pages and we’ve improved the readability of impact stats (we’ll be reworking the bottom half of group pages next).

:bug: Bug fixes

  • Some translations were coming through as code. None of us are robots, so we’ve reintroduced human languages for people not using the site in English.
  • This month’s bug-hunter award goes to @Estelle_Vercez1 :medal_sports: for finding some bugs in the event-creation process. We’ve fixed some of these and will get to the rest soon.

:bulb: Suggest new features and vote for other people’s ideas in Feature requests

:bug: Report any bugs or errors you find in Bug reports

2 Likes
19

Late October 2020

:art: Redesign

  • We continued to update group pages, this time focusing on the events section. Your group’s upcoming and past events are now easier to browse and look more consistent with the rest of the new design.

:bar_chart: Impact stats

  • We’ve done a lot of work behind the scenes to improve how certain interactive parts of the site work. The result of this means that adding new repairs to an event will now automatically update that event’s environmental stats instantly without having to refresh the page.

:bug: Bug fixes

  • Good news for you repair detectives: when adding items to events, you can now record as many sources of repair information as you like for each item. Happy sleuthing! :female_detective:
  • We cleaned out a few bugs clogging up some parts the site with errors. Things should flow more smoothly now.

:bulb: Suggest new features and vote for other people’s ideas in Feature requests

:bug: Report any bugs or errors you find in Bug reports

1 Like
20

Early November 2020

:art: Redesign

  • We’ve updated the way your group’s device stats appear on your group page. This should make your stats clearer and more screenshot-friendly if you like to share them elsewhere (check it out)

:translate: Localisation

  • Product categories are now translatable and we’ve already added French translations (thanks again to @Florine_Paquay for your help here). If you’d like to see product categories in your language too, get in touch!

:bug: Bug fixes

  • The navigation menu on Talk hid the Wiki icon when viewed on mobile. Knowledge should be accessible to everyone no matter the device being used, so we’ve brought it back!

:bulb: Suggest new features and vote for other people’s ideas in Feature requests

:bug: Report any bugs or errors you find in Bug reports

1 Like
21

Late November 2020

:art: Redesign

  • We’ve redesigned page that shows the groups you follow, the groups nearest to you and a list of all the groups on the site. It should now be easier to use and it’s much quicker to search for groups in the ‘All groups’ tab thanks to @Edward_Hibbert’s tech wizardry :mage:
    Take a look for yourself

:star2: New Features

  • You can now unfollow groups (for example, if you move away and no longer want to receive notifications about events in the area)
  • If you’re a network coordinators, you can now make people hosts of their groups (thanks for the feature request @Manu_RepairTogether :wink: )

:bug: Bug fixes

  • We fixed a link on the dashboard that promised guidance on running repair events, but only led to a disappointment and a 404 error page. The new link is the real deal.

:bulb: Suggest new features and vote for other people’s ideas in Feature requests

:bug: Report any bugs or errors you find in Bug reports

1 Like
22

Early December 2020

:art: Redesign

  • We’ve redesigned the global impact section on the Fixometer page (see it here). This should make it easier to understand our collective impact.

:bug: Bug fixes

  • We fixed a broken link on Network pages. If you’re a network coordinator, viewing your groups should require less sleuthing now.
  • An ‘add new event’ button kept falling off. We’ve stuck it down with some CSS (Considerably Stickier Stuff).

:bulb: Suggest new features and vote for other people’s ideas in Feature requests

:bug: Report any bugs or errors you find in Bug reports

23

Late December 2020 / Early January 2021

:microscope: Introducing the Workbench

  • We’ve added a new section to the site: the Data Workbench. The Data Workbench is home to microtask activities—quests—that let anyone analyse the repair data we all record. Each quest helps us learn more about why products break and how they could be made easier to fix.

:bulb: While some experience with repair is often helpful, you don’t need to be an expert to get involved. Head to the Data Workbench to discover the latest activity!

:memo: Wiki

  • We’ve changed the navigation tabs on the repair wiki to make getting around more intuitive.

:bug: Bug fixes

  • We fixed an issue that broke some calendar feeds (thanks again for reporting this @panda :pray:)
  • We removed a bug with a sense of irony that hid certain data when searching the Fixometer
  • We removed a more humourless bug that prevented events being created if they lacked a postal address

:bulb: Suggest new features and vote for other people’s ideas in Feature requests

:bug: Report any bugs or errors you find in Bug reports

2 Likes
24

Late January 2021

:art: Redesign

  • We’ve updated the Fixometer. When searching the database of repair attempts, you can now also see unpowered items. We’ve also polished up the search filters.

:translate: Localisation

  • We’re working on adding translation to the Wiki. If you’re interested in translating any of the Wiki into another language, get in touch!

:bulb: Suggest new features and vote for other people’s ideas in Feature requests

:bug: Report any bugs or errors you find in Bug reports

1 Like
25

Early February 2021

:art: Redesign

  • We’ve started work to redesign the main dashboard to make it more useful and less overwhelming. Keep an eye out for the new version soon!

:bug: Bug fixes

  • It’s now possible to edit repair records on event pages again - thanks for reporting this @James_Diamond :pray:
  • We put on our monocles and tracked down an event that had gone missing

:bulb: Suggest new features and vote for other people’s ideas in Feature requests

:bug: Report any bugs or errors you find in Bug reports

26

Late February 2021

:art: Redesign

  • We’ve released the first part of the redesigned dashboard to make it easier to get to groups you follow, learn more about the site and see the latest Talk conversations. We’ll release some extra additions to this page soon…

:translate: Localisation

  • We’re continuing to work on adding translation to the Wiki. If you’d like to help make wiki content available in your language, let me know :pray:

:bug: Bug fixes

  • The event page forgot how to count volunteers and presented unhelpful warnings. We’ve taken it through its 1, 2, 3s and numeracy has been restored. Thanks @Florine_Paquay for the report!
  • The Fixometer got greedy and refused to let people download repair data so we reminded it that the repair data is open to all. The data export now works again. Thanks for the report @Angel!
  • When adding a new unpowered item, there was a missing tooltip for the item type field. To save everyone from having to guess what item type means, we’ve added a tooltip

:bulb: Suggest new features and vote for other people’s ideas in Feature requests

:bug: Report any bugs or errors you find in Bug reports

1 Like
27

March and Early April 2021

:art: Redesign

  • We’ve finished redesigning the main landing page to make it less confusing and more useful. It’s now super easy to add data from your previous events!
  • We’ve also redesigned the events page to make it easier to find your events, events near you and even see all events across the network

:translate: Localisation

:bug: Bug fixes

We've done some thorough spring cleaning and cleared out a lot of bugs. Click here for more details (if you dare!)
  • we fixed an issue where some special characters would display weirdly in some places (e.g. “Repair Café” would display as “Repair Café“)
  • we fixed the squashed logo on Talk that appeared on mobile
  • online events now display as being online again
  • some people had issues logging into the wiki - they shouldn’t anymore
  • group name isn’t removed when sharing URLs for Fixometer search queries any longer
  • we fixed a blank ‘add event’ button so everyone can understand what it does
  • we fixed CSV data exports

:bulb: Suggest new features and vote for other people’s ideas in Feature requests

:bug: Report any bugs or errors you find in Bug reports

28

Late April and Early May 2021

:star2: New features

  • Repeat events have arrived! Due to popular demand, we’ve added a ‘duplicate event’ function, to allow hosts to create repeat events more easily. Learn how this works here. :spiral_calendar: :spiral_calendar:
  • We’ve also added a new ‘item type’ field to certain categories of electrical devices (e.g. small kitchen item) when you’re adding repair data to an event. This is to help improve the quality of repair data we all record.

:bug: Bug fixes

  • We reassured the event page that it doesn’t need to take Special Relativity too literally. Events are now displayed in order of date and time again.
  • The wiki is still grappling with learning new languages (aren’t we all?). But we fixed a couple of visual bugs, which should make the process a bit easier now.

:bulb: Suggest new features and vote for other people’s ideas in Feature requests

:bug: Report any bugs or errors you find in Bug reports

29

Late May & June 2021

:left_speech_bubble: Introducing event conversations

A number of event organisers have asked for an easier way to contact everyone who RSVPs to an event. So we’ve added event conversations. Now, when you create a new event (and it has been approved by a network coordinator), we’ll automatically create a private message here on Talk for that event.

  • The conversation will include the person who creates the event and anyone who RSVPs will be added automatically.
  • The subject line of the event conversation will be the name you gave to your event. The first message will be the event description.
  • Event conversations are private message threads on Talk and work in the same way. That means, by default, everyone included in a message will receive an email notification every time someone posts in the conversation. If you’d like to change your personal settings, you can do this in your email preferences.
  • You can find the conversation for your events in your Talk inbox or on the page for that event:
    Event conversation
    Event conversation1136×810 55.5 KB

:star2: Other new features

  • You can now filter the list of all events on the events page by name, country and date

:translate: Localisation

  • Your language preference will now be carried across to the Wiki too.

:bug: Bug fixes

  • Cancelled events no longer contribute the full number of hours to your ‘hours volunteered’ stats
  • We went around with our code spanner, fixing broken links, helping the login button accommodate French and making other small tweaks.

:bulb: Suggest new features and vote for other people’s ideas in Feature requests

:bug: Report any bugs or errors you find in Bug reports

1 Like
30

July to Nov 2021

It’s been a while since I posted about what we’ve been working on behind the scenes. But work hasn’t stopped! Here’s a summary of the most important updates we’ve made to Restarters since June…

:bar_chart: Updated environmental stats

After a 6-month project to find new environmental data, we updated the environmental calculations used to measure the impact of your events. This was a huge piece of work and has big implications for your group and event stats! In short, we…

  • Updated all existing environmental data for powered devices
  • Added environmental data data for 10 categories for the first time (including for unpowered items)
  • Added 7 new product categories
  • Changed the way we estimate the impact of repairing miscellaneous items
  • Recalculated the impact stats for every event and group

Read the full details here

:star2: New Features

  • When creating a new event, you can now press a button to set the event location to your group’s location (instead of typing it out manually)
  • When listing an online event, you can now add a link (e.g. to a registration page or Zoom call) and no longer need a physical address. This link will appear on your event page

:wrench: General improvements

  • We now show you a more useful and comprehensive selection of groups in your area on the dashboard and on the groups nearby page
  • Group hosts: you can now see your events awaiting moderation
  • When signing up to Restarters, you are now returned to where you were before (e.g. the Workbench or Talk)

:globe_with_meridians: Localisation

:busts_in_silhouette: Features for networks

  • Networks can now choose whether or not they want to approve events before they appear live
  • We’ve developed a prototype dashboard for network coordinators to monitor the number of events and groups in their network over time

:bug: Bug fixes

  • If you RSVP to an event, you will now be able to edit that event’s devices again
  • We exterminated a veritable ecosystem of 34 other bugs, big and small

:bulb: Suggest new features and vote for other people’s ideas in Feature requests

:bug: Report any bugs or errors you find in Bug reports

1 Like