#pragma page-filename DEV/versions/13303864
GHC11 included an Open Source Day, a hackathon where participants worked on a variety of projects including GNU Mailman. These are some rough notes for the session.

== Notes for next redesign  ==

''Terri to fill in based on paper prototypes.''

=== Current redesign feedback  ===

Note: all this testing was done in IE8. Cross-browser testing hasn't been carried out yet. Feedback is grouped by task. Actions are in normal text, commentary in italics, proposed modifications in bold.

==== Making a new list  ====

 * Click "make new list" button
 * ''Met with "Login Required" page - "What if you don't have a login?"''
 * Enter a random email in the login field
 * Login fails
 * *'''The "Login Required" page needs to allow you to create a login if you don't already have one.'''*
 * Enter an existing account into the login field
 * Login success, we see the "Create a new List on" page
 * *'''The "Mail Host" field is not aligned properly with other interface components'''*
 * ''"Why do the radio buttons have big boxes around them?"''
 * *'''Typo: "Liste Index" should be "List Index"'''*
 * *'''Radio buttons should have something selected by default.'''*
 * *'''"Initial list owner address" should be prepopulated with the email you used to log in - we just entered that on the last page! Then users can have the option to change it if they want.'''*
 * *'''Language selection takes up WAY too much of the interface. You could preselect something based on login location, or just use English as the default.'''*
 * *'''Make sure to do compatibility tests with different browsers – IE8 only shows the display on half the screen (the bottom half is unused space).'''*
 * Clicked the "create new list" button
 * Arrive at what looks like an admin page
 * *'''The list name we selected is repeated twice in the header of the page, it should only be seen once.'''*
 * ''What is the contact/todo box, anyway? It doesn't work.''
 * *'''Make the contact/todo box either do something or take it away... it's not clear what purpose it serves.'''*
 * Click on "view overview of all mailing lists"
 * See the list of mailing lists, and our new list is there, yay!
 * Click on "list settings" for our new list
 * Arrive at a different admin page
 * ''Wait, why are there different admin pages?''
 * *'''Change the background image, the lines are distracting'''*
 * *'''Put in some sort of naming and navigational consistency between the different admin pages, right now the names (on the links/buttons) used to refer to the same admin page change depending on which other admin page you're on, and the navigation between them is not consistent.'''*
 * Attempt to use the "Go to drop-down box" at bottom right corner of screen, not clear what this does

=== Subscribing users  ===

 * Clicks on "Mass Subscribe" button
 * *'''"Emails to mass subscribe"'''* text needs to be at the top
 * *'''Add an "upload file" option for mass-subscribing people, and allow choice of delimiters'''*
 * Add duplicate emails
 * *'''If you try to subscribe someone who's already on the list, or have duplicate email addresses in the list, the software should filter those out - right now it throws an HTTP 409 error and it's not clear if any of the users you just entered are subscribed at all.'''*
 * *'''Once the subscription is successful, mailman should take you to another page - possibly the main admin page. Right now it takes you right back to the mass subscribe page, which you don't need to be at any more.'''*

=== Adding a new domain  ===

 * Filled out all the fields, clicked button
 * ''No message, nothing shown... oh wait, there's my new domain, but that was hard to see''
 * *'''When you try to add a new domain, the software should show you the results of your action - did it succeed, fail, etc - put a message at the top'''*
 * *'''`http://mailman.state-of-mind.de` link is broken - adds an extra `http://` to the url'''*

=== Other notes  ===

 * cancel for the delete list link does not work in IE8.<<BR>> View Archives for the list does not work in IE8<<BR>> List Identity link, content filtering link and all the links :
 * all the radio buttons should not be surrounded by boxes<<BR>>  *this link also has the options in the list page again listed on that page ( like Link Identity. Content Filtering, Privacy.......) - these need to be removed from this page.
 * !AutoResponse link gives an HTTP Error 400 "Cannot convert parameters: autorespond_owner".<<BR>> Digest link does not work and gives an error "!AttributeError at `/settings/SSList@mailman.state-of-mind.de/Digest/` 'Nonetype' object has no atrribute 'makefile'"

== Privacy Considerations  ==

We're used to transparency-by-default settings in open source communities, but some mailman users may need more stringent privacy settings to be available. For instance: schools with course mailing lists that need to comply with student privacy laws, discussion lists for abuse survivors, etc.

Here's a list (created by some open source hackers who are also in academia, one of whom is a security researcher) of DRACONIAN PRIVACY MODE features that should be available – perhaps not default, but available – in mailman. Most are already options, some may not be, but they should all be present in the redesign.

 * Hide email of sender; replace Sent/Reply-to with email of list.
 * Strip email headers - make sure there's no information traceable back to the original sender, all headers should dead-end at the mailman server.
 * Hide existence of list.
 * Hide subscriber list.
 * Hide archives.
 * Moderated/announce-only posting.
 * Awareness of external links used in the interface, and enabling people to remove them - mailman instances have a link back to the mailman project in their footer by default, which could reveal the existence of a server people want to keep private. (Admittedly, this is a pretty extreme case.)
 * Moderators can't see anything except the moderation queue - they have no access to things like the subscriber list, etc.

Basically, mailman should never expose any user's identity or information without their consent.

Side note: some of these can be flipped to create good open practices (for instance, using the links to mailman in the footer, we could begin to compile a list of sites that use mailman).


== Making a New List ==

''All testing was done in IE8. Testing in other browsers is needed.''

 * Click "make new list" button
 * ''Met with "Login Required" page - "What if you don't have a login?"''
 * Enter a random email in the login field
 * Login fails
 * '''The "Login Required" page needs to allow you to create a login if you don't already have one.'''
 * Enter an existing account into the login field
 * Login success, we see the "Create a new List on" page''
 * '''The "Mail Host" field is not aligned properly with other interface components'''
 * ''"Why do the radio buttons have big boxes around them?"''
 * '''Typo: "Liste Index" should be "List Index"'''
 * '''Radio buttons should have something selected by default.'''
 * '''"Initial list owner address" should be prepopulated with the email you used to log in - we just entered that on the last page! Then users can have the option to change it if they want.'''
 * '''Language selection takes up WAY too much of the interface. You could preselect something based on login location, or just use English as the default.'''
 * '''Make sure to do compatibility tests with different browsers – IE8 only shows the display on half the screen (the bottom half is unused space).'''
 * Clicked the "create new list" button
 * Arrive at what looks like an admin page
 * '''The list name we selected is repeated twice in the header of the page, it should only be seen once.'''
 * ''What is the contact/todo box, anyway? It doesn't work.''
 * '''Make the contact/todo box either do something or take it away... it's not clear what purpose it serves.'''
 * Click on "view overview of all mailing lists"
 * See the list of mailing lists, and our new list is there, yay!
 * Click on "list settings" for our new list
 * Arrive at a different admin page
 * ''Wait, why are there different admin pages?''
 * '''Change the background image, the lines are distracting'''
 * '''Put in some sort of naming and navigational consistency between the different admin pages, right now the names (on the links/buttons) used to refer to the same admin page change depending on which other admin page you're on, and the navigation between them is not consistent.'''
 * Attempt to use the "Go to drop-down box" at bottom right corner of screen, not clear what this does

=== Subscribing users / mass-subscribe  ===

 * Clicks on "Mass Subscribe" button
 * '''"Emails to mass subscribe"''' text needs to be at the top
 * '''Add an "upload file" option for mass-subscribing people, and allow choice of delimiters'''
 * Add duplicate emails
 * '''If you try to subscribe someone who's already on the list, or have duplicate email addresses in the list, the software should filter those out - right now it throws an HTTP 409 error and it's not clear if any of the users you just entered are subscribed at all.'''
 * '''Once the subscription is successful, mailman should take you to another page - possibly the main admin page. Right now it takes you right back to the mass subscribe page, which you don't need to be at any more.'''

=== Adding a new domain  ===

 * Filled out all the fields, clicked button
 * ''No message, nothing shown... oh wait, there's my new domain, but that was hard to see''
 * '''When you try to add a new domain, the software should show you the results of your action - did it succeed, fail, etc - put a message at the top'''
 * '''`http://mailman.state-of-mind.de link` is broken - adds an extra `http://` to the url'''

=== Other misc issues to be addressed ===

 * Cancel for the delete list link does not work in IE8.
 * View Archives for the list does not work in IE8
 * List Identity link, content filtering link and all the links:  
  * all the radio buttons should not be surrounded by boxes
  * this link also has the options in the list page again listed on that page ( like Link Identity. Content Filtering, Privacy.......) - these need to be removed from this page.  


== Subscriber info summary (membership management page) ==

 1. name
 1. email address(es)
 1. date of starting subscription
 1. How frequently does the subscriber login/post?
 1. Phone number if willing to give that info (optional)
 1. description of who they are (optional)  
  1. list version (drop-down) eg. student, engineer
  1. text box where they can enter more info if needed. (e.g. useful for Systers' essays)  
 1. How often do they want messages?  
  1. daily/weekly/monthly
  1. form (digest, others?)  
 1. Facebook/twitter info (optional) if they have it

== Simple interface notes ==

What are the most relevant options?

 * list name
 * description
 * subject prefix
 * welcome/goodbye message

Links to...

 * membership management
 * changing setup options (many options are set really one-time and seldom changed, like language options)
 * tend moderator requests
 * archives

=== Advanced setup options ===

 * digest format
 * non-digest format
 * privacy
 * bounce processing
 * auto-responder
 * content filtering & topics

== Change simple setup options ==

 * discard held messages aver < 0 > days (hours, minutes, months?)
 * Change list ownership pwd
 * Language option <English> (drop down multi-select?)

== Use Cases for colleges and universities ==

College Classes:

 1. reuse mailing lists with different users (e.g. teaching comp 1001 every semester...)

 * delete everyone on the list  
  * and move them to another list
  * and have a custom "you've been moved message option"
  * allow users to share their address with others (or not – note: FIPPA)  
 * add/import new users  
  * from another data source
  * and allow different delimiters  
 * expert subscription list

 1. privacy

 * option to '''not''' reveal the senders' email address.
 * option to make lists of subscribers unavailable even to other subscribers (see draconian privacy notes)

 1. clone a list/templates