Community Compatibility

Wednesday, December 14, 2011 by Peter Gregory

Compatibility ExampleToday we released a new feature over at our.umbraco.org to help identify package version compatibility. 

Previously it was up to the developer to specify whether a package was compatible with certain versions, however it sometimes wasn't entirely accurate.  So we decided to give it to you, the community, to report on whether or not a package works with a certain version of Umbraco. 

If you are logged in and once you have downloaded a package you will be given an opportunity to report on compatibility.  This information will be shared with the community via a small report displayed in the side bar of the package detail page. 

What do the Smileys mean?

The smiley faces specify how satisfied the community is that it works with that version of Umbraco. 0%, it has been reported that it doesn't work through to 100%, everyone has reported that it does work.

Whats in it for me?

For every package you submit a report for you will receive one karma point.  You can report as many times as you like, if a report exists from you we will simply update your existing report, however only one karma point will be given per package.  We believe this will lead to data on compatibility being far more accurate and will give confidence when downloading a package for the first time, knowing somebody within the community has tested it before you.  We already know what packages you have downloaded in the past, so get to it, earn a little karma and spread a little love. 

17 comment(s) for “Community Compatibility”

  1. Gravatar ImageStefan Kip Says:

    Awesome job, a long requested and great feature has been implemented! :-)

  2. Gravatar ImageLee Kelleher Says:

    Excellent feature! #h5yr

  3. Gravatar ImageLennart Stoop Says:

    Great idea and works fine, thanks for adding !

  4. Gravatar ImageChris Houston Says:

    Hi Peter,

    Great feature :)

    Just noticed that for some reason on a Mac in Safari the "Report Compatibility" link seems to be missing?

    ( Works fine on my PC version of Safari )

    Cheers, Chris

  5. Gravatar ImageMatthew Bliss Says:

    Great addition, just what is needed.
    However the "Report Compatibility" link is missing for me in both Chrome and Firefox on a PC.

  6. Gravatar ImageHeather Floyd Says:

    Looks great! One suggestion - for versions 4.5+ it might make sense to add two "versions" for reach:
    4.7.1 - old XML schema
    4.7.1
    4.7.0 - old XML schema
    4.7.0
    ...
    4.5.0 - old XML schema
    4.5.0.

  7. Gravatar Imagepeter Gregory Says:

    Thanks guys for your feedback.

    @Chris Houston I have just tested on Safari on my Mac and its working as expected. One reason that the link would be missing is you are either not logged in or we have no record of you downloading the package at any point.

    @Matthew Bliss are you are sure you are logged in and have downloaded the package? We hide the link in situations where you are not logged in or you have not downloaded the package.

  8. Gravatar ImagePeter Gregory Says:

    @Heather Floyd I will get those extra versions added to the list today for legacy schema.

  9. Gravatar Imageowen Says:

    Still can't edit or delete previous post? I have a post, but don't have any reply.

  10. Gravatar ImageMichael Says:

    Great feature!!

    Just one question : how should we handle package versions? If I am not using the latest version of a package, can I still report it?

    Cheers,

    Michael

  11. Gravatar ImagePhil Dye Says:

    Great solution, h5yr! I recall this came up the recent UK Festival, and was a thorny one; great to see you've embraced the community

  12. Gravatar ImageDaniel Bowden Says:

    Nice feature, and another great tool in the Karmanators belt. Looks at Lee & Matt :)

  13. Gravatar Imagetentonipete Says:

    great addition to the site.

    *clicks smileys with wild abandon*

  14. Gravatar ImageDan Says:

    Nice work Peter - a very welcome feature on Our! I'm a little unsure about how this handles package versions though, so have started a thread: http://our.umbraco.org/forum/ourumb-dev-forum/features/26904-Project-compatibility if anyone has anything to contribute on that front?

  15. Gravatar ImageFunka! Says:

    Do we have to download the package through the website? What if we download it through the backoffice Developer "Umbraco packages repository" node?? (which we don't typically need to login or associate with our "our.umbraco" accounts....) --- Although, I suppose what I would do in this situation is simply download it through the site (even if i'm not going to do anything with that file) if I really wanted to rate something... Anyhoo, this is a great addition and I feel really improves an already-excellent experience.

  16. Gravatar ImagePer Says:

    @Funka, you can download it through the backoffice repo as well, the repo is on the same our.umbraco.org domain, so if you are already logged into our, then it will log that as a download as well

  17. Gravatar ImageHeather Floyd Says:

    Hmm... Just tried to rate something, got the message "You need to download this package before you can report on it's compatibility" - and I had just clicked the "download" link to be sure it was "registered".

    @Peter Gregory - Thanks!

    Ps. English grammar fix: "it's compatibility" --> "its compatibility"

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