Planning GITI v3

Only July 20, 2005 the GITI v2 project was conceived and on was transitioned to on December 19, 2005, with conversions continuing until August 2006. A lot has changed in life and in the world since that release, and as a result, GITI is now ready for a new overhaul.

About the Development Process: Because of the way that GITI is structured, the interface itself does not get modified much during its normal lifecycle, it gets a bit of cleaning and polishing here and there, but for the most part, it doesn’t get touched. All development that happens while a major version is active is for the expansion and refinement of individual modules. The interface itself is merely a vehicle for the modules. Its less code and more concept. The development of a major version seems to be mostly a re-evaluation of the way the system operates and then running all of the modules back through being reworked to match the new goals (or the mysterious GITI “Ideals”).

For the 3rd generation of GITI my primary goal for the interface is to address the issue of module overcrowding. Currently there are a lot of modules and the number of them present is growing. It is very difficult to use the current menus to get to everything effectively. The next major goal is to implement some sort of security system, including the ability to generate users on request and have a default security context that is as safe as a playground. Another big thing for me is getting things to be more “socially capable”. Per-user settings for Twitter updates for more aspects of things would be cool, but I don’t want to write code that locks us into any specific social format, I want to write something that is extensible and terminable (if Facebook dies, the components for it should be easily neuter-able). The social component also includes the ability to do more things from a mobile method. I’m also hoping version 3 is the version that will carry a mobile-compatible version of GITI itself.

 

Here are some of my pet objectives.

  • Better “interface”
    • Resolve module overcrowding
    • Better menus
    • Improve the “quick” menu item
      • better internal documentation
    • There should be less page changing for editing
    • Details from “summary” should not require a page change
  • Security
    • Groups, permissions and all of that fun stuff
    • Ability to administer users
    • Key-auth for RSS clients (read only)
    • Capabilities for authenticating GITI users to external services
    • Establish a single, authoritive, domain name
  • Documentation
    • Documentation in the code for later modification
    • Ability to keep documentation for modules in GITI, to be turned on my COMMAND at user request
    • Written protocol for how modules should behave in the context of the interface
  • Module Specific Updates
    • New Module ‘ToDo List’ needs to be finished
    • Old Module ‘TODO’ needs to be exercised and destroyed
    • Schedule needs to accept invitations both ways
    • Schedule v3 needs to be completed (or is it started?)
    • Docs needs to have a better way for assigning where to store the ‘doc’
    • Reactivate ‘Inventory’, make is more universally usable
    • Library needs to be finished
  • Mobile/Social
    • Expansion of the status theory for things like schedule items
    • Allow other modules to Tweet
    • Create a standard way for modules to speak to various social mediums
    • Investigate options for GITI mobile, as well as usefulness evaluation
    • Create a standard way for a module to send email notifications
  • Public
    • Relevant modules should have an easy way to be sharable through GITI public
    • Public should take on at least a resemblance to the rest of the interface.
  • Burry the dead
    • Unused modules need to go
    • Modules that haven’t been changed since v1 need to be updated or be dismissed

 

The version 3 update will not likely include anything as groundbreaking as GITI v2’s ‘COMMAND’ structure, but hopefully it will result in a more useful tool.