Hi Jackson,

In previous versions of ES, the user apps are not visible to friends but in v2.1.1, it is

I tested this and the user apps are visible to friends as well(http://take.ms/RhQh5). Am I missing something here?

Hi Raymond,

Yes, you are right, I guess what I am pointing out is ACL on Apps. Sorry about that, in my setup right now I'm not showing app in my profile or have not installed one yet.

Currently, only Calendar App has Privacy settings and other apps like tasks, notes, and others are all visible to friends. Why do you think tasks or notes or any other user apps needs to be seen by friends by default?

Since, the apps widget is removed from the Dashboard template, all user apps will only be visible in the user profile. Like I said, users will spend more time on their Dashboard rather than in their Profile, why make the user apps only visible on profile?

Thanks,

Jackson

Hey Jackson,

The idea of having apps on the dashboard and profile is just confusing for most. We have endless support queries about "What is the difference between the app on the dashboard and profile". Many people just didn't seem to understand that.

Hence, we decided to move all the apps to the profile to standardize the behavior of these apps. If you need to view notes from the other person, you have to go to their profile. Likewise, if you want to create a note, you would access the Notes on your profile.

The second part of simplifying this is to add additional buttons on the story form that allows you to quickly publish notes, etc.

Hi Mark,

It is really confusing since there's no specific explanation under Applications as to how the apps works.

I have an issue with this decision since I developed an app that were designed for the user only and not for all their friends to see. Would it be too much to ask you to retain the previous behavior of apps? I mean, you totally removed rendering of apps in the dashboard. Can't it be an option in the App for developers to choose where to render the app: Dashboard or Profile, rather than user Apps has to be only shown in the User Profile? Another thing is, it is assumed that user apps has to always be shared. Like Notes, there is no way that I can use Notes app for myself only, Privacy is defaulted to Everyone (I think).

Anyways, is there a way left for apps to appear in the dashboard?

Thanks,

Jackson

I don't think it makes sense to reverse this decision because it reduces a lot of confusions. We no longer have tickets created asking about the difference between apps on the dashboard and profile.

Having said that, I see the current problems that you are facing and I will see if we can add a trigger to check with the app to determine if it should be visible to the current viewer.

Here's a snippet of the example code that can be used in 2.1.3 (not released yet)

[gist]
<?php
public function appListing($view, $userId = '')
{
$target = ES::user($userId);

// Display the app to the viewer because the viewer is viewing their own items
if ($target->id == $this->my->id) {
return true;
}

return false;
}
[/gist]

Hey Mark,

Thanks for the change you created, looking forward to it.

Would you consider adding a post privacy in apps like notes or tasks? Ask yourself, when you post a note, does it need to always be seen by everyone in the community or a personal tasks? Just like posting something in the Story form, it just make sense that a post privacy was added so a user can target audience for the post. Something to think about.

Thanks again for listening.

Jackson

Hm, I think it really depends on what the site is really used for. Yes, we could add those privacy but it also adds implications (performance) issues later on because adding a note is not just adding a note. It is linked to the stream, notifications, etc.