Projects: Features
Updates & Microblogging
The main project page, much like Facebook Wall or Twitter feed, provides a stream of project updates from all team members, with the ability to comment on certain activities.
From the news feed you will learn:
- when a new person joins your project
- when a team member shares an update or posts a comment
- when a new to-do item is posted or checked off
- when someone adds/edits project notes
- when a new file is uploaded or updated
Planned features include:
- Filter updates by category or person
- Ability to hide/show groups of postings with configurable settings for each user
- Embed links to project files
- And "likes" for each posting or comment
Have another idea? Suggest a feature
To-do Lists
Projects include a sleek To-Do tool that lets you keep track of your day-to-day project agenda. Project members can add and edit to-do items, assign them to each other, specify the due date, add comments and check items off. There is also an ability to create multiple (up to 10) to-do lists.
Planned features include:
- Alternative, more conservative, layout and styling which can be set as a personal preference for each participating member.
- Ability to mark items as milestones
- Calendar integration & time tracking
Have another idea? Suggest a feature
Project Notes
Project Notes is the wiki area for your project, where you can record extended comments, sketch ideas, elaborate on the development agenda or otherwise use this free-form writing space to facilitate collaboration and get your project going. You can add multiple pages and subpages, create wiki templates, embed project images and files, and use other popular wiki features available across the site.
Planned features include:
- Ability to attach selected notes to project publications as supporting wiki material or primary content
- Easier reorganization of wiki pages
Have another idea? Suggest a feature
Project Team
A project can be created by an individual user or a group. Whichever is the case, project managers can extend their team by adding other users and groups they belong to. They can also invite external collaborators via email. The team management interface allows to assign manager/collaborator roles to team members. The two roles differ in their level of project control, with collaborators having limited project management authority.
Planned features include:
- extending project team roles to include a read-only (reviewer) role
Have a feature request? Suggest a feature
File Management
Each project comes with a Git repository to store your files and data. With this comes a simple built-in web file browser, which reads the repository and allows to do new uploads, delete, rename and move files around, as well as view their history snapshot and download all previous versions. In addition, we are now working on a solution for you to use the full power of Git for advanced file management through direct Git commands.
Planned features include:
- Better file preview, including DOCs and PDFs
- Side-by-side document version diffs
- Further file management options
Have another idea? Suggest a feature
Publishing*
*in the works
Projects will soon integrate a publishing engine to get your project materials delivered to the world in the form of web publications. Each released publication version will receive a digital object identifier to let others cite your work. Public can leave reviews, file support tickets and add ideas to the wish list on each publication. Down the road Projects will let you publish not only selected project files or apps, but also resource collections, wiki materials and links to external websites.
Have a feature request? Suggest a feature
App Development*
*in the works
Projects geared towards app development get a special area to register, manage, test and publish your applications. Each registered app gets it own Git repository for the code, which you can browse through the project file browser.
Have a feature request? Suggest a feature
Activity Stats*
*in the works
Projects keep track of the various activities performed by their members. With the activity stats tool you'll be able to find out, for example, who in your team has made most comments or checked off most to-do items, with more elaborate statistics available for project managers. Stats are fun to watch, but they can also be used for evaluations, e.g. in class projects led by a professor.
Have a feature request? Suggest a feature
Other Add-Ons*
*in the works
We are looking into ways to integrate popular public apps for collaboration into projects. Dropbox - file sync and sharing tool - is one example. Google Docs is another great tool we could try to bring in. Share your ideas with us! Recommend other tools and features that will help make Projects more valuable to your community.
Have a feature request? Suggest a feature