dw_accessibility | Putting up a warning notice/banner for maintenance

I think there should be a banner or something saying if maintenance will be at a certain time and to prepare for it. I came up with this idea because of the recent maintenance where it was rather unpredictable and I had no idea it was coming. As a disabled person, I need to have predictability in order to plan my activities wisely so that nothing bad is triggered.

Otherwise, unpredictability might trigger a big meltdown. I'm sure there are other users that don't have twitter or ways of knowing when maintenance will happen since they might not check the dw_maintenance constantly to check. What would be effecient is having an estimate of the time for maintenance before it starts, how long it will be and whatever.

As I said before, I'm the type of person that needs predictability and proper structure so that a meltdown/outburst isn't triggered by a surprise maintenance closure, especially when I don't know how long that will last, it can cause a lot of distress for me.

I don't think there would be any drawbacks, except maybe it might bother some people but it is more beneficial to be aware of what is going to happen. it will give people time to plan what they want to say wisely and possibly know that they have to make an entry before the maintenance starts... or whatever.

(I'm not sure if this is allowed but it is a real problem for me)

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Could you subscribe to

dw_maintenance? You could also use a service like http://blogtrottr.com/ that would email you every time

dw_maintenance updated.

I'm not sure any of that would help me though. i don't check my reading pages everyday, and in fact very seldomly do, same with my email. I only check it once a day and don't really have any auditory cue that I have email, so it would be a bit useless for me.

I need to have either a visual cue right in front of me or an auditory cue to be aware of what is going to happen. And by in front of me, I mean on a profile page or anywhere I go... otherwise, I won't be checking the reading page obsessively to know when maintenance is going to be.

Hrm. Okay, what browser do you use? And what pages do you usually go to?

Chrome and I'm on Facebook and sitemodel most of the time with my friends... so I don't always pay attention to dreamwidth much. >_< I'm also on LJ too.

I meant, what pages on DW do you usually go to? That is, what pages would be most useful to have a banner on?

Oh! I'm usually refreshing my profile page.

Okay, since you use Chrome, I think I found an extension that might help?

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/pnjaodmkngahhkoihejjehlcdlnohgmp

You can use the RSS feed of

dw_maintenance and set that extension to notify you when there is a new post in it. Because DW tries to warn a couple days ahead of time, it should notify you in time to know how to plan. That way, you don't even have to visit the site or check email, the notification thingie would happen no matter what site you were on.

Some more options:

Set up email alerts like

foxfirefey said, but tell that service to update to your *Facebook* address so they show up as Facebook messages.

Also, our maintenance is almost always less than an hour long, usually much shorter. I'm not sure if this would help to know, but it's something.

Hmm. In addition to the options others mentioned, I wonder whether a custom minimal client would work. By which I mean, not a full-featured one, more like something sitting in the background waiting for something to be posted to dw_maintenance, that would then provide you with the cues/reminders you need so you know you should read updates - whether the actual reading happens in your email app or your web browser is up to you. (Details depend on the OS your computer runs, how often your computer is running vs. shut down/suspended/hibernating, and whether you have a permanent Internet connection.)

I've been trying to set it up so my email gives me cues on my iPad. But that hasn't worked out since I have to check it all the time. I always have my iPad with me and to have an auditory cue when i get an email would be so effiecient. The thing is, I use gmail and they haven't made it so that you are notified of an email. D:

OK, this is wandering away from the initial question, and I'm not an expert in either gmail or ipad application development, but some quick websearching suggests it might be possible to have a custom client give you an auditory cue when you get new mail in your gmail inbox, using IMAP and INOTIFY. (Which, if possible, would solve both problems.)

That's easy - set up Mail on the iPad to connect to your GMail account and it'll give you a handy audible and visible cue whenever your GMail account gets a new email.

You don't have to use the Mail program to read the mail if you don't want to - it doesn't delete it from GMail or anything, it just offers an alternative way to access it.

Do you have a smartphone? I believe that you can set some of them up to make an audible noise when you get an email, although I don't know offhand if it would be able to be done with emails from a certain address, but I don't see why it couldn't (considering that phones have different ringtone for different numbers). Maybe someone else can weigh in on this.

I only have an iPhone. D: I wish i could do it on my iPhone too since it's the second thing i tend to use the most. >

An iPhone is a smartphone but I'm not familiar with their features. Maybe someone here might be able to offer advice. I can also look around Google when I am awake if you like (I am in ambien coma currently, lol).

Just to repeat what I said to your suggestion submission so others can see the reasoning as well, we've talked about the idea of having a sitewide notification system across the top of site-skinned pages and journal pages, but a number of people said that would be more of a cognitive accessibility issue for them to have things changing unpredictably (and of course having an additional element inserted into the page can also produce problems for screenreaders).

We do suggest that all users stay subscribed to the

dw_maintenance community (it's why new accounts are subscribed to that community by default) and we try our very best to update it as far in advance as we can whenever there's planned maintenance, whether that will include downtime or not! It is the canonical source for announcement of maintenance, downtime, and other things that might go wrong.

Well, another thing i was going to add, which didn't was for the tagging system... but it might not work for others, like what you said. I did post in the survey thing that I found here so it might actually help you know what might help me and how... i guess. ><;

We can't always fix everything - as

rahaeli said, most people have said that unexpectedly having a banner pop up in their page would be more disruptive to them. It's one of those unfortunate times when different accessibility needs conflict with each other!

BUT it's always OK to tell us what you think and to ask things, so thanks for speaking up :)

r

Putting up a warning notice/banner for maintenance

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject