Let's Talk about M10 Versioning...

[Bruce - PhosphorMedia]

Ok, I'll try not to rant, but...

Why does it now take 6 clicks to walk back a template version compared to 4 previously?
Why does it create a NEW version when an older version is selected and applied (totally baffling IMO).

Dream Request
Can versioning be given a set of "VCR buttons" that go back or forward one template, and have a checkbox to automatically recall and apply the template (and now I tell my deepest fantisy) have it show a preview of that resulting page.

[lesliekirk]

Ok, I'll try not to rant, but...

Why does it now take 6 clicks to walk back a template version compared to 4 previously?
Why does it create a NEW version when an older version is selected and applied (totally baffling IMO).

Dream Request
Can versioning be given a set of "VCR buttons" that go back or forward one template, and have a checkbox to automatically recall and apply the template (and now I tell my deepest fantisy) have it show a preview of that resulting page.

Creating that new version when you role back can be EXTREMELY misleading. If you want that version, then the date/info should remain, period.

[William Davis]

Well, keeping in mind that I do not work anywhere near as much with templates as others do, I ask myself how would one know which template was in production if they failed to make a mental note of it before working on it and need to roll back to previous version that was in production if it had the original time stamp -yes, I am guilty.

Personally, from a store owners perspective I've never been quite happy with how store versioning worked, though I love the concept and think it was a good start.

When it comes to versioning, I don't have a lot of experience as a developers, etc and perhaps that is a good thing -I can offer a different perspective. Working with versions should be "Keep It Simple Stupid" like using an iPhone for most tasks. I should not have to read, study, or be forced to remember how something I seldom use works for fear I am going to break my store, and no professional want's to be called every time a store owners needs to make minor change and/or edit a sentence. Therefore, finding a balance between the two types of users is IMO where the problem lies.

IMO, every edit should be date and time stamp along with user name with perhaps description on hover and ample notes space that are easily displayed not hidden. Much less hunt for the field if one needs to document something, what if they forget (...Oops, too late already saved -really?). Finally, selective deletion with option to restore deleted templates (e.g.: iPhone Notes).

Finally, it would be ideal if one can develop a solution wherein the system would append some type semantic versioning number (e.g.: v2.0.0) to notes based on if its a new project or revision of one along with type of edit so everyone can be on the same page.

[lesliekirk]

One more thought - the ability to selectively delete unneeded versions.

[William Davis]

One more thought - the ability to selectively delete unneeded versions.

Ditto!

[Kent Multer]

I agree. The template version history is an important tool, and MM10 made it harder to use. It's only a few clicks, but it gets annoying when you use it a lot. And using it a lot is a good practice. I always put in a note when I start an editing session.

To be fair, v10 does have one improvement: the ability to save both a time stamp and a note for each version. That's helpful.

But the history menus should be displayed all the time, and they should be wide enough to display the time stamp and the note, or at least the first few dozen characters of the note.

I have mixed feelings about the new rollback behavior. I suppose there might be some merit in having the store save a record of every change to a template, even when it's just restoring an earlier version. Once I noticed what it does, I started adding an explanatory note, such as "Restoring 7/14 version." It would be nice if the store did that automatically.

[SidFeyDesigns]

I agree with all of the above. At a minimum they need to have it visible all the time and when you recall an old version and update, it SHOULD NOT create a new timestamp. It should hold the original timestamp/note (if entered).

[Brennan]

Appreciate the feedback here. We're looking at ways to always make the template history visible. We purposely hid it in v10 to reduce some noise, but that does add some extra clicks to view it. We could end up making it a user preference, so once you show it once its always shown until you hide it. A keyboard shortcut may also help here for power users.

The other thing to keep in mind is that Miva 10 has a entire new architecture with how templates are managed and saved. Templates changes are not saved individually anymore. They are grouped into Change sets which enables the power functionality in Template Branches where you can copy/merge branches and even roll back to previous versions with a single click.

Because of this change, the version history on the templates works different than in v9. If you roll back to a previous version, then hit update to save it, it will always create a new version. It functions more in line with how a Version Control system such as Git would work. This is also why we don't allow you to delete template versions. We always maintain a full history of the page page templates along with every change made.

[ILoveHostasaurus]

There is a second reason why rolling back creates a new version and why version history is not deleted; security and ability to audit, which many of our customers are placing an increasing importance on. If a bad actor has gained unauthorized access to a store, there's a malicious employee, or even an employee who has made a mistake that they then try to cover up, it is desirable that the changes cannot be undone with no trace of what was actually altered. We of course have logs of the changes being made, but server logs do not include the raw content that was manipulated.

This of course also leads into why we intend to take action related to code and modules that grant direct database access.