ziizoo blog

We’ve recently modified our server backup strategy out of necessity as the ziizoo community continues to grow. The good news is that we’ve added a new level of redundancy to the process to ensure we’re always able to recover 100% from minor issues or major disasters. The bad news — there’s always bad news when I start with the good news — is that the new process still needs a couple of kinks worked out.

The server should be back online within the hour. Thanks for your patience!

Most of you are aware that the new session tool beta has been available on the site for just over a week now. I’ve spent the past week squashing bugs, some of which we were aware of but many of which you reported – so thank you! As with any rich internet application (RIA), if issues are going to surface, it will be during the user testing phase, when the application is released ‘into the wild’ — different runtime environments in different browsers under different operating systems over different networks, etc. So now that I’ve implicated each of you in the testing process, keep the feedback coming!

The new session tool is Adobe Flex-based. It’s written in ActionScript3 (AS3) and relies on both Flash Media Server (FMS) and Java server components to function. Whiteboard, audio, and video communication are routed through FMS, while text chat, presence, and session controls are all routed through Jabber (aka XMPP). If you’re interested in learning more about the architecture behind the entire ziizoo site, stay tuned for a full write-up. I think the acronym threshold for this posting has already been surpassed, and I’m just talking about the session tool itself.

UPCOMING FEATURES
In addition to addressing any outstanding issues with the current version (see ‘known issues’ below), we are hard at work on several key features that will be rolled into the client over the next couple of months. I’ll just highlight those briefly:

• whiteboard saving – This is one that we lost (temporarily) in the transition to the new client, so it’s one of the first major improvements to be addressed. You may have noticed that when you run out of whiteboard space, you can create a new page without clearing the current whiteboard just by clicking on the ‘page forward’ button. That should provide some relief while we continue work on the ‘save’ function.
• digital locker integration – The first phase of this happens with whiteboard saving, but phase 2 will bring full digital locker integration with the ability to copy art assets, documents, diagrams, etc., directly into the whiteboard space of an active session.
• audio/video – This is a critical feature for us. Audio was available in the previous tool, but it was built on an entirely different system. We’re letting the FMS do what it does best and shelving the P2P Jingle-based solution for the time being. The good news is that we’ll soon have high quality audio and video connectivity available.
• subject-specific whiteboard tools – In addition to the ‘stamp’ tool defaults we’ve included for now, tutors will have access to a long list of subject-specific icons, images, and symbols to make redundant tasks much easier.
• emoticons – OK, we know they won’t make or break a successful tutoring session, but as a veteran of IM client and server development, I assure you we will have your emoticons fix soon.
• ‘… is typing’ – Another indispensable feature for text chat, this one should find its way into a build as soon as the higher priority items are addressed.
• Many more…

KNOWN ISSUES
And finally, here are some known issues with the new tool. This is also where your feedback becomes key, since an application like this depends on factors unique to your particular setup.

1. Firefox on OS X – display issues. The tool runs properly but displays sporadically, with the foreground (session tool) losing focus each time the background (ziizoo web app) is updated. We’re recommending OS X users (which includes me) stick with Safari for the time being until we can solve this problem on FF.
2. post-session reload of session tool – unexpected re-initialization of the Flex app after the session has ended. This has popped up during testing and a fix is in the works.
3. occasional ‘misconnects’ – spotty connections to the session room. Several factors were contributing to this problem. Most have been addressed but some changes are being made to alleviate the issue altogether.
4. incorrect positioning of scroll bars on whiteboard – object control buttons become inaccessible. This happens sporadically when you draw a shape on the whiteboard, usually near the page border.
5. corporate firewall traversal – the session tool needs several persistent and non-persistent connections to different servers during operation, and part of that communication is over a port range that’s not always available behind corporate firewalls. This has been a known issue since the early days and a solution can be put in place quickly if many of you experience connection problems.
6. there are never more than 5…

Happy 2008, everyone!

We enjoyed an extremely busy December with major improvements on the technology side and are now in the final phase of testing the new session tool. If all goes as well as it has so far, we’ll do the official unveiling within the coming week. Exciting, huh?

We think you’ll appreciate the overhaul immediately, but I’ll do a full write-up with all the fun details to coincide with the official launch. So stay tuned!

UPDATE: I’ll post details tomorrow, and you’ll be receiving a formal announcement as well, but I wanted to break the news that the new session tool is available as of a few minutes ago! (around 2:30AM CST 01/13/08)

I just wanted to write a quick post to let you know we’re aware of the issues several of you are having with launching sessions. We’re finding the current version of the tool incompatible in many cases with IE7, and possibly IE6 on Windows Vista. Our goal is to be 100% platform agnostic — any browser on any operating system. In the meantime, we suggest you try using Firefox if you’re experiencing problems on IE.

Progress on the new Flash-based session tool is coming along very nicely, and with any luck we’ll have it ready for a January 1st launch, so hang in there! I’ll post separately on that.

The main server was offline from about 2:30AM to 10:30AM CST. This was unscheduled downtime. I’ll post more here when I get more details but wanted to let you know we’re working on it in the meantime. Thanks!

The latest round of server upgrades introduced a new bug that several of you have let us know about. During sessions, transcripts are now re-saved every minute. The goal is to make sure students and tutors have access to session transcripts, even if the session ends abnormally. However, a bug in the code is causing new files to be created in the digital locker every minute of the session, rather than updating the same file.

The fix is in the works and should be in place later tonight. Once the issue has been addressed your digital locker will be cleaned up and you should only see a single copy of saved transcripts for each session. As always, thanks for your patience and don’t hesitate to notify us of any further problems.

Several of you have reported that the digital locker has stopped working as expected recently. The problem has been isolated — the culprit was a mis-configured system clock on the server, which in turn caused problems during file synchronization with our off-site storage service.

Your files should be available again in the next 15 minutes. Let us know if you have any problems.

We’ll be launching a new Flash-based session tool interface to replace the current version very soon. We’re aware of the issues many of you have run into when launching sessions and have made the decision to switch to a brand new solution. This means you and your students will be able to connect much more quickly and enjoy productive sessions without some of the connection woes you may have experienced with the first version.

I’ll post more details as they emerge. I’ll try to update the blog on a daily basis, but if I miss a day now and then, I’m probably busy writing code. Just remember you can always write me directly for specific status updates, technical support, or to report bugs. Thanks!

Well it’s one of those nights. Our hosting service is experiencing difficulties, so if you’ve checked the site tonight you may have found the server down.

We’ve scheduled a move to a higher capacity internet host in the next two months, but if the problems continue we’ll make the transition sooner than planned.

Bear with us and check back here for updates…

I’ve heard from several of you that the session tool sometimes hangs during startup. This could be for a couple of reasons, both of which have permanent solutions in progress.

First, your browser may report the SSL certificate as untrusted. The certificate is currently self-signed by ziizoo, meaning you still get industry standard security but that none of the major Certificate Authorities (Verisign, Thawte, etc.) have validated the certificate. By next week, you’ll see the certificate reported as trusted. Depending on your browser and configuration you may still see a popup asking to confirm the launch, but the language should be a little less confusing and things should move a bit more swiftly.

Second, if you’re getting past this point and the session tool hangs during the actual login and authentication process, you can try hitting ‘Cancel’, followed by ‘Retry’ on the login status window. This won’t invalidate the currently launching session, and you should still be able to enter the room to join your student (or tutor). Again, this is only a temporary workaround for the problem, and a permanent solution will be in place within the next several days.

We could definitely use your help in getting the tool working smoothly, cross-platform and cross-browser. We’ll be adding an error reporting link specifically for the session tool shortly, but for now you can use the general ‘report a problem’ link if you experience difficulty.

Oh, and if you haven’t already done so, don’t forget to choose your 5 ‘wish list’ features from the poll several posts down. Thanks!