I've been posting quite a bit recently at the digital point forums and have made a couple of contributions to this thread looking at
installation scripts. My first post was looking at verifying that all files were present. This is an idea that requires some more work and I'll probably write up a class and post about it here in the future.
As an after-thought I also suggested that an installation script should offer the user the option to register for security announcements from the developer.
The more I think about it the more sense this makes. They're in the process of installing a new application on their server so they are fairly likely to want to know about any potential problems. It seems strange that this functionality isn't more commonly available.
I've occasionally seen a latest news feed displayed on the starting page of the admin backend, which is certainly a step in the right direction, but once a site is set up the way you want it you may not use the admin area all that frequently. Email notifications would be a valuable addition.
Beyond security updates a diverse range of other features could also be available. Some granular control is important here, most users will want to sign up for security updates but if they also get a bunch of added extras they don't want they may just not sign up at all. It should be possible to sign up for security announcements and the seperately for any extras available.
Other ideas include automatically getting a link in a directory dedicated to the application. Links could even be listed in terms of popularity if the user allowed usage statistics to be returned. Automated registration at a support forum. Email notification of new plugins. All ideas which could be integrated with an installation script.
Things have been quiet around here in terms of entries so to keep things rolling here are a few interesting links I've discovered over the past few days . . . Florian posted a comment over on the msn contact grab entry highlighting a warning error if
Tracked: May 25, 22:07