What We’re Working On

Each quarter, our engineers spend the first two weeks prioritizing “potholes” – updates, improvements, and bug fixes that might slip through the cracks with all the other projects they’re working on. This includes updating other open-source software and libraries that Permanent depends on and improvements that help to create a better code environment for our engineers.

Our engineering team worked on some of those improvements in January and has now shifted gears to our larger projects. It might seem like there are fewer visible changes this month on Permanent, but that’s only because there’s a lot of behind-the-scenes work happening! Read on for some projects we’re focused on and a few new releases and bug fixes.

Share with others without a Permanent account (beta): Building a new feature for Permanent can take a lot of steps. Our engineering team has been working to allow unlisted share links in the back-end so we can build the interface in the front end. You might not be able to see these changes yet, but they enable our front-end engineers to start building the screens you will be able to see. 

Designs for a new sharing and publishing experience: The design phase of a new project is crucial to ensure that we have a plan for development and a feature that our members can use. We have been working on a new design that streamlines the sharing and publishing experience on Permanent, based on feedback from our members. We hope our new ideas and designs will make sharing your stories on Permanent more intuitive and straightforward for you and your loved ones. It may take some time until you see these changes on the platform, but designs are an important first step towards making those ideas into a functioning part of the application.

To learn more about our development plans, please check out our updated Product Roadmap.

Recent Releases, Improvements, and Fixes

The first few actions a user takes on Permanent are crucial because they can set the tone for a user’s experience in preserving their materials. That’s why we’ve been working hard on improving the initial steps to create your account and get started on Permanent. A few months ago, we released a new member checklist that encouraged new members to take a few actions to set up their account and archives. We’ve now updated that checklist to include links that take members directly to the spot in the app where they can make those changes. We hope this will help new members get started with preserving their materials quicker and easier.

Bug Fixes: We are always fixing bugs (that is, small problems) that you report to us. For high-priority bugs, our turnaround time is one to two weeks. Recently, we fixed: 1) a bug that generated incorrect public links to individual items in folders, 2) a few bugs and improvements around the sharing experience on the web app and mobile apps, and 3) missing breadcrumbs when navigating through a folder in a public gallery page.

We want to hear from you! If you find a bug or wish to tell us about a feature or improvement you’d like to see, contact us at support@permanent.org and we’ll add it to the list. We’re looking forward to hearing from you.

If you have reported a bug or product improvement and wish to see its status, you can view the Member Improvements List here. We try to work on these bug fixes and improvements in order, so check back to see when your reported issue is resolved.

User Testing Opportunities

Interested in future user testing opportunities? You can sign up to be notified about future user testing opportunities at this link.