The idea for the event came out of a Production meeting on the 24th March. Bug Squad team lead Nicola Galgano suggested that while in lockdown we should do a mini PBF.

It was agreed to have a go at leading and organising what was needed to make such an event take place. We launched the first under the title Pizza Bugs and Fun without the Pizza.

Elisa Foltyn agreed to do the graphics and she put the Bugs and Fun @Home tag line, which is an excellent way to sum it all up.

While much of the world is under this COVID 19 situation with some countries imposing social distancing rules, it is a good idea to use the time to help Joomla. We cannot meet and socialise as we would in a normal Pizza Bugs and Fun but with the use of video conferencing, we can meet virtually and get work done as a team.

So the Saturday of the 4th April we set to and opened the Google meeting chat room at 6:00 UTC.

Over the day, we had ten people come in and work on various bugs and write documentation which was all set out in our Google spreadsheet:  a documentation tab for those willing to write documentation and also translate documentation into their own language, a tab of patches to test so that they can be verified and added to the core of Joomla and a tab with areas of code that still needs to be written. Finally, a tab with resources.

It went well as an event and rather than close at 18:00 UTC we carried on until gone 21:00 UTC.

We also decided that a beginners session would be worth adding to the Friday evening before the Saturday event. So on Good Friday,  I added a beginners session and will continue that every Friday until we finish the Bugs and Fun @Home sessions.

On Saturday we tried some alternatives to the Google meeting room, as there is the issue that the admin must be there all the time to let people in. We tried using Zoom, a paid-for version. To stop any unwanted guests coming into the meetings, we have added passwords and people can join instantly if they first get the details from the spreadsheet placed in the RingCentral Joomla Community area on the day of the event.

The Saturday started with a group from Italy, and then other nations joined in. I personally got a lot from the session as I did the week before, both in learning about Joomla and the process of bringing this CMS all together, but also from the individuals and their willingness to share their knowledge and experiences.

If you have any time to spare this Saturday to help the project or you would like to take part in the Friday session to learn how to do more in the Saturday session, please do check out the sheet with details of the bugs to squash here:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1TR_-NqoPDSWnUnysT2MRdINVyXCnkzyJteml8-CfFAc/edit?usp=sharing

You can contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. for help and to give feedback on the events so far.

The meeting room details will be posted in the community channel and the Bugs & Fun at Home channel in RingCentral (Glip).

The room will be kept open from 6.00 UTC until 18.00 UTC Saturday.

See you online.