[webdev] Re: [aclug-L] [announce] webdev project

[Tom Hull <thull@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Dale W Hodge wrote:
> 
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: discussion-bounce@xxxxxxxxx [mailto:discussion-bounce@xxxxxxxxx]On
> > Behalf Of Tom Hull
> >
> >
> > We are organizing a project team to take over and further develop ACLUG's
> > website. I'm the "chairman" of this project team, and I'd like to invite
> > anyone who has a serious interest in community website development to join
> > in and help out. In particular, we need:
> >
> >  * programmers (sql, script languages)
> >  * graphic designers
> >  * content developers and editors
> >  * picky, demanding users (to test)
> >  * server colocation and system administration
> 
> I'm a lousy programmer, and I'm not too good at designing.  But I can tell you
> when something 'works' and when it does not.  I can do content editing, and 
> can
> be demanding if you want me to. :-)  I can also offer web space/server, though
> my outbound bandwidth is currently capped at 128k.

I think that the single biggest chunk of work in the long run is content
management, and the higher your standards the bigger chunk that becomes.
The top two things on my website wish list are:

 1) For problem X, give me the most direct route possible to a comprehensible
    answer.

 2) And give me some user feedback on that.

On web server, we should probably designate a subcommittee to research that and
come up with recommendations. I think we want to colocate, we want root access,
a clean slate for whatever software we want, as much bandwidth as possible, and
physical access when necessary. Someone needs to sign up to figure that out.

> > The first step is to do some brainstorming on content and functionality,
> > and draw up a requirements list (RFC). The second step is to do a
> > technology assessment and decide how to implement the requirements.
> > Then implement, test, review, repeat.
> >
> > My preliminary requirements list includes:
> >
> >  * user/member database, per-user workspaces, user tracking by cookie,
> >    users can add feedback to virtually all pages
> 
> That sounds like a vote for openACS. :-)

OpenACS does all that of the box, but I think it needs some tweaking; Zope
can more/less do that too, again + SMOP. I don't consider the programming
a big deal one way or another -- I mean, that's what I do.

> >  * calendar/news
> 
> Automated news feed from major Linux sites would be a plus.

I was thinking local, but there are lots of RDF sources, lots of RDF
software. I'd like to keep more closely abreast of other LUGs.

> >  * topical directories as framework for user reviews/ratings (e.g.,
> >    software projects, books, Linux-friendly businesses)
> 
> Community feedback rating system?

Yeah. I also think one should be able to "peer up" ratings, so I can
get a set of ratings from a select set of people (or excluding a set
of people) that are more likely to be useful to me; or say in books,
I can get a rating for C books from C experts, or another rating from
C novices. This is a pretty rich area to explore. One example is
Advogato's "trust metric" -- it has some problems because it assumes
that everyone fits on the same scale.

> >  * FAQ front-end and thin framework for linking to Linux documentation
> 
> Searchable documentation, if you please. In fact, the whole site should be
> searchable.

Sure. May even have several options: keyword search, text search. May
also have wrappers for external search tools, like google.

> >  * frameworks for developing tutorials and presentations
> 
> There's already a guide to writing Linux HOWTO's. Perhaps we could use that?

I'd also look into programmed teaching, self-certification, things like
that. Don't know what all is out there; I've heard that Cornell has
something, and that MIT is working toward putting all of their class
materials online.

> >  * community interests (job board, classified ads, auctions?)
> 
> I'm not sure we want to get into the auction business.

I wouldn't want to get involved with the money, and I'd be reluctant to
let businesses sell through the auctions. OTOH, I have a Toshiba portable
with a 286 and two 3.5" floppy disk drives (i.e., no hard drive) that
hasn't been fired up in over a decade but which I'd like to auction off
for highest bid (minimum $0.00).

> >  * ability to distribute site responsibilities
> 
> An absolute must if we want to get this ambitious.
> 
> > Please add to this list, refine it, dispute it, whatever.
> 
> How about photos of group events.  A spot for guest editorials. A place for
> Linux related cartoons or pictures.  Local copy of HOWTO's, so they could be
> searchable on site.  Links to Major Distributions and to thier security
> announcements & errata.

The HOWTOs could be externally searched as well as externally stored.
I've seen LUGs that mirrored them, but they're mostly university-sited,
and it would be cheaper and probably faster not to. Having a local
keyword mapping to a set of external HOWTOs would be nice and possibly
better (if we could keep it maintained).

I'd like to have space for local columnists.

> I'm sure there's more, but that's all that is coming to mind.
> 
> --dwh

-- 
/*
 *  Tom Hull * thull at kscable.com * http://www.tomhull.com/
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