[linux-audio-dev] Please VOTE ! LAD website based on PHPNuke

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Subject: [linux-audio-dev] Please VOTE ! LAD website based on PHPNuke
From: Benno Senoner (sbenno_AT_gardena.net)
Date: Fri Jun 01 2001 - 18:38:24 EEST


For those that do not care about the rest, please check out the Poll below and
vote (using an online poll I created) how the LAD homepage should look like.
I do not want to impose anything and this is why I created the poll.
Let's see what the LAD crowd says.

On Fri, 01 Jun 2001, you wrote:
>
> maybe i should make myself more clear: i don't like the "short
> articles posted by users"-format as a general approach for
> everything, because IMHO slashdot et al. are a hell to browse.
> for news and announcements, great, because once they're dated you
> throw them away, but i'd like to have longer, continuous texts as
> well for static content like on some pages of the current lad site,
> because they tend to be more concise, better structured and more
> easily viewable than many tiny articles.
> otherwise, i agree with you.

Yes, I think the ideal case is a combination of the news items and static pages.

>
> > BTW: PHPNuke has a builtin faq section where you can add/del items and categories
> > dynamically.
> > If you do not like it , then you can always resort to a static page.
>
> well, i like it, but i see the problem that the little faq-entry
> articles need to be grouped, merged, sorted etc, to be of maximum
> use. if that's possible, great. if not, i'd rather have a well
> maintained static page. but that's just my opinion.

You can create categories and subcategories (and group the faq entries by
category). You can change the category a faq item belongs to afterwards if you
like.
Not sure if this is enough for you.
>
> not as big as freshmeat. just a little database with
> name,mail,[project,url,text]...,music,privatestuff etc. to get an
> output similar to the current members page but not as a static page,
> because it's getting longish and indeed hard to maintain and view.
> basically the same principle as with the articles, but with
> different fields to make different queries possible and keep a
> better control of the layout.
>
> i could set up such a thing in 2 weeks or so.

Ok.
But I'd like if we could sort out the LAD site debate first.

>
> sure. the first load is ok, but what i hate about slashdot and
> basically all forums is that you often need to load a new page for
> every tiny little article or comment, and load all the candy again
> and again, which *is* slow, and you can't read offline.
> but OTOH, the long load times may result from the banner ads being
> dynamic, as the nav and candy stuff could probably be held in cache.

This is for slashdot, in the case of LAD, there will be VERY few comments per
story (if any at all) so this is not a point to vote against phpnuke.
>
> -.-
>
> you see i'm conservative, basically because i've been fiddling with
> the old page for so long, and have some new ideas in mind that i
> want to implement.
> for me, the natural approach would be: keep the old site framework
> and add user forums where appropriate (news, announcements and maybe
> faq-o-matic. i'm getting really quick at editing it as it is, i
> understand what it does without having to read 20 php sourcefiles,
> and i can implement new stuff step-by-step. plus i'm a no-bullshit
> "offline-capable" fetishist and a bloody nitpicker wrt html :)
> phpnuke is too intrusive and heavyweight to fit into this approach.
>
> but then the phpnuke stuff is damn sexy, and would increase the
> benefit for the visitors in many respects, it's tested and
> maintained and proven useful. it's just that i'm not too strongly
> motivated to migrate the page, because i've just spend another 15
> hours on the old one a week ago. and of course, my way to do it is
> the best ;-)

But this does not mean that you need to migrate your static pages.
As said the boxes links etc appearing on the front page of phpnuke are
completely costumizable so you can put a link link to the stuff you like
in the navigation bar. (eg. faq, developers, ressources etc)

The main question is this: do we want to keep the main page of the LAD site
like yours or do we want the main page displaying the latest news ?

If you structure the navigation bar in a decent way so that users quickly find
what they need, then I think putting the news on the front page is a good idea
since (as soon as the user has read all the "static" stuff) its the news that
costitute the site's main asset. (summaries, reports, announcements of new
releases of software ecc)

It's obvious that I dislike hundreds of articles per week too, but a few
summaries (per week) wouldn't hurt.

That way a web user not willing to read through all the LAD mails simply checks
out the front page every now and then and can quickly get an idea of what's
going on on the linux audio scene.

(for example it would be nice if Dave Philips could post his Musings section on
the LAD site, perhaps along with another summary that summarizes the more
technical discussions).

We need your opinion folks !
What do you think ?
I'm not that convinced to put a static page as the first page.
But on the other hand, one could extract the latest news from phpnuke's DB and
insert this data on the bottom of the static page. (and then if the user clicks
it gets directed to the phpnuke article).

POLL FOR THE APPEARANCE OF THE FUTURE LAD SITE

this is the testing site that I've set up for LAD:
http://www.abctella.com/linuxaudiodev/

I created poll so that people can vote what they prefer:
"What would you prefer as the entry page for the LAD site ?"
1. phpnuke's homepage
2. static page, news will be on a secondary page (phpnuke powered)
3. tatic page with phpnuke's news on the bottom of page
 
Please click below, vote, and leave your comment and name below the poll (click
on "Send your comment"
http://www.abctella.com/linuxaudiodev/pollBooth.php?pollID=2

I'd like to hear from as much people as possible !

> but i don't want to stand in the way. i'll try to be helpful, but i
> wouldn't like to be primary maintainer on a phpnuke system any more,
> because i simply don't know enough about its internals (don't say
> "web-based admin interface", or i'll bite you) and i won't have time
> to grok it until summer vacation.
>
> the operator gets to choose the tools. i agree your tool is very
> powerful, but i don't feel comfortable with it yet, and i have a
> strong dislike of some minor details (just a matter of style,
> really, and no one else will probably care).
> why not take over the job, and i'll be helping with content only ?
> let me know what you think about it.

Let's first determine what kind of site we want , then we will work out
each one's role in managing this site.

I simply thing that we need a site that can at the same time can present
the LAD group to the outside world and that works well as an informational site
for the community interested in linux audio.

Joern: I repeat: you have done an excellent work with the current lad site and
you have certainly invested much time in it, but my belief is that at least
part of the LAD site needs to become more dynamic and that gives each one of us
the possibility to contribute some stuff. (after some peer review / peer
approval .. I'm not saying the LAD site needs to become a collection of random
contributions without any kind of logic behind it .. this would be of course
bad)

Comments ?

Benno.

>
>
> all the best,
>
> jörn
>
>
>
>
>
> --
> Jörn Nettingsmeier
> home://Kurfürstenstr.49.45138.Essen.Germany
> phone://+49.201.491621
> http://icem-www.folkwang-hochschule.de/~nettings/
> http://www.linuxdj.com/audio/lad/

-- 
http://www.linuxaudiodev.com  The Home of Linux Audio Development


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