[Cu-wireless] NG article

[Chase Phillips]

That article is great press!  Per Dave's comment...

I've not been completely MIA. =)  (Although, I have been out of touch with
Mark and Sascha.)  I have been spending a lot of time lately researching
and trying out various web application frameworks.

Why is "researching web application frameworks" relevant?

  It is my belief that the principal factor missing from the site is the
  ability to be easily updatable.  Even if the site were a simple set of
  XML files stored in CVS, which it is, the person updating the site has
  to have write access to the site's html root directory on
  cuwireless.net / groogroo, a necessarily privileged resource.

Okay, so Sascha and I agreed a while back that making the site updatable
would do wonders.  Mark felt the same, although he had reservations about
making that "updatability" site-wide (he suggested a sandbox within the
current site).  I'll allow for the possibility that opinions have changed,
and now's the time to voice discordant tones.

That said, I think the wisest choice of where I spend my time is to set up
a framework for the website that will make updatability a priority.
Compared to my previous feelings, I care more about getting this factor
right this time around.  Another way to say what I feel is that
whether design is a discussion which we do or do not have, it is largely
irrelevant in the arena of current actions.  Yet, if it's a discussion we
do have, it should happen either out of the way or later.  That discussion
pales in comparison to making the site a living thing.

The floor is open for any comments anyone wants to make, including those
rejecting my ideas.  I don't want to take the site somewhere the group
doesn't want it to go.

If we, however, reach a quorum, then I need to know who will be involved
in setting up/maintaing the site.  I assume I'll be the principal person
setting it up.. so there's one.  The goal would be to open up the site so
dedicated maintainers could exist simultaneously (an active or slash-style
framework).  If there's no dedicated maintainer, that suggests a lot about
what type of framework needs to be used (a wiki-style framework).

It is my belief that if I am the only one involved in selecting a
framework, installing and setting it up (along with the database), it can
be done in a reasonable amount of time, where reasonable is anywhere from
one to four weeks.  (I will be relying heavily on well-known tech, ranging
from the data available at tech.indymedia.org to the docs at
jakarta.apache.org.)  Some of the software is more than likely already set
up on groogroo, which suggests that the conversation I am about to have
with Zach will be really helpful. =)

Note: this should not discourage any updates that need to happen to the
current site in the meantime.  The two processes are independent until the
framework is ready to be put in place.  (The switch should be as simple as
changing the virtual host information on groogroo at the appropriate time.
If I'm mistaken, Zach has the correct answer.)

As I said, if I don't hear discordant tones from anyone, I'll assume
people either agree with me, or I'm the only one that cares.  Lack of
response will lead me to believe working on the framework is a good idea.

regards,
Chase Phillips
--
  shepard at ameth.org ][ -111--0010-0-1100-101-000-01--10
 http://www.ameth.org/ ][ 00-00-01-10--1-00-01-010111010-0

On Mon, 30 Dec 2002, David Young wrote:

>
> This means we had better get back to work on the Web site....
>
> Dave
>
> On Mon, Dec 30, 2002 at 03:40:12PM -0600, Joe Futrelle wrote:
> > Kickass article in the NG
> >
> > http://www.newsgazette.com/story.cfm?Number=12974
> >
> > --
> > Joe Futrelle
> > Person
>
> --
> David Young             OJC Technologies
> dyoung at ojctech.com      Engineering from the Right Brain
>                         Urbana, IL * (217) 278-3933