Forgot to cc this to the list. Laurel -------- Original Message -------- Subject: Re: moving the website out of CMSMS Date: Tue, 24 Nov 2009 10:32:39 -0500 From: Laurel A. Williams <[email protected]> To: Jess Mitchell <[email protected]>References: <[email protected]> <[email protected]> <[email protected]> <[email protected]> <[email protected]> <[email protected]>
Hi Jess,I'm not sure what the answer is. I like the ease of use of a CMS, but I don't think that we actually use CMSMS to it's full effect. I'm reluctant to suggest we use another CMS or even Wordpress because I don't really think they are the right tools for the job.
It would be very easy to provide the common code blocks of the current website using plain old php within the next week or two - since the php is basically just html it is very easy to maintain. On a less urgent timeline, we could follow that up by integrating fluid components to not only provide the common code blocks, but also use the pager component for the news page, re-implement the UI Options demo on the website, etc.
As for the priorities you've listed below, I think this plan would be able to accommodate most of the elements listed. With the website saved in the svn, it will be easier to work on a freshened design and updated text without impacting the live site.
Integration with the wiki is a whole separate problem that I'm not sure how to address. I think you might need to elaborate on the problem a little bit.
Laurel Jess Mitchell wrote:
Dear All,I wanted to say a few things in this thread but wanted to wait until the kernels of corn had slowed their popping frequency. So, here's my question:Can we build up our website without a CMS with the following requirements: accessible pithy and easy to navigatedynamic -- audio and video are already here -- as are great Fluid componentseasy to update for team members nimble -- able to incorporate new Fluid components as they come online For me the priorities for our web presence are: freshened look and feelfreshened content (incorporate Fluid Foundation work, sensibly make clear the different Fluid projects and Fluid products)no downtime no spam no DOSan integration plan for the wiki -- folks who go to the wiki should not "fall out of" the website sensible urls (e.g. fluidproject.org/demos <http://fluidproject.org/demos>)So, I ask again, can we build this site without a CMS and accomplish these priorities? Or, as Jonathan said, will a modified Wordpress get us there? In other words, what is the best, lowest cost to entry solution?Best, JessOn Nov 19, 2009, at 12:20 AM, [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> wrote:FYI: One of the best spam-protection, comment moderation tools out there is Mollom, which integrates with wordpress and drupal, among others. On Nov 18, 2009, at 9:08 PM, Eli Cochran <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>> wrote:I don't know how useful this information is, but... I learned this afternoon that the jQuery web site is going to move from a MediaWiki based site to Word Press. The jQuery team claims the primary reason is to manage comment spam while allowing for a greater level of community involvement in their documentation. Apparently they felt that the moderation tools in WordPress provided them what they need. - EliOn Nov 17, 2009, at 11:52 AM, Jonathan Hung wrote:I think what we choose will depend largely on what we want to accomplish.If we're looking to build custom features, deliver a lot of content, and desire a lot of control over the presentation, then Drupal may be a good choice. (If we're ambitious and have the resources, Drupal would be an excellent choice to bring together the Wiki, and Jira into a cohesive location.)If we're looking for collaboration, then MediaWiki may be a good route?But if we're wanting something simple to get the message across, then a slightly modified Wordpress is effective.But my question is: What are we trying to accomplish through the website? The answer may help us decide what we do next.- Jonathan. ---Jonathan Hung / [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>Fluid Project - ATRC at University of Toronto Tel: (416) 946-3002On Tue, Nov 17, 2009 at 2:32 PM, Jacob Farber <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>> wrote:Is there a reason we're only thinking in terms of CMSMS or not CMSMS? What about other, more powerful cms's? Jacob On Tue, Nov 17, 2009 at 2:11 PM, Laurel A. Williams <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>> wrote: Hi all, For some time now, we've been discussing moving the website out of CMSMS. I'd like to start a discussion of the pros and cons of doing this and also talk about some techniques we could use for accomplishing the task if we decide to do it. Here is the jira task: http://issues.fluidproject.org/browse/FLUID-3355 Advantages that CMSMS gives us: 1) The ability to allow various community members to post to the website with specific roles such as editor, administrator, and designer. We do not take advantage of this ability right now. The only people who edit the website all have admin access and there are very few accounts. 2) CMSMS allows us to use fixed templates for the header, footer and other common code blocks so we don't have to edit and maintain common code blocks on each page. 3) CMSMS provides some add ons, such as the news pages, breadcrumbs, menu generation and rss feeds with very little work. It also provides a maintenance mode for when we are doing upgrades (a site down message is displayed. Disadvantages: 1) Being constrained by CMSMS has made editing somewhat onerous for experienced web app developers. The CSS is stored in the DB in one place, the common code chunks in another, the content for individual pages in another place. The interface for editing the pages is not very user friendly for people who are used to tweaking html in text editors or using their favourite html editing environment. 2) CMSMS continues to evolve and updates are tricky. There is always a danger of breaking the site when we upgrade and not upgrading puts the website at risk for security flaws. 3) Having the website in CMSMS does not allow us to version the site or revert changes easily. So, if we are merely using CMSMS because of advantages 2 and 3, we should think about alternative techniques. Some thoughts: a) We are a javascript focused project - maybe we should use javascript to tackle these problems. This could have the advantage of allowing us to showcase the Fluid framework on our own website. Colin suggested using something like Kettle to manage various includes. Jess also suggested I develop a 'menu component'. b) I've been doing a lot of PHP lately for the builder. PHP is another option. I think its main advantage is that it would be quick to swap over the current CMSMS site to PHP. I am sure the community has lots of ideas to contribute on this subject, so looking forward to your thoughts. Laurel _______________________________________________________ fluid-work mailing list - [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> To unsubscribe, change settings or access archives, see http://fluidproject.org/mailman/listinfo/fluid-work-- Jacob FarberUniversity of Toronto - ATRC Tel: (416) 946-3002 www.fluidproject.org <http://www.fluidproject.org/> _______________________________________________________ fluid-work mailing list - [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> To unsubscribe, change settings or access archives, see http://fluidproject.org/mailman/listinfo/fluid-work _______________________________________________________fluid-work mailing list - [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>To unsubscribe, change settings or access archives, see http://fluidproject.org/mailman/listinfo/fluid-work. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Eli Cochran user interaction developer ETS, UC Berkeley _______________________________________________________fluid-work mailing list - [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>To unsubscribe, change settings or access archives, see http://fluidproject.org/mailman/listinfo/fluid-work_______________________________________________________fluid-work mailing list - [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>To unsubscribe, change settings or access archives, see http://fluidproject.org/mailman/listinfo/fluid-work------------------------------------------------------------------------ _______________________________________________________ fluid-work mailing list - [email protected] To unsubscribe, change settings or access archives, see http://fluidproject.org/mailman/listinfo/fluid-work
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