[kdewebdev-site] redesign of the quanta web site

[Chris Martin]

Philipp Wendisch wrote:
> Chris Martin wrote:
>> Andras Mantia wrote:
>>> On Tuesday 17 April 2007, Philipp Wendisch wrote:
>>>> Andras Mantia wrote:
>>>>> On Tuesday 17 April 2007, Philipp Wendisch wrote:
>>>>>> yes it is, i work on debian, and it's quite simple. drupal comes
>>>>>> with its own installer. but actually i rather use typo3 instead of
>>>>>> having to deal with drupal, beside the fact that drupal is mysql-
>>>>>> and postgresql-only.
>>>>> So I have no idea what is typo3. Any link how to install drupal on
>>>>> Debian? I assume it is not that simple like "apt-get install
>>>>> drupal".
>>>> yes, but it is very easy, grab the tarball form drupal.org, unpack it
>>>> and run the install-script from your browser. it is quite straight
>>>> forward
>>> The server where this should run is in a remote place (without X
>>> installed), but I have full rights to it. Do I run the install script
>>> on my browser at my local computer? Well, I will see it later (once I
>>> get some time for this), but if you have the answer/experience, I'd be
>>> glad to hear it.
>>>
>>>> typo3 is another cms, it is very powerful. and  -yes- there is a
>>>> debian package available ;-) a little search on apt-get.org reveals
>>>> where to find it
>>>> http://www1.apt-get.org/search.php?query=typo3&submit=Anfrage+abschic
>>>> ken&arch%5B%5D=i386&arch%5B%5D=all
>>> Good this apt-get.org. I'm not a Debian guru, my system runs suse, but
>>> the server where kdewebdev.org is hosted is a debian one, this is why
>>> I'm asking about debian.
>> Who needs apt-get.org? just use apt-cache
>>
>> apt-cache search typo3
>> apt-cache show typo3
>>
>> If you have any Debian questions, feel free to email me. I've been using
>> it on my desktop, and servers, for years.
> 
> I only posted the link to show how easy it is for non-debian users to find
> packages ;-)
> 
>>
>>>> but after all before discussing wether to use a ready made cms, would
>>>> there be any effort? ok I do not have access to the website-svn, but
>>>> before switching it would be interesting to know wether it would be a
>>>> waste of the already existing code or not. would it make sense?
>>> Surely we will waste some code. The question is how useful would be a
>>> CMS in the end, when you think about maintenance, adding new features
>>> (like rss feeds, blogs, forums), updating its look and feel and so on. 
>> The real question is what do the developers want? I think RSS is a
>> given, but that's easy enough to code (and it comes built in to most
>> blogs/forums). Do you guys want blogs? Do you want forums? Or are you
>> just giving examples?
>>
>>
>>> I don't know the answer for these questions as I never used any CMS.
>>> I wrote part of the kdewebdev.org code to easy our work as much as
>>> possible regarding adding new releases, news, sub-sites and all these
>>> from Quanta itself, so it is basicly also a test-bed for Quanta. I'd
>>> like to continue to use Quanta in the future as well to maintain the
>>> site, but would be interesting to see how Quanta can be made to work
>>> together with a CMS.
>> IMO a CMS is intended to not have to use such as Quanta. Obviously the
>> site developer would use it to create/edit/upload templates and such,
>> but the content would be added and managed through the CMS. In theory,
>> once the site is up and running, you wouldn't really need Quanta for
>> updating content.
>>
>>
>>>  After all it comes down to the same thing: make the site easier to
>>> maintain and develop.
>>>
>>> Andras
>>>
>> I think CMS are easy to maintain (in a pointy clicky way).
>> I also think the people that maintain the kdewebdev site are more than
>> capable to edit code, and don't need features a CMS provides. Unless
>> they just want an easy WYSIWYG editor to type news into. If that's all
>> you want, FCKeditor or TinyMCE could be dropped in to a page to add
>> news, FAQs, etc., much easier than moving everything to a CMS.
>>
>> Also IMO CMS are a pain to develop around, especially for the type of
>> things that the kdewebdev sites already contain. BUT, that said, things
>> like RSS, blogs, and forums all come with most CMS (or are available as
>> a plugin). So, again, it's really a matter of what the developers want.
>>
>> It's been a while since I've looked at the site code, but if I remember
>> correctly there is already some form of template in place. I was
>> thinking it applied to all sites (*.kdewebdev.org), but I could be
>> wrong. Seems to me it'd be easier to just drop the new design in that,
>> rather than try and stuff it all into a CMS.
>>
>> I realize old accounts weren't moved to the new server. So if you'd
>> create mine again, I'll check out the latest site code. That way I'm not
>> speaking from fading memories, and could make a more informed suggestion.
>> I can also do what I can to assist in coding new features, or
>> integration (with either the new design into the existing site, or a CMS).
>>
> 
> I never had an account to view the code, but as you are obviously gifted
> programmers, I am sure a CMS would not be that neccessary. For blogging, it
> would be ok to use a blogging engine such as wordpress or similar, because
> there is none on kdewebdev.org yet.
> 
> I must say that the page itself has proven to be well structured, I find
> everything I need. So why not improve eye candy and keep the code?
> 
> And providing a news feed or aggregate other news is really not that
> complicated that it could not be done within some spare time (for example mine).
> 
> And using a CMS IMO would mean to give up Quanta's very own designation:
> developing webapps. I mainly use Quanta to extend CMSs, create XHTML/CSS-Based
> Templates, and not to create content.
> 

Agree, this is roughly what I was saying. :)
The sites are a way for Andras and the others to "Eat their own dog 
food" as they say in the programming world. So, by using a CMS, they'd 
be eating someone else's dog food. ;)

-- 
Chris Martin
Web Developer
http://chriscodes.com