Author Topic: Next generation pdaXrom.org site  (Read 3610 times)

Laze

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 704
    • View Profile
    • http://www.pdaXrom.org
Next generation pdaXrom.org site
« on: November 02, 2004, 11:26:19 am »
So many people are talking about the new pdaXrom site so i thought i would ask for a little feedback.. (Please post links to the things you refer too)

1. If were going to use a content management system what do you the user prefer? Xoops look okay but also quite "limited"

2. What bugreporting system should we use? Bugzilla looks kinda overkill - that might just be me :-)

3. What system should be used for "open documentation"/Faq? Wiki etc?

Please also post whatever crazy ideas you might have..
C760 running pdaXrom lastest ;-)
SL5500 Running Cacko Qtopia
512 MB SD Card, 128 MB CF Card, Prism2 CF Wlan.

Always visit http://www.pdaXrom.org for latest news.

fabianE

  • Jr. Member
  • **
  • Posts: 60
    • View Profile
Next generation pdaXrom.org site
« Reply #1 on: November 02, 2004, 12:06:55 pm »
Hello,

for the CMS, I vote for typo3 (www.typo3.org), open-source, full-featured, lot's of extensions (http://typo3.org/extensions/repository/list/), good documentation (http://typo3.org/documentation/, also videos as tutorials).

It's based on php, mysql (optional imagemagik) so it is easy to run. Allows everything you expect from a modern CMS (though PHP/Mysql limit scalability a little bit).

There is also a 30-day trial hosting available (http://www.typo3server.com/typo3_testen.html German homepage).

Regards,

Fabian

P. S.: Maybe take a look at Mantis for bug tracking (http://www.mantisbt.org/)

pgas

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 1097
    • View Profile
    • http://
Next generation pdaXrom.org site
« Reply #2 on: November 02, 2004, 01:05:58 pm »
I vote for an open wiki or a wiki like CMS where it is very easy to register ie send a mail to an admin and gets an login, just to filter spammers.

A wiki is very simple and can do for Faq, for news and documentation and everyone can review an article.
 
I vote against an all in one soution with 40 options for posting an info, see here on the zug for instance, the wiki
was used a bit but abandonned, the faq is also a bit dead (though there is still a lot of info there).

You allready give bugreporting,  forums here ....
SLC-860 cacko / senao wifi

blakeyez

  • Jr. Member
  • **
  • Posts: 90
    • View Profile
    • http://
Next generation pdaXrom.org site
« Reply #3 on: November 02, 2004, 01:15:26 pm »
I suggest using Trac: http://projects.edgewall.com/trac/

It offers a full wiki system and bug/issue tracking, which integrates fully with a subversion (http://subversion.tigris.org) source code repository.  I've used it for a few projects and it works VERY well.  You can associate repository commits with bugs/issues to allow for easy cross-referencing, etc etc.

I'd be more than willing to help set it up, as well.

Dave

dz

  • Administrator
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 589
    • View Profile
    • http://www.dangerz.net
Next generation pdaXrom.org site
« Reply #4 on: November 02, 2004, 01:20:34 pm »
For a CMS, I suggest writing your own
http://www.dangerz.net
c860 : Cacko
The greatest experience we can have is the mysterious.
- Albert Einstein

ikm

  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 172
    • View Profile
    • http://
Next generation pdaXrom.org site
« Reply #5 on: November 02, 2004, 01:53:30 pm »
Bug tracking: Bugzilla. It is very attentive and responsible. Once you try installing and using it, it doesn't look complex at all. There may be some better alternatives, but bugzilla is proven by many projects and it is really good.

Wiki: MediaWiki. That is the one that runs wikipedia.org. I know of no better wiki software out there. I have even installed it on my local computer to take notes. I can barely use other wikis anymore
It lives here: http://wikipedia.sourceforge.net/

p.s. Interestingly, wikipedia.org uses bugzilla for bugtracking as well. They know what to choose, don't they?
« Last Edit: November 02, 2004, 02:07:09 pm by ikm »

Laze

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 704
    • View Profile
    • http://www.pdaXrom.org
Next generation pdaXrom.org site
« Reply #6 on: November 02, 2004, 03:13:21 pm »
I was looking at mantis - looks simpler and easier to configure and use - any "i hate mantis!! " -comments and why?
C760 running pdaXrom lastest ;-)
SL5500 Running Cacko Qtopia
512 MB SD Card, 128 MB CF Card, Prism2 CF Wlan.

Always visit http://www.pdaXrom.org for latest news.

pgas

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 1097
    • View Profile
    • http://
Next generation pdaXrom.org site
« Reply #7 on: November 02, 2004, 04:05:12 pm »
IMHO I think any bugreport that gives the opportunity to add comments
and an easy way to add a link to the documentation so that anybody can suggest a workaround
(and perhaps a screenshot for a "visual" ) will do as there are not so many bug reports.

Trac seems nice
SLC-860 cacko / senao wifi

pmf

  • Jr. Member
  • **
  • Posts: 64
    • View Profile
Next generation pdaXrom.org site
« Reply #8 on: November 02, 2004, 06:39:58 pm »
Quote
1. If were going to use a content management system what do you the user prefer? Xoops look okay but also quite "limited"

2. What bugreporting system should we use? Bugzilla looks kinda overkill - that might just be me :-)

3. What system should be used for "open documentation"/Faq? Wiki etc?

1. All PHP CMSs are frustrating. Eg. the file-uploading via HTTP-POST is incredibly braindead with them when compared to a simple "/incoming"-FTP-directory. If you have access to an Apache2-server, use WebDAV.

2. Flyspray. If you use Bugzilla, much fun trying to integrate the Perl-bugzilla-scripts with your PHP site ... it just won't fit.

3. Ewiki. Integrates the Wiki into your site with a simple call to <?php print(ewiki_page()); ?> instead of expecting you to force-fit your site into the Wiki.
« Last Edit: November 02, 2004, 06:41:02 pm by pmf »

ikm

  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 172
    • View Profile
    • http://
Next generation pdaXrom.org site
« Reply #9 on: November 02, 2004, 08:07:51 pm »
Quote
2. Flyspray. If you use Bugzilla, much fun trying to integrate the Perl-bugzilla-scripts with your PHP site ... it just won't fit.

3. Ewiki. Integrates the Wiki into your site with a simple call to <?php print(ewiki_page()); ?> instead of expecting you to force-fit your site into the Wiki.
What's the point in all this integration, really? To have fancy menus all the same everywhere?

I think products here should be chosen by their functional and usability characteristics, not just because they are written on that particular language or use some particular framework. While the latter is nice, it is very frustrating to get a nice integrated site useful for nothing in all its integrity.

I would rather not have written all this, but unfortunately I already had the experience of the integrated nothingness in my life. It involved two mistakes from my side: first, choosing intergrity over functionality, and second, judging by the first look. At first, it looked nice. Unfortunately, it end up smelling bad. That is why these days I suggest bugzilla, as a tool of success many great projects use, and mediawiki, which was based on some real demands and evolved to be a really powerful and handy engine judjing by the wikipedia todays success and fragrance. I also have my own personal experience with both tools -- and I like using them just myself, too.

But these are only suggestions, I would never insist on anything here. The only thing I would really recommend for Laze is to ponder everything carefully before making final decisions. If you want trying mantis -- good, go for it, but finding real facts about use of it in real life would be crucial. A quick google glance was full of 'wow, this looks cool, installing was a snap, tried filing one bug so far and it worked, how nice', but not much of 'I have been using it for year and now I got something to say'. In fact, no, I found one, someone said he end up having patching something in it and migrating to another BT. Oh well.

Make up your own opinions and findings, try using it yourself and so on -- but just don't make fast decisions. That is all I ask, really. Judjing from the first look is dangerous -- just a personal experience I wanted to share.
« Last Edit: November 02, 2004, 08:10:30 pm by ikm »

kopsis

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 329
    • View Profile
    • http://kopsisengineering.com
Next generation pdaXrom.org site
« Reply #10 on: November 03, 2004, 09:13:45 am »
Bugzilla is an excellent defect tracking system but it's really designed for developers and not end users. I have some experience getting non-developers to accept Bugzilla and it was a painful process. I eventually had to tailor Bugzilla to reduce the complexity of the bug entry and query forms. In the process I learned the hard way that Bugzilla was not designed to be customized.

Mantis is a pretty good lightweight alternative--especially for non-developer bug reports. The UI is cleaner and more intuitive which means that users are less likely to just say "forget it" half way through and leave bugs unreported. Mantis isn't quite as featureful as Bugzilla but it's more than adequate for end user bug tracking. Mantis is being sucessfully employed by a number of reasonably large projects including phpBB (a reasonably popular and active forum package).

As for Wikis, MediaWiki is excellent. I also recommend TWiki (Perl based) and MoinMoin (Python based). All three are stable and have excellent feature sets. TWiki has some really sophisticated plug-ins available and it's "forms" capability, though difficult to learn, is extremely powerful (I've actually created an entire requirements management system using TWiki forms). MoinMoin is probably the most "hackable" wiki I've found. The Python code is pretty clean and it's very well architected.

For CMS systems you might want to look at Mambo CMS. My company's website will be migrating to that if I can ever get the template finished. CMS systems are a very "personal" thing so you really need to try out several to see what fits both your site's needs and your own personality.

Laze

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 704
    • View Profile
    • http://www.pdaXrom.org
Next generation pdaXrom.org site
« Reply #11 on: November 03, 2004, 05:57:20 pm »
Im actually quite "happy" with mantis so far - i haven't tried flyspray - looks kinda small and easy to setup - so i will soon try it.

Wiki/documentation system will probally be home built :-)

User system with ability to make users developers and thereby they get FTP access to uploading to feed and edit feed entries :-)

Im just planing it now so nothing is down in ultraedit yet :-)
C760 running pdaXrom lastest ;-)
SL5500 Running Cacko Qtopia
512 MB SD Card, 128 MB CF Card, Prism2 CF Wlan.

Always visit http://www.pdaXrom.org for latest news.

ScottYelich

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 992
    • View Profile
    • http://www.zaurususergroup.com/modules.php?opmodload&namephpWiki&filei
Next generation pdaXrom.org site
« Reply #12 on: November 04, 2004, 10:36:12 am »
I vote for wiki, with two sections...

like the forum --

one open, will probably get spammed, etc.

one for registered users, etc.

Although I don't know much about it, I would like to see the rom source code be in a
centralized (mirrored? etc) and managed system so people could check out microupdates,
etc.

Scott