[Linux-aus] Linux Australia Website

[Andrew Donnellan]

On 11/17/06, James Purser <purserj at k-sit.com> wrote:
> Okay to add some further detail to what I am envisioning.
>
> The site needs to be simple to manage. This means simple to manage from
> a non techie point of view.

I suppose that means a WYSIWYG editor. Who are we looking at to
maintain the site and are they really 'non-techies'?

>
> Secondly it needs to be extendable. We need to be able to extend the
> functionality of the site for any special requirements.

Zope can do this, a lot of the PHP CMSes have modules. Django and
other frameworks would require code to be written, although that is
not too hard.

>
> Thirdly it needs to be supportable. By this I mean that if/when there is
> changing of the guard the new people aren't presented with some archaic
> codebase and the knowledge and documentation is up to scratch.
>
> Those are my criteria for selecting the method for building the site.
> Comments are welcome.
>
> Now to what the site has to actually offer:
>
> - Member_db integration: Any site we develop is going to need to
> integrate seemlessly with Stewarts member_db system. This will include
> look and feel as well as functionality.

If we choose a non-PHP based system a rewrite of member_db would be
required. Based on what I've seen of its functionality it shouldn't be
all that difficult to integrate.

> - LA News Feed: As with the current site, we need to be able to keep
> members informed via RSS and on site news.
> - LA Press Feed: Media mentions of Linux Australia and events/issues
> affecting LA membership.

By RSS as well?

> - LA Store: This is a new item. Part of the discussion at the Face to
> Face was various methods of raising funds for LA outside of
> linux.conf.au. The LA Store would enable LA to sell merchandise and
> better handle donations. Integration with the main site would be best.

Many PHP CMSes have store modules, however if we choose a non-CMS
solution we may not be able to do that level of integration.

> - Jobs Database: As with the current site, we need to be able to offer
> an area where jobs can be posted for viewing. As I understand it, this
> is done via a mailing list/page generator magical thing.
> - LA Monthly news letter: Something new and not a necessity but a nice
> to have. This would give people the opportunity to submit articles and
> tutorials on various FOSS services and packages.
> - LA Media: As some of you may remember I started a media sub ctte a
> little while ago. This hasn't done much lately. However there is a
> wealth of video and audio from various LUGs around the country that
> could be shared across the various groups. Whether this gets integrated
> with the main site, or gets its own site is open to debate.

All seems quite good.

For a site of this type Drupal would suit at least for now but in the
long term I think it may be better to roll our own stuff with Django
or Zope, as I find that while they are harder to set up they can be
much more maintainable in the long term.

-- 
Andrew Donnellan
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