The Website

[Devon H. O'Dell]

Jeff Jirsa (HMC) wrote:

> 
>>I believe I was the one that requested a core sanction. The reason is I
>>remember when this thread came up before... It's difficult to go out and
>>start doing something and dedicate alot of time when you are not
>>absolutely sure that it will be accepted.
>>
>>A core sanction would also help in other areas... What is the decided
>>platform? Perl, PHP, MySQL, Postgresql.
>>
>>What happens if I go out and do it in mod_perl and mysql, and then a core
>>member says, "It should be done in php like site xyz".
>>
> 
> 
> If core is interested in a redesign, can someone with a few spare minutes
> shoot me an email off-list? 
> 
> - Jeff Jirsa
> 

Honestly, I think that a ``redesign'' is never happening. The reason 
nobody attempts it is because everybody knows that the Foundation will 
never saction it. The current FreeBSD.org site is nice, easy to 
navigate, has good information, etc.

Here is my proposal:

_IF_ people are genuinely interested in doing this, I will set up a Wiki 
or some other form of software in which discussions can take place. We 
can discuss a platform for development, data storage, content 
management, etc.

We will probably need the following (in no particular order):

* Project manager. I'm sick of seeing this bikeshed and I'm happy to 
manage the development of this project, so I will volunteer myself to 
spend whatever time necessary to manage this project, provided the other 
``requirements'' are fulfilled.

* People committed to spend several months merging content from 
freebsd.org to the ``sister site''.

* People willing to develop or set up, maintain and modify a CMS such as 
Plone, EZ Publish, or any other corporate-friendly CMS. This will be an 
ongoing job.

* People willing to create and maintain templates for said CMS.

* People willing to manage content/news/etc. These people will need to 
be in close contact or part of the FreeBSD documentation and security 
projects and will need to be able to update data on the page and post 
security vulnerabilities.

* Corporate content managers. You will need to be willing to spend 
enough time daily/weekly to develop and maintain corporate content. I 
imagine stories will focus on companies using FreeBSD for their products 
or to achieve their work (interviews, reviews, etc.)

* Graphic designers able to come up with corporate logos and who are 
able to work with the corporate team to create logos and graphics for 
the site and for stories.

* Web designers -- this may fall into the category of the template 
administrator as well.

I'm probably underestimating the necessities at the moment, but as you 
can see, finding such a team to work _for free_ is no easy task. That 
said, if you can contribute (and only if you CAN contribute and WILL 
HAVE THE TIME and WILL COMMIT to the project NO DOUBTS, NQA, KTHX, etc.)

Did I mention that if you have a doubt about your ability to commit, don't?

Okay, that said: if you're interested, willing, and able: contact me 
off-list. We will get our shit together and do the following:

* Assign tasks

* Make a roadmap

* Begin with the site

* Develop a write-up and pitch this to the FreeBSD Foundation and core@ 
for their opinions. We will be aiming to create a page that the 
Foundation and core@ will officially endorse as a corporate page. I 
think one of the downfalls with this list is that people talk about it 
and want to talk to the Foundation and core@ about it but:
	a) never do,
	b) haven't put their money where their mouth is, or,
	c) never actually do anything after discussions

* If this is good enough, we will continue assigning tasks, planning, 
mapping, developing and co-working with members of the FreeBSD group.

So. If you're interested, contact me. If you know people who can help, 
get them in on it to. This is a non-paying project. YOU ARE VOLUNTEERING 
YOUR TIME.

Again: if you can't put up, shut up. I'm tired of seeing this thread 
repeated. So let us all do something about it or let us PLEASE let it R.I.P.

Kind regards,

Devon H. O'Dell