I wouldn't mind doing something like that myself.
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I wouldn't mind doing something like that myself.
OP
OP
ssc456
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OK
Soooooo to move this on can I get a couple of confirmations that it is a blog we are going to go for?
If so here are some outlines for it:
Blog Basics
Feature List
Any other features / suggestions, please reply here, i'm 99% sure that not all of you will be happy with what I have posted above but that's fine, let's get a list of features and basics and then we can decide which ones we are going to include as a "Must Have" and which ones will be a "Nice To Have" and which ones we don't think are worth the time and effort.
Once we have this I will start putting together a draft project plan where we can look at time scales and phases.
Just as a heads up I see Phase One largely being split into 2 (possibly 3) teams.
Database Design and Structure
Default Blog Design and Layout
Software / Project Name, Logo design etc.
Soooooo to move this on can I get a couple of confirmations that it is a blog we are going to go for?
If so here are some outlines for it:
Blog Basics
- Admin Login (Probably a couple of different permission levels stored in a SQL table)
- Content posting (Text, Images, Videos, Links)
- Changeable themes (Colour schemes, Layouts, Images etc)
Feature List
- Blog / Post Sharing (Facebook, Twitter to begin then look for more)
- Post Comments / Replies
- Post Ratings / Likes (Thumbs Up Thumbs Down type thing)
- Trends (Possibly like the top right hand box in CF, Larger font = more popular)
- Post Key Words
- Historic Posts / Archive (By Year / Month)
- Mobile Compatible
Any other features / suggestions, please reply here, i'm 99% sure that not all of you will be happy with what I have posted above but that's fine, let's get a list of features and basics and then we can decide which ones we are going to include as a "Must Have" and which ones will be a "Nice To Have" and which ones we don't think are worth the time and effort.
Once we have this I will start putting together a draft project plan where we can look at time scales and phases.
Just as a heads up I see Phase One largely being split into 2 (possibly 3) teams.
Database Design and Structure
Default Blog Design and Layout
Software / Project Name, Logo design etc.
OhSnapWord
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I have a few suggestions for some nice to have features.
- Member registration
- Subscription or email notification of new messages
- Social network integration. Allow users to register and login using Facebook, Twitter, Google, etc
jmacavali
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I'm not taking part in this but have been watching. I ran across this online and thought maybe you guys would be interested.....or maybe not. No hard feelings either way.
Printcraft
Printcraft
Just found this thread - I've got a few thoughts generally speaking, feel free to take them or leave them:
Definitely go open source. Not just because of the warm fuzzy feeling you get from releasing the source code to the world, but because it makes it easier for people to join in, it means you can get as much free storage as you need and perhaps most crucially you get to use GPL licensed libraries, of which there are *loads*. Of course, there are commercial equivalents, but then you're just shelling out money for equivalent libraries with less support and for something that (let's face it) is very unlikely to turn into a commercially viable project.
Looking back through those in this thread, there's a lot of people involved who are just starting out with the development side of things, and perhaps aren't all that confident. So in order for this to work well it should be easy to get going, easy to use. In that regard I'd plump for using Google code over sourceforge or github (the interface is much easier, sourceforge is a beast and github is, well, bloody github.) Stick with subversion, I know all the rage is with DVCS these days but we're not planning on doing loads of branching at present and can always switch later to Hg or Git if we so wish. Svn is stable, well used, has loads of resources around and more well developed clients (like tortoise) than you can shake a stick at.
When you get a Google code page (or whatever else) then use it. Use the wiki pages for discussions, use other wiki pages for finalising ideas, create FAQs and instructions for people getting the code and modifying it, requesting commit access and so on. Make them easy to follow.
In terms of hardware - if you want this to be as accessible to as many people as possible, then cut any specialised hardware out of the equation, at least for now - and by that I'm including things like Arduinos that are readily available. Not everyone has them, not everyone even wants to get them and it adds a whole other layer of complexity that can put people off. As well as making things more difficult of course.
It may seem like I'm being a bit of a kill joy and condemning all "interesting" and "cool" and "new" things here, but as said to start with, the majority of these things don't last - the interest dwindles substantially just after the work-load becomes apparent, people become busy when they don't expect it, and then the thing falls apart. I'm not just talking about projects here, it's the same everywhere. And this is especially the case when you're looking to create something for the sake of learning and creating something, rather than because there's a particular need for that product. So in order to make this succeed it does need to be made easy to get going, easy to carry on and without unnecessary hurdles.
Also, make sure everyone is happy with what's being chosen, don't plough on ahead too soon. Just in this thread so far we've got some people going as far as discussing the particular features they want in a blog project, and others that haven't decided on a blog at all. Those are already early warning signs of a fragmented project where people's attention starts to wander quickly... take your time, there's nothing to be gained from rushing into this.
Now regarding my participation - I'll happily do my best to answer any questions that come up, but I'm afraid I'm way too busy at the moment to commit to something like this on a grand scale. I will however, if you wish, set up a Google code page and point people in the right direction with those sorts of things. But before I (or anyone else) does that, decide unanimously on what you're doing, decide on a project name, and make sure everyone is happy
Definitely go open source. Not just because of the warm fuzzy feeling you get from releasing the source code to the world, but because it makes it easier for people to join in, it means you can get as much free storage as you need and perhaps most crucially you get to use GPL licensed libraries, of which there are *loads*. Of course, there are commercial equivalents, but then you're just shelling out money for equivalent libraries with less support and for something that (let's face it) is very unlikely to turn into a commercially viable project.
Looking back through those in this thread, there's a lot of people involved who are just starting out with the development side of things, and perhaps aren't all that confident. So in order for this to work well it should be easy to get going, easy to use. In that regard I'd plump for using Google code over sourceforge or github (the interface is much easier, sourceforge is a beast and github is, well, bloody github.) Stick with subversion, I know all the rage is with DVCS these days but we're not planning on doing loads of branching at present and can always switch later to Hg or Git if we so wish. Svn is stable, well used, has loads of resources around and more well developed clients (like tortoise) than you can shake a stick at.
When you get a Google code page (or whatever else) then use it. Use the wiki pages for discussions, use other wiki pages for finalising ideas, create FAQs and instructions for people getting the code and modifying it, requesting commit access and so on. Make them easy to follow.
In terms of hardware - if you want this to be as accessible to as many people as possible, then cut any specialised hardware out of the equation, at least for now - and by that I'm including things like Arduinos that are readily available. Not everyone has them, not everyone even wants to get them and it adds a whole other layer of complexity that can put people off. As well as making things more difficult of course.
It may seem like I'm being a bit of a kill joy and condemning all "interesting" and "cool" and "new" things here, but as said to start with, the majority of these things don't last - the interest dwindles substantially just after the work-load becomes apparent, people become busy when they don't expect it, and then the thing falls apart. I'm not just talking about projects here, it's the same everywhere. And this is especially the case when you're looking to create something for the sake of learning and creating something, rather than because there's a particular need for that product. So in order to make this succeed it does need to be made easy to get going, easy to carry on and without unnecessary hurdles.
Also, make sure everyone is happy with what's being chosen, don't plough on ahead too soon. Just in this thread so far we've got some people going as far as discussing the particular features they want in a blog project, and others that haven't decided on a blog at all. Those are already early warning signs of a fragmented project where people's attention starts to wander quickly... take your time, there's nothing to be gained from rushing into this.
Now regarding my participation - I'll happily do my best to answer any questions that come up, but I'm afraid I'm way too busy at the moment to commit to something like this on a grand scale. I will however, if you wish, set up a Google code page and point people in the right direction with those sorts of things. But before I (or anyone else) does that, decide unanimously on what you're doing, decide on a project name, and make sure everyone is happy
Depends why it's being done.
As long as whoever is taking part *knows* that they're doing something that's been done before, and that in all reasonable likelihood they're not going to better what's out there, and they're just doing it for the sake of learning and doing something, and they're ok with all that - there's nothing particularly wrong with it.
It's very hard to come up with something these days that's not in that category - I believe the projects I've been involved with are, but along with that comes a rather specialised use case (multimedia projection in church services, generating Geocaching reports for certain areas) that likely won't have the universal appeal needed to get a project like this off the ground.
I know most things have been done.
Also it'd be pretty easy to make some good software fast by just gluing together some open source bits.
For me this is a learning idea. A way to make something and have some fun along the way.
I don't care if I really care if we re-invent he wheel so long as we have fun and learn something along the way.
True about what Berry said though about the blog and forum software being tied,
Lets not rush too fast, my vote as obviously for blog, but I'm not going to be unhappy if forum is chosen.
If people who chose forum would be gutted to only do a blog I'm happy to do whatever.
I think that the benefit of this project will be learning for a start, but also if we do from a good team then it might be nice to move into some bigger better projects after the software created in this project is a complete product and just needs maintenance and new features adding as and when.
Also it'd be pretty easy to make some good software fast by just gluing together some open source bits.
For me this is a learning idea. A way to make something and have some fun along the way.
I don't care if I really care if we re-invent he wheel so long as we have fun and learn something along the way.
True about what Berry said though about the blog and forum software being tied,
Lets not rush too fast, my vote as obviously for blog, but I'm not going to be unhappy if forum is chosen.
If people who chose forum would be gutted to only do a blog I'm happy to do whatever.
I think that the benefit of this project will be learning for a start, but also if we do from a good team then it might be nice to move into some bigger better projects after the software created in this project is a complete product and just needs maintenance and new features adding as and when.
Fujitsu_Technician
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Yes count me in, I am also intrested if the project has not yet started.
I
Specialise in Visual Basic 2008 – 2010 Professional, Assembly Programming, Scripting Batch and .Vbs Scripting and a little .jse scripting.
I also do a little HTML but not as much as you guys,
I do a lot of web based applications in visual basic and is very good for this sort of project depending on what you are trying to achieve.
And if I cannot get involved it will give me ideas.
Kind Regards
I
Specialise in Visual Basic 2008 – 2010 Professional, Assembly Programming, Scripting Batch and .Vbs Scripting and a little .jse scripting.
I also do a little HTML but not as much as you guys,
I do a lot of web based applications in visual basic and is very good for this sort of project depending on what you are trying to achieve.
And if I cannot get involved it will give me ideas.
Kind Regards
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