RE: [Jmri-developers] New Team Member

[Jason M. <jm...@un...>]

Hi there, Alex . . . 

I understand your caution, and that's why I am taking this approach - of
having a parrallel site that is accessable to the developers only until it
is in a state that is fit to be introduced to the public.  

If you try to look at the documentation especially, you will find that there
are quite a lot of broken links and files in there. I personally find it
very frustratung when trying to dig up more info on JMRI software and
running into broken links all the time.

Most of the work will be done remotely, with the results only uploaded when
ready for checking. Of course, the developers (that is you) must approve the
changes before they are made live for the public to view.

I am a "gun-coder" ... Meaning that I work with raw HTML rather than
programs like Front-page which produces bloat-code *yuck* .... And I use a
great piece of software for this job - namely HOTDOG PROFESSIONAL. I like my
code clean, neat and fast - and of course, easy to read too - so this will
benefit any other who will come after me.

I will still be using the CVS tool for version management etc, so that will
not change.

Once I've figured out where everything is supposed to go, I'll post more
information on proposed changes.

I consider this as being very much a team effort with lot's of input and
ideas being desired from the other members of the team. I understand that
this is the way the JMRI Software development works, and feel that the site
should reflect that team philosophy as well. Please correct me if I am wrong
in this understanding.

Jason

-----Original Message-----
From: jmr...@li...
[mailto:jmr...@li...] On Behalf Of Alex
Shepherd
Sent: Friday, 17 December 2004 3:27 PM
To: jmr...@li...
Subject: RE: [Jmri-developers] New Team Member

> The
> reason that I am here is because I've volunteered to assist with the 
> JMRI Website (having some Webmastering skills) - thanks for the great 
> welcome, Bob :-) . Having already had a look at the site structure, I 
> can say from the start that it will require a complete overhaul to get 
> the site into shape and full consistency.

Hmmm... Didn't we just do this not long ago?

Not wanting to dampen your enthusiasm but I would just urge caution here as
it seems to me like each web guy who comes along to help with the project
web site always wants to change the whole site content/structure every time.
They launch out with fairly ambitious goals but run out of
time/energy/motivation to finish it well and maintain it for long enough to
make it worth the initial effort.

Are there things that are wrong/ugly/broken particularly or is it simply not
how _you_ would do it?

The problem with major reworks is that users get lost and give up trying to
find stuff.

Maybe list out a few details of what you plan to do and also the tools you
would use to do the job. We don't want to have to rely on particular
toolsets to maintain the site in the future.

> At the same time, I'll also be looking at user enhancements to make 
> the site faster and easier for our users to find the information that 
> they need. I propose that we have two different versions of the 
> documentation manuals available . . . A HTML version for on-line 
> browsing, and a Word Version for download and printing as the users 
> require.

I think the version for downloading/printing should be PDF.

> I also suggest
> that we add a FAQ section to the website as well - containing the most 
> frequently asked questions from the JMRI forum and their appropriate 
> answers.

I FAQ would be great!

I suggest that this be done with some sort of simple content management
facility (wiki even) that is database driven so that developers / expert
users can add entries directly online rather than editing HTML and uploading
updates. That way we could choose to add an entry to the FAQ and post a
forum message with a link to it rather than posting detailed answers on the
forums. There are many good and detailed answers in the forum archives but
the Yahoo search facility is so pathetic that people don't bother and just
keep asking the same old questions on about a 6 week cycle...

Alex




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