Development Plan

Table of Contents

1. Purpose
2. miniFAQ
3. Project Timeline
3.1. phpStudentNews 0.1
3.2. phpStudentNews 0.2
3.3. phpStudentNews 0.3
3.4. phpStudentNews 0.4
3.5. phpStudentNews Future

1. Purpose

The purpose of this project is to create a PHP and mySQL based news portal for use in schools (mainly high schools and colleges). The purpose of this project is NOT to create a full-fledged news portal, but merely one that is simple, easy to use, and has everything needed to run a successful web-version of a newspaper.

2. miniFAQ

Q. Why dont you use code from another project?

A. Well, the reason I started this is because I couldnt find a good project that had everything I wanted. Sure, there are some that satisfy some needs, but most needed a lot of work.

Q. What does/is the interface going to look like.

A. Well, the interface is almost entirely based on seattletimes.com. If you want to check that out, please do. There are many things about that site I like, and may more I dislike. However, Ive found that site has a simple and easy-to-use interface. However, hopefully (by the end of this project), there will be a way for you to customize your site in whatever way you want with ease. Ill be posting screen shots of this project in action soon.

Q. Are you currently using this phpStudentNews on a public site?

A. Well, I originally did it for my colleges papers site, like I said. However, since I am not the web-editor for the paper, I have not put it online. The site does exist (along with all the content from the paper at my college) on my computer. I am continuing to make advances and wont tell my editor it exists until it has all the functions SHE wants.

Q. Why not use another programming language?

A. Wellsince I know no other programming language But seriously, I had a desire to learn php and this project seems like a very practical use for it. Surely, if you want to branch, you may.

3. Project Timeline

Note: while I wish to keep this project as much as possible to following this release schedule, I know that things will changeIf you have suggestions of a way to do this better, please, let me know.

3.1 phpStudentNews 0.1

This is where the project currently is now. No development will continue (no new features) until a code cleanup is performed. That will take approximately a couple of weeks. This release includes the following features (all of these are via web, but there are other options in the database of unsupported features):
∑ Admin (one user only)
o Volume Creation (beta quality)
Start/Stop date
Editor Selection (beta quality)
Status Selection (beta quality)
o Issue Creation
Editing possible
Date included
Status Selection (beta/current/archive)
o Section Creation
Deletion possible
Different sections for different issues
Import sections from previous issue
o Story Creation
Editing possible
Deletion possible
Headline
Subhead
Author

∑ User
o Volume viewing
o Issue viewing
o Section viewing
o Story viewing
o Comments on individual story (betanot currently working)
o Past Issue viewing
o Avantgo viewing
o About Us viewing
Shows staff
o Visitor Counter (betanot currently working)
o Search (beta quality)

3.2 phpStudentNews 0.2

This is next full release of the project. There will be sub release underneath, but this will be the full official copy. Im going to focus very much on the admin side in this release to make creation of items easier.

∑ Admin (one user only)
o Volume Creation
Start/stop date (on creation)
Editor selection (on creation)
Status selection (on creation)
Editing of volumes
∑ Deletion of volumes
∑ Changing of start/stop dates
∑ Changing of status
Archived volumes arent editable
o Issue Creation
Editing possible
Date included
Status Selection (beta/current/archive)
o Section Creation
Deletion possible
Editing possible
∑ Name
∑ Number (significance and placement on user list)
Different sections for different issues
Import sections from previous issue
Editing of
o Story Creation
Editing possible
∑ Headline
∑ Subhead
∑ Story
∑ Author
Deletion possible
Headline
Subhead
Story
Author

∑ User
o Volume viewing
o Issue viewing
o Section viewing
o Story viewing
Shows headline
Shows subhead
Shows author
Shows story
o Comments on individual story (betanot currently working)
o Past Issue viewing
o Avantgo viewing
o About Us viewing
Shows staff
o Visitor Counter (betanot currently working)
o Search (beta quality)

3.3 phpStudentNews 0.3

This release will focus on the user view of the main page, sections, and stories. It will allow pictures to be added to the story. It will also create an image database.

∑ Admin (one user only)
o Volume Creation
Start/stop date (on creation)
Editor selection (on creation)
Status selection (on creation)
Editing of volumes
∑ Deletion of volumes
∑ Changing of start/stop dates
∑ Changing of status
Archived volumes arent editable
o Issue Creation
Editing possible
Date included
Status Selection (beta/current/archive)
o Section Creation
Deletion possible
Editing possible
∑ Name
∑ Number (significance and placement on user list)
Different sections for different issues
Import sections from previous issue
Editing of
o Story Creation
Ranking of stories
Editing possible
∑ Headline
∑ Subhead
∑ Story
∑ Author
∑ Image
∑ Caption
Deletion possible
Headline
Subhead
Summary
Story
Author
Images (max of 4)
∑ Preview size will be a standard size
∑ Full view will happen when image is clicked and will be in a pop up windows
Captions
∑ Captions will be added for each picture added.

∑ User
o Volume viewing
o Issue viewing
Shows image(s) of main stories and caption(s)
Shows story summary of main stories
Shows different sections and their main stories/summaries
o Section viewing
Shows story summary and image for each story in section if they exist.
o Story viewing
Shows headline
Shows subhead
Shows author
Shows story
Shows image(s) and caption(s)
o Comments on individual story (betanot currently working)
o Past Issue viewing
o Avantgo viewing
o About Us viewing
Shows staff
o Visitor Counter (betanot currently working)
o Search (beta quality)

3.4 phpStudentNews 0.4

While a lot of work is being shown to the user, one of the most important features is being left out of the admin side. Creation and editing of staff. This will happen in this release. I wont print out the entire contents of this release since this will be the major and possibly only change in this release (with the exception of fixing of bugs). Staff can be edited and deleted by volume, so that certain staff can be in certain volumes.

3.5 phpStudentNews Future

Im not completely sure in what order I will continue working on things, that can be decided later. However, the work needed for the above items will be great, so Ill work on that first. If you have suggestions for changes that should be made to this development plan, please email me. Ill start releasing files in a weekand will begin the process of cleaning out my code.

I also spoke of template creation. This feature will be added a ways down the line. Probably around 0.7 or 0.8but as I said before, Im not completely sure on what order things will get done. This is merely a plan. Nobody follows plans anymore ;).