Re: What about WordPress or something similar?

[Thomas Wood <thos gnome org>]

Stefan Rotsch wrote:
> Thomas Wood wrote:
>
> > - Migration: How easy would it be to migrate the existing users, data, 
> > files, screenshots and the rest to a CMS? I think this would be 
> > especially hard for users, since I can't see anyway that passwords 
> > could be transferred (unless the new CMS supports exactly the same 
> > method for storing passwords as art-web currently does).
>
> I know this would be the most difficult task. But a decision should be 
> based on the benefits of a CMS vs. the difficulty of migration.
>
> > - Features: We would still have to do a lot of work to implement the 
> > plugins needed to handle art-web specific data and pages. There is a 
> > lot more metadata associated with backgrounds and themes than is 
> > obvious. Also, themes and backgrounds are not handled the same way as 
> > you might expect (backgrounds have many more requirements than 
> > themes). A third type of item may also appear soon, in the form of 
> > collections of other items.
>
> I must admit I haven't taken a look at the a.g.o. sources yet.

The sources are available in the art-web module of GNOME cvs. When 
looking though, you may notice a lot of the code has been worked on by 
different people at different times, and so has adopted slightly 
different approaches and styles. There is certainly a lot of cleaning up 
that could be done, but it is getting better. I think we are moving in 
the right direction at the moment, and it won't be long before it will 
be a lot more manageable.

> > - Control: If you move to a CMS you loose control of your source code 
> > to a certain extent. I don't particularly have any motivation to read 
> > and learn another CMS's source code just to make some minor (but 
> > possibly vital) changes. There are several people already familiar 
> > with the bulk of the art-web code, and it is probably much easier to 
> > get to grips with due to it's (relative) small size.
>
> That's true for sure. On the other hand, what would you want to edit if 
> thinks work well and bugs get fixed by the community; you simply would 
> have to install a new version of the CMS?!?

I've never found it easy to upgrade a wiki or CMS on a site. There are 
always difficulties with getting your previous configuration running 
again, so you need to make sure you have a recent backup and so on. The 
task is not a trivial one and unless you're really motivated it's likely 
to just be put off until it's critical.

> > There are also factors out of our control, such as restrictions placed 
> > on us by the gnome.org system policies and procedures (this is the 
> > reason it has not been possible to implement a file upload system 
> > until recently).
>
> ACK.
>
> > Not to mention the time and effort people have put in to coding 
> > art-web. It would be a shame to throw this all away, so I personally 
> > would not like to see art-web replaced with an external CMS.
>
> That's an issue, too. But it is also about weighting the benefits of a 
> CMS against telling people 'their' code won't be used anymore.
>
> I hope you get me right: I don't want to "sell" a CMS to you. But when 
> looking at the tasks on the ToDo list, from my point of view it would be 
> an option to think about the migration to an CMS, instaead of 
> iplementing that bunch of features on our own.
>
> Independant of deciding which way to go, I just want you to know I'm 
> willing to help working on a.g.o.

I agree that when looking at it abstractly, using an existing CMS 
solution seem the logical thing to do. However, there is legacy and 
political issues to consider, and I think as it stands there would 
actually be more work involved in implementing and maintaining a new CMS 
than gradually enhancing the existing one. Not to mention I occasionally 
find hacking on art-web fun, and use it to extend my knowledge of web 
development ;-)

However, I'm really glad for your input and I'm excited to see more 
people voicing opinions and showing an interest in art-web. What's to 
say we couldn't make a top quality community art site out of art-web, 
with a code base to rival the best CMSs out there already!

-Thomas