Re: Revamped GNOME.org

[Ross Golder <ross golder org>]

On อ., 2005-12-13 at 10:03 +0000, Thomas Wood wrote:
> > The problem is finding the point between irrelevant and empty. We need it
> > to
> > look like something is constantly going on at GNOME.org yet I don't want
> > the
> > home to be cluttered and unapproachable to a new user.
> > I will fiddle around with adding some news from gnomedesktop.org and try
> > to
> > fill up some space or maybe add the 'Buy a GNOME shirt' in there to give
> > the
> > page a sense of community.
> >
> 
> This is why I would suggest we had a couple of small boxes on the front
> page with the latest headlines from footnotes, the latest art from
> art.gnome.org or the latest software updates. This would help to give the
> site a sense of community and activity. However, this raises a very
> important point, as it will be difficult (although not impossible) to do
> this without any scripting on w.g.o.
> 
> What is the current sysadmin position with regards to the use of scripts
> on w.g.o?

Server-side scripting for a dynamically generated homepage? From a
sysadmin's perspective, if it can be avoided, that'd be great. If we can
stick to it being statically served by Apache, we can completely avoid a
few potential issues (of load, security, performance etc.).

However, I can't see a problem with a server-side script (run hourly
from cron, not web-accessible) that regenerates the homepage
'index.html' file based on a various pre-agreed marketing/informational
template or static sections, and have some side-panels or something
generated from the latest relevant RSS feeds or a database or something.
Served statically, but regenerated hourly so it never appears stale.

Just my 2 quarks.

--
Ross