Re: GNOME Website Meeting

["Jens W. Klein" <jens bluedynamics com>]

Am Wed, 06 May 2009 15:40:51 +0100 schrieb Lucas Rocha:

> Hi all,
> 
> We're in a tricky situation. I'm seeing people working on slightly
> different directions here. We must make sure we're not wasting anyone's
> energy and time around the new website. So, I'd like to propose a
> meeting to discuss CMS, Design and Release Plan to make sure we're all
> on the same page. The meeting could be next Monday (May 11) 9h UTC. What
> do you think?

If you need me in there (as the penetrant person restarting the activity) 
I'am there. So 21 UTC = 23 CEST? phew, late but possible?

> Some quick personal notes on those topics:
> 
> CMS
> I'm very worried about the the sustainability of Plone as our CMS,
> especially in terms of available man power and long-term support. It's
> been almost 3 years and still don't have a basic website running on
> Plone... We can't afford to have the new website totally
> unmaintained/broken/outdated/etc just some months after the migration
> because we don't have anyone capable of maintaining it inside our
> community. We need some sort of maintenance and evolution plan. And,
> unfortunately, this might involve redeciding which CMS to use. But,
> before any redecision or rediscussion on this topic, I'd like to hear
> from Carsten and other volunteers actively working on the Plone
> implementation.

To be honest, you'll have this problem with any complex-enough CMS (a CMS 
fullfilling the requirements set). The only solution I see here is to get 
help by the community around the CMS. I'am sure Plone is a good choice, 
because the community is huge and there are plenty of people willed to 
help.
 
> Design
> IMO, we should take this opportunity to bring a refreshed look to our
> website. Andreas and Vinicius are working on an improved look and feel
> for the website. This is *not* about short term html fixes on the
> current website. This is something that still needs to be agreed as it
> might involve some changes on the way we organise the content on the
> website. This also has implications on our Release Plan because we need
> to decide whether we put the new design as a goal for the new website or
> not.

The design can be completly changed in Plone as it can be done in any 
modern CMS. 

> Release Plan
> IMO, we don't have to hurry, really. It's more important that we do the
> right thing than to quickly release something (and be careful to not
> lose focus on getting things done). We should probably attach our
> release schedule to GNOME 3.0 which is planned to be released by 2.30
> (beginning of 2010). In practice, this means we should have milestones
> for each upcoming GNOME release (i.e. 2.28 and 2.30). We can probably
> release the website before 3.0 but it's quite important to have a clear
> schedule reference.

IMO: Get things done. Get it online as it is. Change, if a change is 
needed. If design changes, change it. If content structure needs a 
change: Change it. If a detail needs change: Change it. But get it done! 
Dont take too much at once. A website is everything but a static entity.

> I understand that we're in a very good moment to get things done and
> that some people (Paul, Carsten, and others) are actively working on
> making the new website happen right now. It's not my intention to
> pushback the current momentum. The bottom line of this proposed meeting
> is to step back a bit and make sure we know that we're doing the right
> thing and doing it consistently.

Coordination is important. But if you dont have budget to get things done 
sometimes things have its own flow. We have good experience with the 
community driven approach in Plone as you have in Gnome. And I'am sure 
there are differences in community-culture. 
 
best regards

Jens
-- 
Jens W. Klein - Klein & Partner KEG - BlueDynamics Alliance