[geeklog-devel] An observation as a semi-developer/user

Tue Feb 25 11:30:42 EST 2003

As and outsider to geeklog, here are a few comments.

I would still use geeklog for the site but make it cleaner and simpler 
looking. I personally don't like cluttered sites. I don't think you need to 
show all features on your site and certainly not on the homepage. 
phpnuke.org is a good example of what NOT to do.
Once the majority of the stories get moved to a forum, the clutter will 
lessen and real news should be the focus.

A demo can be helpful for to showcase new versions and the new 
functionality. It can also force people to think this is the only way a 
site can look and that is not good. Having a gallery of sites could be more 
beneficial as Jason has stated.

It looks like the biggest selling feature to geeklog is the ease of use and 
with not a lot of bloat. For admins, this is important. It saves times and 
bandwidth and could be marketed a bit better.

If you need a volunteer, the hand is raised.

Dwight

At 10:47 AM 2/25/2003 -0500, you wrote:
>Last comment (but no promise).  I really like the home page for
>squirrelmail (http://www.squirrelmail.org).  It's to the point, short,
>good links, and lists real news and plug-in announcements.  I'd be very
>happy to see that as the GL homepage!  Would I use GeekLog for the
>GeekLog home page?  I don't know that we have to.  Most commercial
>weblogs don't power their own home pages (the right tool for the right
>job) but that's up to Tony and the guys working on the server.  We'd
>also only need a GeekLog demo site if we wanted to demo admin stuff (and
>I don't think we even need to do that).  Links to squatty, macosxhints,
>etc... do a much better job of showing GL in action.
>
>I also agree with using a forum for support.  I hate mailing lists, the
>treads always get screwed up, etc.. (see PHP's list for an example).
>
>I'm sure I stirred up some emotion, I'll put on my asbestos underwear.
>
>-----
>Jason Whittenburg
>Internet Security Systems, Inc.
>404.236.4043
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: geeklog-devel-admin at lists.geeklog.net
>[mailto:geeklog-devel-admin at lists.geeklog.net] On Behalf Of Tony Bibbs
>Sent: Saturday, February 22, 2003 9:22 AM
>To: geeklog-devel at lists.geeklog.net
>Subject: Re: [geeklog-devel] An observation as a semi-developer/user
>
>
>I too am in agreement.  I have no problem employing the forum plugin
>here.  I'd go a step further that if we are going to do 'marketing' in
>the content of the articles then we need to draw up a new theme that has
>
>more market qualities.  So if I hear this right here is what needs to be
>
>   done:
>
>1) Install forum
>2) Post new article about shift in focus for articles and announce the
>forums
>3) Develop a new theme
>
>Of course, this is all find and dandy, question is who will work on each
>
>task ;-)
>
>Blaine if we do do this, we will definitely want a hack that can convert
>
>a story submission to a forum post. I gaurantee once we try to roll this
>
>out we will have users posting things that belong in the forums to the
>story submission queue.  I have ideas on how to do this that require
>little change to the core GL stuff...
>
>So, any volunteers?  I nominate Knuckles for the theme ;-)
>
>I can install the forum plugin.   and post the article
>
>Blaine can you write the converter?
>
>Dirk,  either you don't have an opinion on this or you do and have been
>quiet.  Any thoughts before we get too far down the road?
>
>--Tony
>
>Blaine Lang wrote:
> > Totally agree!
> >
> > Do we have a forum that we can use?
> >
> > How about a FAQ Plugin to organize the most recent questions as well
> > that is integrated into the GL search? I am just putting the finishing
>
> > touches on this one - see my site
> > (www.langfamily.ca) for a demo. It's 99% done just testing now.
> >
> > I know one reason we were holding back was that we would need to
> > convert all the existing stories to forum topics. I could write such a
>
> > tool - but do we really need to wait.
> >
> > Blaine
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "Jason Whittenburg" <me at jasonwhittenburg.com>
> > To: <geeklog-devel at lists.geeklog.net>
> > Sent: Saturday, February 22, 2003 12:15 AM
> > Subject: Re: [geeklog-devel] An observation as a semi-developer/user
> >
> >
> >
> >>I wouldn't kill him...  I do agree...
> >>
> >>I never liked the fact the the geeklog.net (aka
> >>geeklog.sourceforge.net) was posting peoples problems will Geeklog.  A
>
> >>forum would be better for that.
> >>
> >>To say again in PHP terms "+1"
> >>
> >>-Jason
> >>
> >>
> >>Simon Lord said:
> >>
> >>>Secret is out Tony, should we kill Rob?
> >>>
> >>>On Friday, February 21, 2003, at 09:36 PM, Rob Griffiths wrote:
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>>Greeting, GL Dev Team...
> >>>>
> >>>>Something's been bugging me about www.geeklog.net for a while, but I
>
> >>>>couln't quite figure out what it was.  Tonight, though, I believe
> >>>>I've  identified what the source of my bother was:  I do not think
> >>>>www.geeklog.net is sending a good message about the program to any
> >>>>casual browsers of the site -- that is, potential users of Geeklog.
> >>>>Most days, 90% of the content of the site is about bugs, glitches,
> >>>>install problems, basic questions, etc.
> >>>>
> >>>>I would think a better use for the main site would be to restrict it
>
> >>>>to news of Geeklog, new hacks, official bug fixes from the Dev Team
> >>>>members only, PR announcing sites that have been Geeked, etc.  With
> >>>>the Forum 2.0 plug-in available, support questions would be better
> >>>>served in that environment, would they not?
> >>>>
> >>>>It's almost like we've got this amazing car, but when we talk to
> >>>>people about it, all we tell them about is that it's sometimes hard
> >>>>to  start, it may break down if it's not treated right, and to get
> >>>>the most out of it, you really need to RTFM.  Shouldn't we be
> >>>>publicizing what Geeklog >can< do instead of focusing on what
> >>>>troubles people are having with it?
> >>>>
> >>>>I took a quick look at the home pages for phpnuke, mambo, phpslash,
> >>>>phpwebsite, webgenerator-x, drupal, e107, LDU, and ovidentia (thanks
>
> >>>>to opensourcecms.com :-).  Of those, only one or two have any sort
> >>>>of troubleshooting stuff on their homepages at all (phpwebsite had
> >>>>some random support questions and postnuke had a section called
> >>>>"Support").
> >>>>
> >>>> The main focus of the pages is not help or questions, but rather,
> >>>>announcements and information.  Geeklog is the only CMS homepage
> >>>>that I visited that seemed to emphasize bugs and help directly on
> >>>>the homepage...
> >>>>
> >>>>Not that anyone asked me, but ... ... I would think a "staticpage"
> >>>>homepage with a full center pane of info about Geeklog -- what it
> >>>>is, how it works, top 10 sites its installed on, newest "Geekings,"
> >>>>a link  for the support forum, a link to a sample site
> >>>>(opensourcecms.org), etc. would be a much better "selling" tool than
>
> >>>>the current collection  of help requests and "failed to RTFM" bug
> >>>>reports.
> >>>>
> >>>><asbestos>
> >>>>  Flame away....
> >>>></asbestos>
> >>>>
> >>>>-rob.
> >>>>
> >>>>_______________________________________________
> >>>>geeklog-devel mailing list
> >>>>geeklog-devel at lists.geeklog.net
> >>>>http://lists.geeklog.net/listinfo/geeklog-devel
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>
> >>>Sincerely,
> >>>Simon
> >>>
> >>>_______________________________________________
> >>>geeklog-devel mailing list
> >>>geeklog-devel at lists.geeklog.net
> >>>http://lists.geeklog.net/listinfo/geeklog-devel
> >>
> >>
> >>--
> >>Jason Whittenburg, Sr
> >>Web: http://jasonwhittenburg.com
> >>AIM: jwhitten00
> >>ICQ: 9012034
> >>MSN: jason at whittenburgs.com
> >>
> >>
> >>_______________________________________________
> >>geeklog-devel mailing list
> >>geeklog-devel at lists.geeklog.net
> >>http://lists.geeklog.net/listinfo/geeklog-devel
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > geeklog-devel mailing list
> > geeklog-devel at lists.geeklog.net
> > http://lists.geeklog.net/listinfo/geeklog-devel
>
>
>--
>+-------------------+--------------------------------------------------+
>|Tony Bibbs         |[R]egardless of what you may think of our penal   |
>|tony at tonybibbs.com |system, the fact is that every man in jail is one |
>|                   |less potential fisherman to clutter up your       |
>|                   |favorite pool or pond. --Ed Zern                  |
>
>
>+-------------------+--------------------------------------------------+
>
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