PL issues

  • Thread starter Thread starter Susan Bugher
  • Start date Start date
jo said:
I think that you do a lot of work for the PL site and for the group,
and that you should do it in a way in which you feel most comfortable.
I do not think that you should suddenly have to start jumping through
hoops in order to satisfy anyone else's definition of 'efficiency'.
Click to expand...

Efficiency is important. There have been some bumps in the road in the
past - it took a *lot* of work by a *lot* of people to get PL2003
online. Genna and I are both concerned about ensuring that that type of
effort isn't required again.

I was going to start a thread to discuss the continuity problem. I just
hadn't gotten to it. IMO now that we've started discussing these issues,
we might as well keep going.

Re the online vs. offline database - I see advantages and disadvantages
whichever way we go. I'd like to hear what other people have to say
about the pluses and minuses they see.

Susan
 
I was going to start a thread to discuss the continuity problem. I just
hadn't gotten to it. IMO now that we've started discussing these issues,
we might as well keep going.

Re the online vs. offline database - I see advantages and disadvantages
whichever way we go. I'd like to hear what other people have to say
about the pluses and minuses they see.

Susan
Click to expand...

A php/mysql based site can be built so that advantages/disadvantages for
the user are pratically nada. In fact, a site could be built to "look and
act" almost exactly like the current one and the user would notice no
difference in navigation or speed. It would take extra work to build such
a "mirror" though.

An "off-the-shelf" install of a good cms can be modified to look almost
anyway the webmaster desires.

It seems to me that most people posting are concerned from the users
point of view. And I agree, the site works well now and can be easily
navigated. A cms (content management system) can do the exact same thing.

The advantage is for the admin(s) of the site. Disadvantage for the user?
I don't think there are any really. IMHO of course ;)
 
LurkerXYZ said:
I want to understand about this from the standpoint of an end-user.
End-user defined here as a simpleton web-surfer, one without broadband.

I read pages at Pricelessware.org. And save pages. Importantly: I
download content/info from pricelessware.org, as a set of html pages.
Currently, everything is wysiwyg. All my software understands it.
Including even my default offline html renderer, OB1.

Databases on server? Things can become messy and complex for me, sometimes.

As is now, again, it's wysiwyg, when keeping a page. I am simply mirroring
a copy of a page, as it exists on server.
Click to expand...

Actually that's not true - it just feels that way. :) The Pricelessware
site has a lot of PHP web pages - the Program Index page, the PL2004
nominations page, the acf Program Information pages etc. etc.

Those web pages are created from two files - a .php file and a .txt
file. The .php files have some standard HTML coding and some
instructions/script that creates the tables on the web page. The .txt
file has the database (the contents of the table you see on the web page).

When you sort a table a new web page is created. When you save the page
it is a standard HTML file - it can't be sorted - but it looks the same
- feels the same. . .
The original URL and the original
page remote, they correspond. And all my software, even my lightest htm
readers, it's all in synch, and they all get along with priceleware.org
content.

When there is this complex server script stuff (that many of you understand,
and which I do not)...then I have sometimes problems copying pages from the
original site. It is online-oriented. Which I am not.

And at worst, that is occasionally intensely script-oriented. (I have lived
long and prospered by saying no to browser scripting.) That which can form
itself into a deal-breaker; death of it.

If you made this "database transition," will I have such problems? Will I
no longer have the ability to simply copy html files, with a static URL, to
my local drive -- in order to have this primary function of gaining all the
useful pricelessware information?

Some of you are sophisticated, and are thinking of maintenance issues, and
of implementation issues.

I am unsophisticated, and I am thinking about this in terms of my needs.

That is, what does this mean for me, if this new system? What can the
greatest majority of my software read; what will I be able to read and
comprehend; what can I save?

--?
signed, simpleton
Click to expand...

If we stay with the PHP format we will have a WYSIWYG site - the change
to a single online database would not affect that. Pages might look the
same as they do now, they might look different - that's a different
story - but you would be able to save them as HTML - just as you do now.

I like PHP web pages - it looks like you do to. ;)

Susan
 
burnr said:
@corp.supernews.com:




A php/mysql based site can be built so that advantages/disadvantages for
the user are pratically nada. In fact, a site could be built to "look and
act" almost exactly like the current one and the user would notice no
difference in navigation or speed. It would take extra work to build such
a "mirror" though.

An "off-the-shelf" install of a good cms can be modified to look almost
anyway the webmaster desires.

It seems to me that most people posting are concerned from the users
point of view. And I agree, the site works well now and can be easily
navigated. A cms (content management system) can do the exact same thing.

The advantage is for the admin(s) of the site.
Click to expand...

The Pricelessware web site is maintainer by volunteers. IMO that is a
primary consideration. If we migrate to an online database volunteers
will need one particular set of skills - ISTM there may be more flexible
solutions to the continuity problem - solutions that won't reduce the
*potential* pool of volunteers so drastically.
Disadvantage for the user?
I don't think there are any really. IMHO of course ;)
Click to expand...

If we use a PHP format I tend to agree.

Susan
 
Thank you John for that. So...everybody cool their heels and let
the two ladies sort it out amongst themselves. (Hopefully in
e-mail) Best,
POKO
Click to expand...

Hopefully not, I'd rather see the ladies sort it out in a mud filled
pool.

Pathetic attempt at humor, but yes, take the ****ing drama to
email!!! The typical windows user could care less how he/she gets
the PLW pages just so long as those pages exist.

Max
 
Now you're talking... A salute!
Click to expand...

Talking all right - talking twaddle... A raspberry!

--

Regards,
Nicolaas.

Distribution site for 2004 Pricelessware CD.
E-Mail me for details. (e-mail address removed)



- Never stand near a sneezing dragon...
 
Max said:
Hopefully not, I'd rather see the ladies sort it out in a mud filled
pool.

Pathetic attempt at humor, but yes, take the ****ing drama to
email!!! The typical windows user could care less how he/she gets
the PLW pages just so long as those pages exist.
Click to expand...

Politics the american way, elect a dictator for the next four years, and
let him take care of everything. And take the blame for everything when
it is time to fire him. The people do not get involved in politics
between the elections.

But we are trying to do this as a group effort in a voluntary and
democratic way. That means that discussions about this web site must be
held in public, so everybody can participate.

There is also a need for spreading the work among more volunteers, so we
need to build a system where it becomes easier to assign/delegate parts
of the work to different participators.
 
Politics the american way, elect a dictator for the next four
years, and let him take care of everything. And take the blame for
everything when it is time to fire him. The people do not get
involved in politics between the elections.
Click to expand...

Good points Roger ol' boy. Ever thought about a career in US
politics?. :)

Max
 
REM said:
Me too. It works great.
Click to expand...

I agree too, Susan is working great.

But shouldn't it be mainly up to herself if she wants to keep on working
like this?

When, or if, she wants to work less, or in another way, we need to
discuss some changes.
 
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