[Robotgroup] About that website...

[Robert Carter]

Hey-- count me in. All the ideas sound good, except I'm a little  
reluctant to jump on board with the WordPress idea. That may be just  
an aesthetic knee-jerk reaction; the trouble with websites designed  
over blog engines is that they always look like websites designed  
over blog engines. Although I'll admit that our main page design is  
simple enough that we can probably recreate it in the WordPress  
environment. I really haven't done anything in WordPress, so I  
shouldn't knock it just yet.

I'd want to take a good look at the WordPress XML export thing, too,  
before I vote yea or nay.

But everything else you recommend sounds solid. You've obviously got  
more inside knowledge of the website than I do, so now that I've  
volunteered I guess I'll just await further instructions.

Standing by...

Robert


On Dec 17, 2007, at 10:09 PM, Blank James wrote:

> While looking at adding a user account so that the main page of the
> website could be easily updated I realized how fragile it is.
>
> Currently the website is based on a rather old version of MoinMoin  
> Wiki
> software. So any changes in the root directory of the website could
> damage the rest of the site. Media, content, and site software are
> intermixed right now. Not a pretty site/sight.
>
> What I propose doing is to "re-bigulate" the site. By that I mean work
> on it to get it in a state where future maintainers would have an  
> easier
> time maintaining it.
>
> To accomplish this would take some time and a lot of effort. My plan
> would include:
>
> Porting the wiki to a modern version of MoinMoin or a different wiki
> that had a clear upgrade path. With XML export and import so that  
> moving
> to a different wiki in the future should just be a matter of exporting
> the current data and importing it into a new format.
>
> Running the "Front" page using Wordpress. Which has XML import and
> export capabilities. And would allow multiple people to add entries  
> and
> work on the page simultaneously.
>
> Separating the media on the site from the site. Get it so that the  
> media
> lives as one unit separate from the software that runs the site. That
> way to move or transfer the media could be done easier.
>
> Give the media a permanent URL structure. This would make it so that
> anytime the site needs to be updated the links that are hard coded  
> would
> not have to be updated. I propose this over a relative URL structure
> because it is much easier to go from a permanent-well-defined  
> structure
> than the other way.
> Something like
> http://media.robotgroup.org/2007/videos/meeting122007.avi
> http://media.robotgroup.org/2007/images/vern/thereping/ 
> storm_trooper.jpg
>
>
>
>
> One of my goals is to make sure that the data never gets locked into a
> proprietary format which I think is possible if every package to
> maintain the site we choose has a XML import/export function. Also to
> make sure that nothing ever gets lost or that someone would have to  
> work
> for weeks to track down broken links which is why I suggest permanent
> URL structure.
>
> My other goals are to make the site easy to update for anyone without
> having to focus on learning HTML or worry about breaking it; and to  
> make
> sure we have a easy way to archive the site.
>
> I do plan on volunteering to carry out this process but I will need  
> help
> in making this a reality. Who is with me?
>
> James D.
> r at unfocusedbrain.com
>
>
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