WebSite Mockups

[Monty67]

Love the screen shots.

As an aside, and hopefully the cms supports it, could we turn on the rss feed for the site? I know alot of people, like myself, who spend alot of time using bloglines, googlereader, etc etc and not going to sites unless their reader tells them something is new.

Just my $.02.

Again sorry for the tangent

[blurymind]

Love the screen shots.

As an aside, and hopefully the cms supports it, could we turn on the rss feed for the site? I know alot of people, like myself, who spend alot of time using bloglines, googlereader, etc etc and not going to sites unless their reader tells them something is new.

Just my $.02.

Again sorry for the tangent

this was my idea too..

Sadly i dont know cms well..  I can only make a simple html or php site and integrate ti with the forum. My friend and I don't want to use cms. We find it limiting..
But i'm still doing the layout/design part, so expect to see more mockups with better looks ...

[Xeon]

After toe-nail surgery i've done nothing but programming last week. I feel in the php mood again 

I am not really in the mood to go write a complicated cms theme. Some CMS'es do everything to make writing code as complicated as possible. If the cms has been coded following semantic rules, its even possible to recode the interface from the css files. Most systems still use a mix of some unreadable template file and css to color the text.

I'd prefer writing the core of the site itself as well. It's basically what I have been doing for 2 other sites this week.
If you need me for some classes/functions/interfaces/develop server/whatsoever, call me.

[rbistolfi]

I think we should state what is needed in a long term. May be a re-write is the best choice, and VL needs are not very complicated. A simple cms will do the job and looks like there is enough manpower to do it. May be we dont need a database at all and some txt files could store all the info we need. If we really need to stay with the current cms, I think some themes on the link given by vec are better than the current. Some of them are more easy to tweak, since they are more close to the blury's nice ideas.
Would be great to have a new site for vl 6.

[Xeon]

Storing everything in text files = evil

Besides, storing everything in text files is exactly not thinking on long terms. What if we become the next fedora in 2 months and the traffic explodes? A database will go a bit slower, in the end maybe crash and auto reboot. Text files cause a dieing harddisk and all sorts of vulnerabilities when timeouts pass without the text file being opened.
Generally, most php configurations even disable the filesystem functions.

[rbistolfi]

Yeah, may be you are right. But keep in mind we are looking for a forum integration, so the smf db will do the job most of the time. But you are right about we need to supose the best scenario and that would be vl in the top. Indeed a database will be needed if that happens 

BTW, txt files are cool to me, simple php blog works great for example, and some databases just store data in txt files. If complex sql querys are not needed, I tend to prefer txt files. You need a fast hd though, and a low traffic of course. But agree a database will suite better vl needs at the future.

[Xeon]

What we could do of course:
* Make a forum news in SMF (something like distro releases) and make the news system from the homepage gather its news there. For making some new item it would be enough to write a new forum topic.

* The rest of the pages seem quiet stable to me so no db/text files are needed in those parts.

[rbistolfi]

What we could do of course:
* Make a forum news in SMF (something like distro releases) and make the news system from the homepage gather its news there. For making some new item it would be enough to write a new forum topic.

* The rest of the pages seem quiet stable to me so no db/text files are needed in those parts.

I was thinking in something like that, probably the best choice and the better: very easy to keep an updated website and the job of a webmaster would be trivial.

[Xeon]

It would indeed move the stress from the site to the forum, where basically everything is going on. In fact the site should be a nice looking reflection from the forum.

The query for it should be piece of cake, since basically all forum systems use the same database layout

[rbistolfi]

I was thinking about making a search tool for packages, like those in slacky.eu or linuxpackages.net
Sometimes I download packages at work or whatever (when the size is too big) and since I am not at my VL box, I cant use slapt-get --search. What do you think, guys? Would be useful to have a search box for packages at the website? The search script could use the PACKAGES.TXT file as data source.

[blurymind]

this is a really good idea, rbistolfi. I must include it now.

Please be patient guys. I am still working this month, so my site project is still frozen.
I really wanna put this thing together,but i might also need some coding help.
I got a very valuable feedback from you.
With this and some help of a friend or irc, i think this will be possible to achieve in a day or two when i get the free time. 

so expect to see it soon,only this time functional...

But i wonder, if the file is not on VL's ftp, then how would the forum integration work?
I need to know the full path to the ssi.php file.

[exeterdad]

I was thinking about making a search tool for packages

Of course!  Why hasn't anyone thought of that before?  Not only would it be useful to get packages.  It would be useful for someone who was checking out VL and wondering what packages we include.  It would help sell our distro to many who might be too chicken to download a ISO and give us a shot.

[Joe1962]

I was thinking about making a search tool for packages

Of course!  Why hasn't anyone thought of that before?

Actually, something like this was requested a while back...

[rbistolfi]

Actually, something like this was requested a while back...

Sorry Joe, I didnt notice your request before...

Well, I am a very bad coder, but I will try to do it. I will post my code and may be you guys can help me to clean it and improve it. I will start with something very simple with PACKAGES.TXT and hopefully I will improve it with the time.

A question: should we have a mysql database for packages? That could allow to build more powerful querys if needed. I think we can make a script in php for build a database from packages.txt. So adding the info to it should be easy. It should have all the data slapt-get already uses, plus the data added by vpackager (pkgr id, ./configure, etc), so we can take borrowed the table structure from slapt-get and add any info useful for repo maintenance, like dates and things like that. But the question is: we need something like this?

Also, if there something from this kind you think can help to package / repo maintainers may be is the time to jump in .

this is a really good idea, rbistolfi. I must include it now.
i might also need some coding help.

As I said, I am basically a bad coder, but I dont feel embarrassed posting that crappy code. It always can be improved or inspire some ideas in more brilliant minds. So, let me know and I will do my best.

But i wonder, if the file is not on VL's ftp, then how would the forum integration work?
I need to know the full path to the ssi.php file.

Well, it is usually in the root of smf. I tried to reach it with no luck. Or the file doesnt exist, or we have no permissions for read it. I think no harm can be done if read permissions are given, because that file gives access to already public sections of the forum only, but may be I am wrong, I will do some reaserch. May we can have from an admin temporary access to that file?

[Joe1962]

Actually, something like this was requested a while back...

Sorry Joe, I didnt notice your request before...

Err... no, it wasn't me. I simply remembered the long discussion about it...