Re: [school-discuss] Ed App Index

[Doug Loss <drloss@suscom.net>]

"Douglas S. Blank" wrote:

>   1. Consider having a prominent link to it off of the main Schoolforge
> page. It could be one of the most important services Schoolforge provides.
>

It's already at the top of the Software Resources page on Schoolforge.  Isn't
that prominent enough?

>
> 2. Call it the same thing in each place. I had a hard time refinding the
> list, and found it called different things... "SEUL/Edu List",
> "Educational Apps Index", that doesn't help Google.
>

I always try to call it the "SEUL/edu Educational Applications Index."  That
gets unwieldy though, so it does get shortened in regular conversation.  But
you're right, for links to it the full name should be used.  We don't have
much control over others' links, though.

>
> 3. Consider having a URL from Schoolforge that points to it:
> schoolforge.org/apps or something. Not everyone can keep Schoolforge,
> SEUL and Richtech names straight. Make it easy to remember.
>

<http://www.schoolforge.net/software.php> has the link right at the top of the
page.

>
> 4. Add a "browse by name" option to the list. I have an app in there,
> but couldn't find it easily. Broken down by initial letters would be nice.
>

That's a good idea.  Oh, Les? :-)

>
> 5. The list is getting large in spots. Consider another level that lists
> all of the apps of a category, but doesn't give you ALL of the details.
> Then have a page for each app that does give you the gory details.
>

Les, this could be something like the Edit list, I think, listing just the
titles as hot links to the individual listing.  Worth considering.

>
> 6. Does it really need to be protected by password? Maybe a wiki would
> work for the details? More changes and additions more quickly will help
> keep it useful without weighing down a centralized controller.
>

It started as a wiki.  I was the only one maintaining it, and editing the
indexes was becoming a pain.  The database works much better.  We have some
ideas about the maintenance that I'll mention in my next response.

>
> 7. If you do want to have it password protected, make it easy to report
> changes. The download URL is wrong for my app (Edventure) but I'm not
> sure what to do about it.
>

For now, let me know what changes to make and I'll make them.  Eventually, we
want to make it so the listed Author of each entry can update that entry.
That should fix both this and the previous problem, I hope.  We also want to
make it so anyone can review any app and have that review added to the
record.  I suppose we should make it so that anyone _but_the_author_ can
review the app :-).

>
> 8. Add a search by keyword that searches descriptions.
>

Good idea.

>
> 9. Consider adding an XML interface so that others can extract the info.
>

What are the chances of this, Les?

>
> 10. The reviews should probably also have an intermediate page, with
> details below. Would be nice to sort those by topic, rather than app name.
>

I'm not sure I understand this.  Could you elaborate?

>
> 11. The Administration category is too broad. Consider adding "Course
> Management" to that sublist.
>

That's definitely the case.  It would help us no end if you could suggest
reasonable smaller categories that we could separate this category into.  That
goes for some of the other categories (Language comes to mind) too.

>
> 12. Some categories are orthogonal to your current setup. For example,
> "Web Service" could be a game, gradebook, or quiz. Maybe "Interface" is
> a field to add. Would be nice to sort by that.
>

Again, I'm not clear on what you mean.  Where is "Web Service?"  Is it a
license type?  Those weren't regularized on the wiki, and I probably had some
strange things in a few records.  What do you mean by "Interface?"  Like KDE,
GNOME, CLI, etc.?

>
> I think that it is a great service, and with a little polish, it could
> turn into something really very useful.
>

Thanks!

>
> Goodluck! Let me know if there is anything I can do to help.

Now that you mention it...  Actually, pointing these things out _is_ helpful.
Taking a hand in the evaluation of apps for inclusion in the ISO image would
be helpful too.

--
Doug Loss                 All I want is a warm bed
Data Network Coordinator  and a kind word and
Bloomsburg University     unlimited power.
dloss@bloomu.edu                Ashleigh Brilliant