Re: Projects

[Micah Yoder <LYoder@cyberis.net>]

I may have missed the orginal message, but anyway...

Lenz Grimmer wrote:
> 
> Hi,
> 
> On Tue, 3 Nov 1998, Aaron D. Turner wrote:
> 
> > I was beginning to think the same thing.  I think we should list what
> > projects we are thinking of doing, prioritize them, and start
> > assigning actual jobs to people to code.
> 
> I'd also welcome this idea. Right now, I am pretty clueless, where to
> start.

Me too!  I just know we need a DB and a  search engine.

> 
> > Some ideas from my head:
> >
> > Linux Business Finder (If we get enough companies to list in this, it
> >       would make VERY compelling content.  This point was especially
> >       interesting to NaviSite and VAR.)
> 
> Do you intend to charge for listing in there? Or will it be a free
> service? I could contact some vendors here in Germany, when things are
> rolling.

I think we were planning to not charge, unless we really need money for
something.  But I bet VAR and/or NaviSite would have some gripes about
us making money on this, after they're donating so much.  So we probably
better not think about it for now.  Not to mention tax issues...

> > SQL DB for index of site
> >       Rating of entries by visitors
> >       Sorting of indexes (by catagory and then by rating)
> >       ????
> 
> This would require a database layout, including tables and relationships.

Yep.  I already proposed a schema, but I think it was before you joined
the list.  Today or tomorrow I'll revise it a bit and re-post it.

> > User Contribution Forms:
> >       Add a FAQ (Q&A)
> >       Ask a question (other visitors will answer)
> >       Feedback
> 
> Maybe we could use part ot the "ask slashdot" code for this?

I was kind of thinking that.  I'm not sure how complicated it would be
to integrate.

> Even though PHP has matured a lot, I'd vote for Perl in combination with

PHP is cool, but so is Perl.  Either is fine with me.

> DBD/DBI and mod_perl. Did we already decide about the RDBMS? I'd recommend
> mySQL - it's free for use as a WWW-Backend.

Question:  Does mySQL support SQL joins?  I think that feature will be
necessary.  If it does, we're probably set.  If not, it will probably be
Postgres.

> >       Frames or No Frames?  If Frames, do we bother with a non-frames
> >               version?
> 
> I'd like to recommend not to use frames. It adds additional complexity and
> is harder to maintain. The most popular sites do not use frames (anymore).

Absolutely.  Frames bite.  :-)  Aaron disagrees, and they can be good in
some cases, but I believe ease of use, even on Lynx, is key, and frames
can be confusing.  If Aaron or anyone else really wants a framed
version, that can be a separate option from the main screen I guess.

I've seen several sites switch from framed to non-framed (including
Netscape's own, and they invented frames!) and they had good reason.

> 
> >       Optimized for 800x600 screens?
> 
> I've no strong opinion about this, but we should keep it simple enough to
> be viewed even with Lynx.

HTML is *supposed* to be platform and resolution independent.  Just let
the browser do the work - don't "optimize" for anything!

I really hate sites (mostly news sites) that assume you have a certain
resolution.  When I view them at 640X480 (rare now) I usually have to
scroll to the right to see the whole article.  When I view them at
1024X768 everything is crammed into the left side of my screen.  BAD! 
BAD, ZDNet, BAD!!!!