Re: GNU Herds -- Content Management Systems (CMS)

[Davi Leal]

J R wrote:
> Hi, I just wanted to say some words about GNU Herds website.
> Why not use an open source CMS like drupal for it, then develop some
> modules for more specific stuff.

Thanks Joaquim!.
That is the feedback the project needs!.
I will expose my current personal opinion. Please, let me know any 
disagreement.



> The whole login/register process is not usual.

I think you are right at this point. We could use the current webapp 
architecture and design to modify it. Just to be sure, could you point me to 
an example which you think is the "usual process"?. Maybe as http://fsfe.org/ 
or as http://savannah.nongnu.org/ or as http://demo.mamboserver.com/ ...

> The "my qualifications" area 
> is not user friendly and, even dealing with a lot of info, it could be
> written diferently in a more standard way...

The "my qualifications" area keeps a lot of info. Do you propose split this 
form into several pages?. If we split it, we lost the full view which the 
user has when he/she is filling the qualifications. Anyway, I am not sure. 
Maybe AJAX will solve the problem.

> The site design is also something that could be made in a better way. It's
> not ugly but it is also not visual appealing.
> I think this is important for the growing process of the project and for
> the success of it.

With the current webapp architecture and design, it is easy change the Smarty 
templates to get another HTML or XHTML output, so a new design.

There were three themes defined, but now there is only one, that is which we 
are using now. We think the current is the best of the three. It is easy 
define another theme.  Reference: Layer-1__Page_builder/Themes.php

> Please take these critics as an advice and wish for the project to grow.
>
> Thanks,
> Joaquim Rocha


This article points you to all the information you need to choose a CMS:
  http://internet.newsforge.com/internet/06/06/02/185227.shtml
  http://www.oscom.org/matrix/

Using the below facility to compare, for example Drupal vs TYPO3, I prefer 
TYPO3.
  http://www.cmsmatrix.org/


If we manage to fix the problems you are reporting, what advantage will the 
use of a CMS give us?.

I think GNU Herds is not a Content Management System where you add new 
articles every day. It is a web app more like Gmail, where you login to 
process information, right now only qualifications, job offers, etc. I think  
that maybe we should be more an AJAX app than a CMS. Maybe, using AJAX we 
would solve the problem of the complexity of the 'my qualifications' form. 
Note such form is already using a lot of JavaScript. AJAX give you a lot of 
power to develop complex forms or web-pages, which are more like stand-alone 
applications.

I am writing the GNU Herds' report, following the output of the 'compare' 
report at http://www.cmsmatrix.org/matrix/cms-matrix . It has key elements as 
the project license. After reading the GNU Herds report I hope we know if we 
must use a CMS, a normal webapp, an AJAX webapp, a mixture of normal and AJAX 
web app, using AJAX only when needed or ...

So we will be able to analyse each point. Maybe we should link the final 
result at the GNU Herds FAQ section.


Thanks you very much Joaquim!.

Regards,
Davi