Hi guys,
since most designers are probably forum readers I’m posting here.
Please take a look at:
http://www.haiku-os.org/wiki/index.php?title=Website_Team#Layout
(including the requirements section).
Could someone please create a simple, but good-looking CSS-based skin for us? I’m a horrible designer and need help, but I can integrate the skin, so all I need is a set of CSS and HTML files.
Would anyone be interested?
Thank you!
What exactly are you ‘skinning’?
A CMS? Which one?
Please give us more to go on. The page you mentioned does not have these crucial details.
I tried TYPO3, but it’s too horrible pain. I think that in the end MODx, Drupal, or Mambo will have to work. We don’t have a decision, yet.
I’d like to have an independent skin “base”. Please just create a CSS with a sample HTML page. The rest will be done by myself.
Perhaps we should narrow down the choices for the CMS first. Each system has its own way of laying pages out with different variables. In order to do something with a layout similar to what you suggested, we should have an idea of what is going to be used.
Also, read my post on that page’s discussion regarding navigation. Don’t get too unconventional with your brainstorming.
Okay, I went through those systems, again, and Drupal seems to be the best suited CMS for what I imagined (optional propagation of new content to front-page, categorization, and related-pages navigation).
So, pleae create a very nice Drupal skin.
ar1000, which post do you mean? Do you have a link? I don’t think I’m getting too unconventional. I just read a few articles on website usability and user navigation habits. We need something more flexible than a fixed site-structure, but I will take care of sensible page relations. Don’t bother, the most important navigation entries will always stay at the top.
FYI, I tested my local Drupal install with this "Related Links" plugin:
I have always suggested Drupal. Two more advantages: you can edit the menu structure to make it more user friendly. Second, drupal is very fast growing and easy to update. The current version is 2x easier to use than a couple of minor releases ago.
I’ve done work for a large community based on Drupal, and my experience with it, as well as the experience of that of the main engineer working on coding bits a pieces for the system, was that it is terrible to work with. And it is LOADED with security problems.
My experience with full-blown CMS systems is limited, however, so I don’t think I could point you to an alternative with any confidence.
I’m sure there are a lot of people on here who could give you some insight into CMS systems. One thing you may want to keep in mind is the ability of non-technical users to add content and do meaningful edits.
What happened to the project recommendations, etc, listed on the wiki page regarding the new website?
I've done work for a large community based on Drupal, and my experience with it, as well as the experience of that of the main engineer working on coding bits a pieces for the system, was that it is terrible to work with. And it is LOADED with security problems.
It was obviously good enough for Firefox, and we will not have near their userbase. I am sorry you had a bad experience, but I currently administer 3 drupal based sites and they have never caused any problems.
I'm sure there are a lot of people on here who could give you some insight into CMS systems. One thing you may want to keep in mind is the ability of non-technical users to add content and do meaningful edits.What happened to the project recommendations, etc, listed on the wiki page regarding the new website?
Drupal with WYSIWYG and category-based navigation should be easy enough (at least, you can get used to it). When I first tried Drupal I hated the fact that it’s incredibly difficult to add navigation entries to the menu, but with our new navigation scheme the whole story is very different. Here, only Drupal is good enough for us.
Why not Plone? Too expensive hosting. Why not RailFrog? We didn’t want to wait, anymore. We need a new website NOW. Probably Drupal is not our last CMS, but for now it has to work.
Drupal is used for SPREADfirefox, not the mozilla site. There is an important difference. Spreadfirfox is a community-site which lends itself to the use of drupal just as it is.
Making drupal look like a product site is not going to be easy.
Who is in charge of the web team, anyhow? Shouldn’t they make the final say? I’m curious as to what he/she thinks.
Who is in charge of the web team, anyhow? Shouldn't they make the final say? I'm curious as to what he/she thinks.
Youââ¬â¢ve been debating with one of them 
Seriously though, a lot of decisions are made by the core Haiku developers because theyââ¬â¢ve been doing this project for years. If youââ¬â¢d like to join in more, volunteer to assist with the new site 
CMS systems were debated on the haiku-web mailing list about a month back, where wkornew detailed the pro/cons, and everyone added their view. This current choice seems more than reasonable.
Making drupal look like a product site is not going to be easy.Who is in charge of the web team, anyhow? Shouldn’t they make the final say? I’m curious as to what he/she thinks.
Actually, there is nobody really involved. Kurtis is the far-too-busy team leader. Michael and I took over this task because our current website (including Bugzilla) is too limiting and complicated for us. FYI, I’m not a real web developer and I’m not doing this on my own (i.e.: I discuss everything with the other admins). This is just a task that has to be done now and our main developers have enough work with coding.
I know that Drupal is not the best CMS, but the alternatives are a pain to work with. We tried a lot of CMSes (much more than the short list at opensourcecms.com) and they are all horrible and overloaded.
The debate John mentioned is just the tip of the iceberg. The CMS discussion started internally a very long time ago. We debated this to death and the whole team is sick of this topic.
We want to give Drupal a real chance. Please help us create a really nice and professional theme.
We want to give Drupal a real chance. Please help us create a really nice and professional theme.
A realistic and practical decision at last!! Drupal was suggested/recommended – together with another CMS – about 2 months ago, but the the response then was that "it does not work".
Too bad it took this long to realize what was pretty obvious from the very beginning.
Having said that, I am actually glad that you have decided on a CMS that, although it may not be perfect, it does have a proven record.
Koki
Who is in charge of the web team, anyhow? Shouldn't they make the final say? I'm curious as to what he/she thinks.
Yeah, its mostly a group thing right now, Kurtis is otherwise occupied with his more real-world job.
wkornew wrote:We want to give Drupal a real chance. Please help us create a really nice and professional theme.A realistic and practical decision at last!! Drupal was suggested/recommended – together with another CMS – about 2 months ago, but the the response then was that "it does not work".
Too bad it took this long to realize what was pretty obvious from the very beginning.
I’m sorry about this, but at that time we wanted to have a simple page tree for organizing our content. Drupal is not really intended for this scheme (the official site even links to an article that basically makes this conclusion). Recently, I decided to try something different and here Drupal is well-suited. We will not have to bother about a navigation tree. We’ll categorize our stuff and Drupal takes care of inter-linking related content.
I disagree that Drupal is an obvious choice for everyone. It has a different philosophy and IMHO you should not try to use Drupal like an ordinary (tree-based) CMS.
related pages and topics can be just as simple though, it just depends on your "mental framework"
I disagree that Drupal is an obvious choice for everyone. It has a different philosophy and IMHO you should not try to use Drupal like an ordinary (tree-based) CMS.
I am not saying that using Drupal was the obvious choice, but that what you are now saying in the announcement on the front page was obvious from the very beginning, and I quote:
"Plone hosting is too expensive because Plone is very resource-hungry and requires a powerful server with root access. RailFrog is progressing too slowly for us and we do not want to wait for the perfect CMS, anymore"
This was known and pointed out in the haiku-web mailing list long ago. I hate to say this, but if somebody would have listened… 
Having said that, I am glad this is moving forward. I have heard good things about Drupal, so go for it!
Koki
PS: In the announcement on the front page, you may want to add where to make the submissions for the theme (ie., email address).
This was known and pointed out in the haiku-web mailing list long ago. I hate to say this, but if somebody would have listened... :-(
At the time I tried Drupal I was searching for something different. I must admit that I did not really know the idea behind it.
PS: In the announcement on the front page, you may want to add where to make the submissions for the theme (ie., email address).
There is a link to the mailing list’s info page, so you can register. You wouldn’t be able to post without a subscription, anyway.
So now there is a contest . . .
So, who would like to work on a theme? This doesn’t really have to end in a contest; we can work together. All I want is to have a nice theme. The new website is at:
http://plonetest.haiku-os.org/
It’s still work in progress, of course. I’m trying out different tagging concepts. I think I’ve found one that doesn’t require too much fiddling, but this needs more real-world testing. I’ve imported all important newsletter articles and Axel’s important blog posts, but maybe someone wants to add more.
Then, we also need more content for the "Collaborate" section and we need better designs for the "Development" and "Collaborate" pages (some cool images would be nice).
Would anyone like to help? 