[ubuntu-art] art.ubuntu.com (regarding CMSs)

[Henrik Nilsen Omma]

Pascal Klein wrote:

>On Wed, 7 Sep 2005 09:55 pm, Nikolai Dunkel wrote:
>  
>
>>why dont we just do everything like they did on gnome-looks.org???
>>theyve got everything perfect, and thats the quality of site most
>>ubuntu artists are used to, as thats what everyone has been using up
>>until now!!!!
>>    
>>
>
>I agree with this idea as well. The art-web content management system is not 
>as advanced, user friendly and powerful as the content management system used 
>by the gnome-look, kde-look, kde-apps, and so on. I've thought about 
>something similar actually before the announcement of art.ubuntu.com - 
>"ubuntu-look.org".
>
>I think we could use art.ubuntu.com along with the gnome/kde-look.org CMS 
>(content management system), to not only develop and share art, but also to 
>easily announce competitions as well as draw impressive, high rated art to be 
>added into official releases of Ubuntu.
>
>I really respect the work of all you guys so far whom have been involved with 
>the art.ubuntu.com process, especially by that of Henrik Nilsen Omma, however 
>I think we, as the Ubuntu art community should decide what CMS we should use, 
>no? I just began helping out at art.ubuntu.com with the art-web CMS to accept 
>submitted artwork, and so far it is a cumbersome process to accept any new 
>submissions, even simple things such as wallpapers. Of course room is open 
>for improvement of the art-web CMS, but should this be currently our primary 
>concern as the art community, or is there a possibility of using a more 
>advanced CMS, such as the one gnome-look.org currently uses?
>
>What does the rest of the community think on this matter? Should we possibly 
>change the CMS for ease of use? What do the rest of you think?
>  
>
I actually agree with Matthew Nuzum's point that we should focus on art, 
but I have to answer this :)  This topic was raised on the list some 
time ago. The funny thing is that I actually suggested the kde-look 
system first, but others said they would prefer the art.gnome.org system 
:) So the community was asked and listened to ... See: 
http://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-art/2005-July/000086.html

I think those people were actually right. The art.gnome.org system is 
much cleaner IMHO, compare http://art.ubuntu.com/ to this: 
http://www.gnome-look.org/ . It has fewer features, but it's quite 
simple so we can expand it to fit our needs perfectly over time. Less is 
often more. We have several good ideas for improvement, we have people 
willing to do the PHP work and we have a good collaboration with the 
art.gnome team. I have no idea what would be involved in setting up a 
kde-look type system. I suspect that may also not be plug-and-play.

Your primary concern seems to be that the admin panel is cumbersome to 
use, which is true but those improvements are now under way. You don't 
have to do the art-admin if you don't want to :)

If we really need a new/better collaboration tool, I would suggest 
setting up a simple forum, where we can posts messages and attach 
artwork in progress (some art teams use a forum to great effect [1]). I 
don't think the art team uses the regular forum much and that's probably 
wise; there might easily be too much noise there. A standard forum can 
be set up in 30 minutes, and some custom theming can be applied in 
another hour or two.

BUT, I know people will feel that this is going down the road of too 
much fragmentation, and I take that point. I think we should try to work 
with the tools we have now and then we can consider this in a few weeks 
or even post-breezy if there is a great demand. We have the mailing 
list, the wiki and the art site now, and should go with that. Jane 
pointed out some great projects we can focus on.

- Henrik

[1] http://www.wesnoth.org/forum/viewforum.php?f=9
http://kde-artists.org/main/component/option,com_smf/