Xubuntu Website Software (was: Re: UDS Karmic Goals)

Matthew Nuzum matthew.nuzum at canonical.com
Wed May 27 22:13:44 UTC 2009


On Wed, May 27, 2009 at 4:41 PM, Cody A.W. Somerville
<cody-somerville at ubuntu.com> wrote:
>> I see your point here, but being watched the Xubuntu website in the last,
>> what, 9 months, I definitely feel that it's not going to overgrow WP with
>> this amount of activity.
>
> You have a valid point here but I think our website can do more. For
> example, its always been my intention to investigate the possibility of
> reusing the drupal module that I suspect powers the download section on the
> Ubuntu website. Furthermore, I'm also interested in using the launchpad
> integration modules created for Drupal.
>
> Matthew: Do you know if it would be possible for us to use the download
> stuff from Ubuntu's website? Open sourcing it would not necessarily be a
> requirement.

Launchpad integration is available for both Drupal (versions 5 and 6)
as well as Wordpress. The internal to Canonical development team is in
the QA stage (I believe) for wordpress integration with LP. Which ever
solution you choose can be integrated.

Regarding the download code, I don't have good news for you. The
problem isn't the availability of the code but the availability of
useful data. Launchpad monitors official mirrors to ensure they have
all of the necessary cd images and files and then provides a list of
suitable mirrors to ubuntu.com. Xubuntu's CD images aren't among the
list that are required to be an official mirror.

A different technical solution will be needed.

>>>
>>> Drupal is not as much a CMS as it is a web development framework with
>>> a simplistic CMS application built in. If you want to describe and
>>> publish all kinds of information or build simple dynamic content
>>> applications Drupal is an excellent option. Another thing it excels at
>>> is themeing. It has a very simple to use themeing system and doesn't
>>> in the least sacrifice flexibility. It is unfortunately much more
>>> challenging to configure and use.
>>
>>
>> I have to say that my personal opinion somewhat differs here. I've also
>> developed on Drupal (and WP), and I must say that the theming system of WP
>> is way more logical in my hands than Drupals. I see that Drupal (theming)
>> doesn't sacrifice flexibility at all, but the question to be asked is that
>> do we really need that much *complexity*?
>
> The toughest part is creating the actual styling and html which is why I
> have tons of respect for folks like you and Matthew. As for converting that
> into a "theme" for Drupal or WP, that can easily be done with folks who have
> the necessary experience working with the targetted software.

> I think what Matthew was trying to point out here is Drupal has some very
> powerful modules that can be pieced together to provide flexible
> solutions/functionality without needing to touch any code.

I'm missing out on a good part of this discussion so if you've already
done this, just ignore me here...

Change for the sake of change is often not good. If you have
requirements that are not being met you should clarify them amongst
yourselves. Then choosing a solution is as simple as "we need X, Y,
what will provide this?"

If you are mostly happy with a drupal site but need a blog you will
probably be most satisfied by enabling the blog module for drupal.
Otherwise you have to create and maintain a new theme. If you are
planning on making a new theme anyway and a blog mostly meets your
needs then you could gain from the simpler/optimized interface and
workflow in wordpress.

Before you chose a solution come to an agreement on what the problem
is. (I'd post this on your wiki) That will make the discussion much
more productive.

-- 
Matthew Nuzum
newz2000 on freenode, skype, linkedin, identi.ca and twitter




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