World: r3wp

The Gripe:


Go here www.Rebol.org, then go here: http://www.ruby-lang.org/en/, 
then here: http://java.sun.com/, hell even go here, http://msdn.microsoft.com/vbasic/, 
now go back to www.Rebol.com


Even if you don't know what the language is or does, do you want 
to go to Rebol.org?  The main page looks like the last page in the 
basement of a website.  Almost like an "error page"

O There is no single location for all Rebol information.

O Rebol.net, Rebol.com, and Rebol.org are spread out and run by RT. 
O There is no pizzas!
O I don't "feel" community when I visit these sites.


I know I'm not talking to my audience when I say; "think of this 
like a night club" but this is what this is all about.  People want 
to "be where the fun is happening."  Even programmers.

My Suggestion:

O We need a site controlled by the developers.

O We need a forum where people can bitch and meet each other, and 
feel welcome.

O The site needs to have a consistent dynamic attractive template.

O The site needs to be a clearing house for all other sites.  Teach 
and directing people to all the resources.

O The site needs to paint a picture as opposed to describe everything 
with a thousand words.

What is entailed:


O Start a new site, I would propose "RebolCentral.com"  I'm willing 
to pay for it, but I don't want to be in charge of it, I suggest 
we make it a committee.


O The main page should cover every topic and reason anyone would 
come to the site.  This means we support every country and other 
site.  The idea here is a clearing house of centralized information. 


O News: The site needs to gather news worthy information and post 
that at the top.  The site is not alive unless people have a way 
to post their information.  This means that there needs to be at 
least one editor, if not several that share the task.  Every time 
a product is updated, the new features are mentioned.  When Carl 
updates his blog, it gets a single sentence directing people there, 
unless it is news of a release of something.  Etc.


O Product Reviews:   This is key.  Products need to be rated, reviewed, 
categorized, voted on.

O Video Archive: All the videos of all the talks ever given   


O Tutorials:  there are a lot of tutorials out there, but which are 
best?  We need to review the tutorials, rate them by Beginner, Intermediate, 
Advanced.  


O Forum: Start with major topics, and then break it down.  The forum 
needs to direct people to other countries, or support the other countries 
right in the forum.  Great simple forum: http://discussion.treocentral.com/index.php?styleid=1


O Respect the real estate.  The #1 mistake people make is treating 
their websites like just pages.  This is just like real estate, location 
location location.  We need to place the content based on where people 
are going.  So you build the basic site, watch it for a couple of 
weeks, then shift things around based on where people are actually 
going. 


O More art, more photos, more community.   It needs to feel inviting: 
http://msdn.microsoft.com/events/pdc/

Stone soup:


I will pay for, host, and supply a fast linux system (w/archive). 
 

I will help design the templates, and provide (and buy if needed) 
great art for the site.

I will not run the site, nor control the content, but I expect there 
to be in place all the items outlined above, set up in a manner that 
it a) runs itself, b) puts the power in the hands of the developers.

This whole site should be able to be pulled together with off the 
shelf parts.   This site does NOT need to be written in Rebol, it 
needs to function.  If each person just did a very little, a team 
of 10 or so people could bring this alive with just an hour or so 
a month once the set up is done.

What can off-the-shelf-parts do better? And: can we run chat-daemons?

Is there a chance to set up ios-servers, or is that to expensive?

rebol.org is the library site and the mailing list site.  It's not 
an aggregator site.

Must it be rebol-only, or can it be a meeting-place for other languages/topics 
too? Which would be cool in case we do it in rebol.

Agree with Graham. Its more our script-lexicon, not the palace.

And agree with Reichart that such a site would be cool. (Reading 
the "full own server"-part)

I don't know what they can do better, my only point is, don't let 
our inability to find a Rebol solution to a problem stop us from 
finding a solution to the problem.

IOS is great as long as it is an "Open" IOS servers.  Meaning EVERYONE 
is welcome.  I want to see an end to any form of elitism in the Rebol 
community.  It hurts everyone.

Yes, I'm clear on what Rebol.org is, still looks like it was designed 
by the Incarceration committee for the Federal government.


Other languages, SURE.  That only drives traffic.  Although it would 
probably end up being just in the forums.

(Full own server could mean uniserv2 (forgot the real name) and a 
fast vanilla based on that.

We don't have that many people here who have design skills

Graham wins the "first to say something can't be done" award.

Unless they are paid and can spend more time?

thanks.

What's so pizzaz about the ruby site ?

Are you sure you're not just venting ??

We don't design anything, we find a site that already looks great, 
and use it.  Pay homage, as we like to say.

I see IOS more like a quick meeting-place. Want to do something, 
set up new server. Together with web-publishing. Say we have a few 
licenses for some projects.

I agree we should use off the shelf components.

This not invented here thing gets tiresome.

Ruby's site is actually pretty cool, and my fav part is:  Ruby 1.8.4 
released! [2005-12-24] by maki Ruby 1.8.4 has been released. on the 
first line.  It means it is ALIVE, people are posting, stuff is HAPPENING. 
 

How about you help, by finding sites that are even better, as opposed 
to questioning the few sites I found?

And venting does not come with offers to pay for stuff...it does 
not come with solutions.  Lets move forward and MAKE something.

I don't go to non rebol language sites !

How looks vanilla? I like it, by i am no art-guy.

I tried using vanilla for this purpose ... but I'm not a graphics/design 
guy

and vanilla is so sloooooow

Your server had technical problems. First i was reluctant to spawn 
a process, then i forgot a bit about it.

well, it was actually a rebol problem .. I wasn't the only one to 
report hanging daemons.

I heard there is a combination of uniserv and vanilla, which is much 
faster. I guess vanilla runs on a daemon then. by cgi, it scans tons 
of files each time.

And here's another attempt using mediawiki

http://compkarori.com/rebolwiki/index.php/Main_Page

I know. Sorry for wording.

Wanted topoint out: This is a dedicated box.

I think you're talking about implementation details .. whereas R 
is looking at the overall picture.

I guess we're talking about finding a portal ...

No, wanted to push vanilla a bit. I think you are hit by bad experience.

I'm open to what every one agrees on.  If it works it works, if it 
does not it does not.

well, you can run vanilla .. but someone needs to customise it to 
give it that inviting/live look.

How much load/data etc do you expect?

I hope the original developers are interested. Have seen some different 
looks, if that developers jump in?

Hard to tell.

This is a vanilla site heavily customised by Chris

http://www.ross-gill.com/

I think it needs a news section, a chat section, a download section, 
a place to vote and comment on software.

what about this site http://www.zope.org/

The Web Site for the Zope Community

http://www.compkarori.com/vanillai like the calendar.

(btw in 3 days you can make a 1000days-party :)

hehe

Its possible to run multiple vanillas. Then each project can have 
its own look.

Sharing user-accounts, maybe some way of cross-linking, maybe changing 
the dialects in a more rebol-way.

now, that was a news site ... blog etc... but after a 1000 days, 
not a single news entry except by myself.