Textpattern CMS support forum
You are not logged in. Register | Login | Help
- Topics: Active | Unanswered
[wiki] Better use/expression of textpattern.net
I’m thinking we might be wise in rethinking the use and expression of textpattern.net.
At the moment it’s only being used for TextBook, which is really being expressed as textpattern.net/wiki.
I think a more sensible approach to how this is expressed in URLs (should have done it from day 1) is to go textbook.textpattern.net, or at the very least, wiki.textpattern.net (though I prefer the former, as it clearly expresses “textbook”). Theoretically, we should be able to use mod_rewrite to keep all links intact, and if we can stack clean URLs on top of that, all the better.
Not only will this give us better URLs as far as the wiki is concerned, but it opens up textpattern.net to be used for other things (when such ideas for useful things surface and get Dean-approved).
The biggest issue is breaking links, but if we can go about it with minimal link breaking, then I think it would be a good idea for opening up horizons.
Feelings? Comments?
Offline
Re: [wiki] Better use/expression of textpattern.net
I, for one, think textbook.textpattern.net is a good idea.
If nothing else, it let’s us use the rest of textpattern.net for other (presumably related) things. Like maybe a central repository of useful user-written tutorials?
Offline
Re: [wiki] Better use/expression of textpattern.net
Hi Destry!
I think it is a good idea to have the word “textbook” in the link.
But I’ve got one general question: If you open textpattern.net for other thing besides the wiki, what would be the difference between these “other things” and “other things” that are (weblog) or could be done (official portal) on textpattern.com? At first glance I think “textbook.textpattern.com” or “textpattern.com/textbook” would be more integrating. But I don’t know if this would be possible…
Sorry about this question, but I am getting more and more confused with all the links and URL that are connected to Textpattern.
Nils
Offline
#4 2006-03-06 02:09:35
- Mary
- Sock Enthusiast
- Registered: 2004-06-27
- Posts: 6,236
Re: [wiki] Better use/expression of textpattern.net
Please realize that addons to the Txp.com site isn’t likely to happen. The reason being that it adds a lot more workload for the already busy core devs. That’s just a fact.
.net seems appropriate, I mean, it is .net<em>work</em>, you could reasonably put just about anything there. It’s not like it’s adding a new url for heaven’s sake, all you’d be doing is reorganizing the site.
Offline
Re: [wiki] Better use/expression of textpattern.net
Agreed, Mary. And besides not giving the dev team more work, I think it’s a good idea to keep the “official” stuff (—deanload— download files, the forum, the FAQ, the weblog, SVN, etc.) stuff in the .com (since that’s probably considered the “default” tld to turn to when in doubt) separate from user contributed material at the other addresses.
Offline
Re: [wiki] Better use/expression of textpattern.net
Well, I know this is a complicated topic, but I really think all the different URL are not self-explanatory.
Mary, you’re right that .net is appropriate. My only problem is, that something like the manual (.net) and the FAQ (.com) are separated into different URLs and it’s not simple for a “normal” user to understand why.
Why don’t we do it the “Mozilla way”. They have a main web domain (mozilla.com) where they announce their latest software products (Firefox and Thunderbird). Any further things besides the downloads and the minimal needed information is handled via mozilla.org. So my suggestion would be to bundle all ressources (textbook, faq, weblog, …) at textpattern.net and use textpattern.com just as some kind of “business card” (I don’t know if this is the right word in English, for those who speak German: it’s meant as some kind of “Visitenkarte”).
When I’m at my university where I don’t have my bookmarks, I’m often looking for some information and get confused about the domains. Was it .com or .net? Oh no, it was .org! So I think less is more. It all should be more focused.
It’s just a proposition. If it would be possible to bundle things, it needs not to be more work for the devs. I thinks it’s just a question of login information and it’s not that different to write FAQ on this or that domain.
Offline
Re: [wiki] Better use/expression of textpattern.net
Elenita schrieb:
I think it’s a good idea to keep the “official” stuff stuff in the .com…
I thought that TextBook is the official documentation? Am I wrong with that?!
Offline
Re: [wiki] Better use/expression of textpattern.net
<blockquote>I thought that TextBook is the official documentation? Am I wrong with that?!</blockquote>
I used to think the same thing myself, but the best I could find was that it’s “authoritative.”
Edit: I’ll comment on Skubidu’s ideas after I’ve had some time to think it over, but for those who don’t speak German, I’d translate Visitenkarte as equivalent to a “name card” common in Asia. Though, honestly, I don’t know if that’ll actually clarify anything…
Last edited by Elenita (2006-03-06 14:25:19)
Offline
Re: [wiki] Better use/expression of textpattern.net
Elenita wrote: I think it’s a good idea to keep the “official” stuff stuff in the .com…
Skubidu wrote: I thought that TextBook is the official documentation? Am I wrong with that?!
Elenita wrote: I used to think the same thing myself, but the best I could find was that it’s “authoritative.”
It’s a bit fuzzy, I agree, but I would say the safe answer here is yes; it’s considered the premiere body of documentation for Textpattern (albeit unfinished) . Here’s why I think so:
- Dean personally provided the textpattern.net platform for it. I don’t think the President would make that step if he didn’t have stock in what it would eventually turn out to be (however slow).
- Although Dean has never used the word official himself (when talking about TextBook), he has said…“I endorse it to the hilt” and has called it the “authoritative” body of documentation; and really, it’s a very small step from authoritative to official.
- Dean personally communicated to Remilliard and I (some time back in an IRC session), that he considered Remilliard and I Administrators/Decision Makers and in cheeky Dean fashion said to “kick butt and take names” with the project (or something to that effect). With that personal vote of confidence I shortly thereafter implemented multiple language abilities (with helpful guides from Inspired), and the translation efforts have since been — and continue to be — a growing activity for TextBook. It’s also a major aspect of why we stick with the wiki (in particular, MediaWiki) over any other publishing system for documentation…it easily allows internationalization in one centralized community managed place.
- There is no other body of documentation in existence, that is hosted by TxPEmpire, that even comes close to what TextBook represents.
It would be rediculous for anybody to go off on a tangent and try and compete with TextBook at this point. Forking the code of a system is one thing, but forking documentation for the same system is something else entirely, and completely stupid. I know there are sites out there that are dedicated to TxP documentation in other languages, but I think even those efforts are detracting from the centralized documentation effort. The wiki provides mirroring abilities for any language, that’s where all documentation efforts should be going, IMHO. Nevertheless, if I’ve learned anything from being here, people will do what they want to do with their own domains. I just focus on textpattern.net and call it good.
As for other resources in the textpattern.net domain, here’s a couple thoughts:
- Since mary has indicated nothing else will be added to textpattern.com, I think the root domain, textpattern.net, would be the next perfect place for the new Textpattern Transit Map that is in development, which is expected to be a complete road map of sorts to all existing TxP information within the realm of recognized community projects (I hope).
- With the surge in many projects and with this renewed and wonderful focus on organizing these efforts, it might be worth thinking about a helpdesk system to manage them better, and this one by Cerberus could be just the thing. A single license is free (meaning tied to one email address). This system is amazingly robust; hard to even believe it’s free, even for one account. The interface is loaded with features; it just needs to be dummied down for whatever needs exist. (I’ve even decided to employ this for personal/business uses; a means for clients — even mom — to raise tickets in an organized way, and for me to write help material once, not multiple times.)
- There has always been an installation of TxP there, it’s just never been used for anything. There’s always been talk of porting polished docs into a TxP install, but again, the real deal breaker is that TxP just doesn’t handle internationalization like the wiki can. At this point in time there’s no justified need for using TxP for documentation, outside of the FAQ and Weblog. (We probably don’t want to bring up that dirty laundry again.)
That’s just a couple ideas, which if acted upon would give us:
- Textpattern Transit Map textpattern.net
- TextBook: textbook.textpattern.net
- Projects HelpDesk: projects.textpattern.net
- (TxP Install): txp.textpattern.net
Just ideas, mind you. We would have to get Dean approval on any new intalls on his domain, but if the case plan was tight, he might be swayed. Part of that case plan would be to define additional administrators to help manage the increased overhead, which I think would be fair to say would be the leaders/principals of whatever projects were added.
Offline
Re: [wiki] Better use/expression of textpattern.net
Destry wrote:
As for other resources in the textpattern.net domain, here’s a couple thoughts:
. . . I think the root domain, textpattern.net, would be the next perfect place for the new Textpattern Transit Map that is in development, which is expected to be a complete road map of sorts to all existing TxP information within the realm of recognized community projects (I hope).
That’s just a couple ideas, which if acted upon would give us:
- Textpattern Transit Map textpattern.net
- TextBook: textbook.textpattern.net
- Projects HelpDesk: projects.textpattern.net
- (TxP Install): txp.textpattern.net
Count me in.
Last edited by neutrino (2006-03-07 14:10:11)
Offline
Re: [wiki] Better use/expression of textpattern.net
- Projects HelpDesk: projects.textpattern.net
bq. * (TxP Install): txp.textpattern.net
Can you explain these two? What exactly is behind the “Projects HelpDesk” and the “Txp Install”?
Offline
Re: [wiki] Better use/expression of textpattern.net
Skubidu…these were just theoretical examples. I’m not suggesting they actually be implemented for anything right now. I certainly don’t have time to mess with it. The whole point was to just show that by giving TextBook a proper URL, it would free up the .net domain for other uses, as such uses were recognized and justified. Let’s just leave it at that for now. My sole focus right now is TextBook.
Offline