Content Strategy Forum

Destry · 2015-08-27 14:10:43

I haven’t mentioned it here before, but CSF is a Txp site, built by Kevin Potts and I and hosted on Kaizen Garden.

It’s a community site based on a conference history that began in 2010. Read the About info if you’re curious.

Kevin doesn’t have interest in Github, I don’t think, but I’ve decided to put the code on Github for a number of reasons:

It’s a great way to keep a versioned repo of the code, which we don’t have right now, and Kaizen Garden’s status right now always makes me nervous. If we ever have to move, this is a nice safeguard. (We just need to keep the database dump and config files elsewhere.)
I’d like to use the CSF site as an educational platform for people learning how to build publishing architecture with Textpattern (at least one case example), and that would turn into a number of new articles for CSF and .com, probably, or even the mag.
It’s a great way to get help with code, notably by designers/developers from the Textpattern community, when we have issues.
By the same reasoning, it’s a great way to get hands-on dev assistance with extension projects CSF has hanging in the wind, such as a discussion forum, an interactive templates index, etc.

CSF community is mostly writers, editors, strategist, content marketers, and people knowledgeable of tech, but not hands-on with code, so it’s impossible to get contributors from that community to help with some of our development initiatives. Thus the latter couple of items above. I’d be happy to have that help from this community, and use the site as an educational platform in exchange.

So in addition to putting the files on Github, I’d also figure out a way to talk about the publishing architecture there and make the various templates available too, particularly the pages and forms where most of the code would be, but otherwise not accessible.

I just need to make sure certain things in code are not shared, like Analytics IDs and whatever.

Any ideas on that are welcome, but I guess the first step is to get something over to Github.

A question on that… I’d prefer to put this under a CSF account on Github as an “organisation”, rather than under my own. But we have no money and I’m not paying out of pocket for that. Anybody know if I can still create an org account? I think things like teams would be useful in the future when different objectives are underway.

maverick · 2015-08-27 14:47:27

Destry wrote #294394:

I’d prefer to put this under a CSF account on Github as an “organisation”, rather than under my own. But we have no money and I’m not paying out of pocket for that.

Under your account, there is a drop down at the top right (right-ish) side. You can create a new organization. You will need an email, but you can select the free repo option. You will also be able to select other members to add to your organization. Your account will automatically be added.

Last edited by maverick (2015-08-27 14:48:44)

Destry · 2015-08-27 18:09:15

Thanks, Maverick!

So far so good.

Last edited by Destry (2015-08-28 00:56:27)

Destry · 2015-09-04 09:06:51

Getting ready to move the site to Github, and want to run something by y’all first…

CSF isn’t yet setup like the hip kids do it; putting pages and styles on the server instead of the DB. Right now everything is in the DB. It’s just been easier for us because we don’t have a lot of time, and I’m the only one that uses Github (and only recently feeling more comfortable with it). But I want to make those pieces available too, as well as all the forms, so as an interim solution, in addition to the server files, I might have three more folders on Github like this (underscores so they sit at top of tree away from regular install material):

_csf-forms (excluding forms that inject third-party data; e.g, Google Analytics)
_csf-pages
_csf-styles

Some instructions will be made available, of course, to say what the folders are.

Since I want the suite to be a learning resource that someone could rebuild, I probably need to show preference settings and the list of installed plugins too, right? Maybe these would just be a page each with the relevant lists (and values in the case of settings). Links could be provided to the plugins:

_csf-forms
_csf-pages
_csf-styles
_csf-plugins.textile
_csf-settings.textile

Things that won’t be put on Github are:

/textpattern/config.php
(other?)

And install tree folders that have CSF content will be empty:

/files
/images
…

Only the website architecture built with Textpattern is for public use, not CSF’s brand or content (no dump file will be available, for example). But the brand files will go on Github too. I don’t want them used, but it’s not like people can’t find/see the files online anyway. Which makes me think a statement about how to use everything might be necessary — a license, or whatever.

Am I overlooking anything? General comments? Suggestions?

maniqui · 2015-09-04 12:49:57

Hi Destry,
nice project (both the CSF itself and this particular project of sharing what’s under the website’s hood).

I’d suggest you to add to .gitignore:

textpattern/tmp/*
files/
images/
.htaccess
# You can provide an .htaccess.sample

Which makes me think a statement about how to use everything might be necessary — a license, or whatever.

I’m an strong believer that everything that’s put in the public goes automatically into the public domain. These days, licenses look like boilerplate to me, although I like the “undoing copyright” power of copyleft licenses. But this is for another discussion.

As you ask for suggestions, I’d suggest you to move as soon as possible to flat files for pages and forms. With rah_flat, you can have flat files even for configuring sections and site preferences. Not having to manually copy your forms and pages to your _csf-* folders… will make your life easier

Destry · 2015-09-07 13:01:13

Hi Maniqui! Thanks.

maniqui wrote #294519:

I’d suggest you to add to .gitignore: textpattern/tmp/*...

I’m not familiar with .gitignore. I’ll have to research it.

… move as soon as possible to flat files for pages and forms. With rah_flat, you can have flat files even for configuring sections and site preferences. Not having to manually copy your forms and pages to your _csf-* folders… will make your life easier

Point taken. I’ll have to research that too. I’ve not done it before. The real problem is I don’t have a lot of time right now, but I’ll look into it eventually.

You’re in the CSF community, right? You want a Publisher account on the site? I could use an extra pair of hands for the architecture stuff. No pressure. No answer will be taken as, “no thank you”. ;)

I’m an strong believer that everything that’s put in the public goes automatically into the public domain.

I think you’ll have to clarify what you mean by “in the public domain”. You mean has the right to use as they want?

I don’t care about the markup, CSS, JavaScript, and whatever, because that’s the whole point of sharing the site, but the visual identity isn’t something we want people mimicking, notably the custom graphics that signify the brand (logo, map links, bars, banner graphic, etc). It’s not supposed to be taken as a free blog theme. People will have to insert their own brand graphics if they really want to copy the code to that level of exactness. I mean who would want to anyway outside of being a learning tool?

Copying the brand of another site for your own production site is a petty lame thing to do, and especially if one is trying to profit from it. Licenses — call it a friendly statement, if you want — make it clear the brand part is off limits, legally speaking. At least that’s how I see it.

Last edited by Destry (2015-09-07 13:07:47)

maniqui · 2015-09-07 14:09:30

You are welcome.

Destry wrote #294534:

I’m not familiar with .gitignore. I’ll have to research it.

It’s just a plain text file that can be located in the root folder of your project (or even in subfolders), to tell Git what to ignore. That is, what not to include on commits. So, it helps to avoid committing files with sensible data (like config.php).
In the case of ignoring textpattern/tmp, the goal is to avoid committing existing temporary files that no-one would need when setting up their own copy of the website.

Point taken. I’ll have to research that too. I’ve not done it before. The real problem is I don’t have a lot of time right now, but I’ll look into it eventually.

I can help you to set up rah_flat.

You’re in the CSF community, right? You want a Publisher account on the site? I could use an extra pair of hands for the architecture stuff. No pressure. No answer will be taken as, “no thank you”. ;)

I’m not sure if “I am in the CSF community”, although I’m subscribed to its newsletter. I’m also in the Google Groups for Content Strategy (mostly as a lurker although I’ve participated in some conversations too).
Feel free to add me as a Publisher.

I think you’ll have to clarify what you mean by “in the public domain”. You mean has the right to use as they want?
(…) People will have to insert their own brand graphics if they really want to copy the code to that level of exactness. I mean who would want to anyway outside of being a learning tool?

Copying the brand of another site for your own production site is a petty lame thing to do, and especially if one is trying to profit from it. Licenses — call it a friendly statement, if you want — make it clear the brand part is off limits, legally speaking. At least that’s how I see it.

I understand your concernings, but I’d question that someone would have any real motivation to copy the CSF brand with the goal of deceiting some audience.
BTW,. I’m pretty influenced (or, let’s say, convinced) by the cultural liberty arguments on these topics

Destry · 2015-09-07 16:42:52

maniqui wrote #294535:

I’m not sure if “I am in the CSF community”

You take an interest in CS, follow the newsletter (first letter coming soon, btw), and are in the G+ community. That qualifies you. ;)

Great! Your site credential are forthcoming, and I’ll be adding you to the Github team too.

I understand your concernings, but I’d question that someone would have any real motivation to copy the CSF brand with the goal of deceiving some audience.

I’d like to think not too.

Destry · 2015-09-27 09:16:00

The CSF website is currently down because the web host (Kaizen Garden) has pulled anchor and sailed (or sunk). Kaizen was sponsoring the CSF site.

The site is not personal or commercial, it’s an open community site for educational purposes. I’m looking for a new sponsor to host the site, in exchange for advertising the sponsor in return, and perhaps some documentation.

The host must be a certified business, not somebody’s home server, or whatever. If anyone knows a web host that would be hospitable to this sort of thing, reach me through the forum email.

Destry · 2015-09-29 10:39:41

What would be the appropriate license choice for putting the CSF website on GitHub, publicly?

CSF content uses a creative commons license, with the exception of contributed articles, which authors hold rights to. But that’s not really the focus, which is more the templates and publishing architecture we’ve built. Do we need to respect Txp core licensing, in this case?

wet · 2015-09-29 11:53:37

Destry wrote #295192:

Do we need to respect Txp core licensing, in this case?

No, with the exception of plugins which would have to obey the GPL.

Destry · 2015-09-29 14:32:00

Thanks.

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#1 2015-08-27 14:10:43