Temporary FI platform
The short: It looks like zikula isn't going to make it in time for us to
use it as a platform for FI for the F12 cycle. Therefore, proposal:
Temporarily use wordpress as a quick-and-dirty FI platform for this
release cycle only, designing the workflow for zikula so that we have a
constant motivation ("argh, this workflow isn't made for this
software!") to drive the zikula stuff forward and migrate to it ASAP.
The extra work this would create is not too bad.
* migrating articles from wp to zikula when zikula is ready (we'd choose
persistent URLs that work for both platforms)
* manual cross-linking of translations while using wp (one wp instance
per language)
* Design's design for FI wp would have to be readapted to fit zikula
when the time comes.
Rationale: We have people who know wp and can make it function fast; wp
was a runner-up during platform comparison (iirc), it's sufficiently
feature-limited for the things we want that we'll be dissuaded for using
it for way too long, and the number of published items that will go out
over FI in the next 6 months is manageable (even if we average one item
per day, that's 182.5 items; <200 is small enough to manually migrate if
absolutely need be).
Question: Can you spot any flaws in this idea? Rip it apart! If there
aren't any gaping holes by the weekend, I'll ask Infrastructure to get
us up a quick test instance to start with, so we can begin publishing
finished material being created right now, like Paul's Summit usb key doco.
Help needed: Ian is out of commission for a few weeks as the school year
starts, so we're looking for someone to step up to get the
infrastructure for an FI platform going. Any takers? (We'll know by this
weekend whether it's wordpress or not; if wordpress, it'll be easy.)
Context: see log below (slightly edited for relevance).
--Mel
<ianweller> mchua: i have some bad news about FI
<mchua> ianweller: just saw the email thread - not going to make it in
time for F12?
<ianweller> mchua: correct
<mchua> ianweller: I'm reading through and trying to understand what the
blockers are.
<mchua> ianweller: I've got my heart set on having an FI feed live for
Ambassadors to use for the F12 cycle by the time beta goes out
<mchua> ianweller: (...though I could be convinced of the impossibility
of this)
<ianweller> well, all the luck in the world to you :)
<mchua> ianweller: can you tell me why the following is a terrible idea:
<mchua> ianweller: wordpress as temporary F12 FI feed.
<ianweller> none of these reasons might be blockers, i'm playing devil's
advocate...
<ianweller> 1) may be difficult to import back into zikula.
<mchua> ianweller: quick, dirty, content goes up somewhere; it's tagged,
feeds automagically exist, we can pick URLs so that they'll be
persistent when we move to zikula.
* mchua nods
<ianweller> 2) less workflow management.
<mchua> Definitely less workflow management.
<ianweller> 3) dirty kludge for the time being that may accidentally
become permanent.
<mchua> 3) is what worries me.
<mchua> ...though I am willing to sit down every week and manually crank
through workflow, and sit down when zikula comes up and manually port
over every article, if need be.
<ianweller> that's all i can think of. :)
<mchua> (the latter will actually be 'write a python script that...')
<ianweller> python is like crack
<mchua> and if marketing and news folks are gritting their teeth through
using wordpress every week, zikula will get up in a freakin' hurry
<mchua> I want wordpress to be functional, but to be functional *with
pain* so that we don't get complacent and use it for F13 as well, basically.
<mchua> ianweller: but it's *happy* crack!
<ianweller> lol
<mchua> ianweller: i sampled everything in the medicine cabinet for
comparison.