[ZDP] New Site Design

Maik Roeder mroe@axion-gmbh.de
Mon, 08 May 2000 15:33:22 +0100


Hi Chris !


> > This is the ZBook Content Library. It's a listing of all topics that
> > will need a chapter in the ZBook. I just figured that by putting the
> > Drafts in the Topics directly you can emulate such a beast.
>
> Yes, I have to say I don't really see why a ZCL should eb necessary, just build
> the stubs (folder-type things representing topics and chapters) and let peopel
> fill them in :-)

That's what I wanted to express. You can emulate the ZCL with the Meta Book.

> > I vote for links that point to 100% good information resource that
> > discuss the Subject or Topic at hand. This way we can give some added
> > value without having the content on site.
> 
> Ah, the problem comes when you get a good link, but then a coupla years later
> someone decides it move it and then you have a broken and useless link...

Knowledge must be captured in the Portal so that it is no more necessary
to have the link at hand. This can happen by writing summaries of articles
and chapters for a book, or how-tos or whatever.
Another point is that for some articles we don't get the right to copy it, 
and it would also not be possible to store all interesting articles on ZDP anyway.

> > With the introduction of the Links to search engines under the Subjects and
> > Topics, I think we have a very powerful tool. 
>
> Not sure, search engines will likely return a lot of chaff rather than plain
> decent wheat. What would be nice (and may be there, I haven't had a chance to
> look...) is a 'search ZDP for this' and a 'search Zope.org' box on each
> topic/item.

You may not have noticed it, but indeed when you click on a Topic, the ZDP
is searched in the background. Alas, not everything is found, simply because 
not everything has been meta-tagged.
One further enhancement will be customized searches that are created by
humans who have found a way to filter exactly the kind of information that
is relevant for the subject and topic. It can be hard to write such a filter,
but taking the predefined searches as a starting point, you can quickly 
filter further and share the resulting filter URL.

> > I have opened the adding
> > of subjects and topics for Anonymous. This way we can grow chaotically
> > until all interesting topics and subjects are there. Once people start
> > using this system, drop in discussions and draft folders, and you have
> > a brainstorming system capable of producing collaboratively written
> > documents. 

> Totally agree :-) Hopefully it'll end up working like one big (structured) Wiki.

That's exactly what I had in mind. Also, I intend to give each Portal, Subject
and Topic Discussions and Comment Folders by default, so the basic infrastructure
is there. 

> This is true, what would be nice is if DC took moderation responsibility. In
> essence, they let us do all the hard work (actualyl writing the documentation
> ;-) and then come along and say whether it's right or not (of course, it'd be
> helpful if they corrected anything that was wrong ;-)

DC should work openly with us as it is envisioned in the Zope Documentation
Plan. This also included them getting their own Portals/Subjects/Topics which
they can host. Other Portals/Subjects/Topics can be hosted by community members.

> > > Do you mean to /projects/zdptools/tasks/ ?
> > > If so, I'll do it, but nto until I get an 'OK' 'cos the ZDP management interface
> > > is just a little intimidating for a newbie to ZDP like me :-)
> > 
> > Don't worry, you may have noticed that we value chaos and creativity
> > more than rigidity and control.
> 
> Urm, does this mean I still need to go and add the task? If so, is
> /projects/zdptools/tasks/ the right place?

Yes, and yes.

Greetings,

Maik Röder