41
Big_Bro
Re: xp-weather 1.4
  • 2003/11/8 19:02

  • Big_Bro

  • Just popping in

  • Posts: 52

  • Since: 2003/2/26


I run it on 2.03 and have been quite happy with it.



42
Big_Bro
Re: Xoops 2.1 Module development Roadmap
  • 2003/11/7 6:46

  • Big_Bro

  • Just popping in

  • Posts: 52

  • Since: 2003/2/26


The news topic categories as mentioned above is important I believe, allowing the ability to display two columns of your news topics with the last x number of stories posted for each.

A block similar to my right block at www.newshax.com which allows you to specify and display a chosen number of news items by number and add the first xx characters of the headline or let you change the headline altogether, and allow you to upload an automatically resized thumbnail image. I manually update that block myself now but it would be a good one.

An improved spotlight block with working choices as to the story you can post, (most popular for day, most recent, by story number) and no mandatory graphics etc.

Any other content display oriented modules that anyone can think of are most welcome and needed, regardless of how simple or complex. Giving us tools and choices for better, more organized and more cohesive content display is highly important in my opinion, as the ultimate goal of installing and running XOOPS is an organized and functional content display to the end user. I think it's very important to keep a strong focus on that important aspect of a CMS.

Fixes to the myriad of semi-functional but useable modules out there whose developers have abandoned them, most just need simple fixes I have observed.

A master list to catalog EVERY known working module and what they can do plus user ratings, and each with their own screenshots if possible. It's often hard for someone new to know what is possible when you have to go here and there and by word of mouth to track down available modules, and then because of language barriers or poor descriptions it's often hard to figure out exactly what they do, or potentially can do.





43
Big_Bro
Re: XOOPS 2.1 Core development Roadmap
  • 2003/10/31 22:02

  • Big_Bro

  • Just popping in

  • Posts: 52

  • Since: 2003/2/26


I think the problem is that nothing much is happening on the modules side, and I can see Malexandria's point from a content providers side myself, to those of us who don't code, XOOPS is a black box and we don't see the distinctions between modules and the core, just the finished product. From our admittedly limited perspective, modules are things such as Friend Finder that add functionality beyond what we downloaded when we first installed xoops.

I had more to say but if this is just a pure core discussion I'll just quote what I wanted to say until a module discussion of these important points is begun.

Quote:
I have always seen the news module and other basic modules such as members as part of the core even if they are really just modules, because without them you have nothing to present to the world. That may be technically incorrect but overall a CMS without a method of displaying content is just a database.

Malexandria touches on some good points that bring up a very important directional question for the future of XOOPS in my opinion.

The internet is based on content, nobody visits a website because they admire the well designed administration interfaces, and end-users cannot see nor really appreciate a well designed caching system for instance. Those are great things to have for us as webmasters, no doubt about that and XOOPS is a very stable and well written system, but to me it's like having a Ferrari frame, suspension and engine (the XOOPS core) with a '73 AMC Gremlin chassis on top, (the UI's). You just won't get the chicks until you install a sleek red chassis, regardless of how much horsepower is under the hood.

I've painted my Gremlin chassis and pounded it out with a hammer to shape it more like a Ferrari, but I am not a programmer and it's still kinda obvious that my site looks more like a pounded out Gremlin than the Ferrari it really is under the hood, and that as a webmaster bums me out, it actually takes my desire to work on the site away because I know that I can't do many of the things I want to so I get discouraged and try to accept less, which is very hard for me.

I don't know what the developers goals are for xoops, but XOOPS usage would quadruple in short order with better and easier tools to display, highlight and organize the most important part of any website, the content. In my opinion that should be first and second priority after a stable core is built, and we do have a stable core.

Draven really, really gets the idea of presentation in his site and we as XOOPS users are fortunate he is part of the team now. As far as I'm concerned there is no better CMS-based website than his gaining-mass.com site, in terms of presentation, organization, and just plain wow factor, it leaves you with the idea that you need to come back again and see more or you will miss something. If even some of those presentation tools were available as a part of XOOPS it would put some serious distance between XOOPS and the rest of the CMS pack.

These are all my opinions as a news content provider so your experiences may vary, but I see presentation as the most critical need for XOOPS to surpass the rest of the CMS field.



44
Big_Bro
Re: XOOPS 2.1 Core development Roadmap
  • 2003/10/31 18:02

  • Big_Bro

  • Just popping in

  • Posts: 52

  • Since: 2003/2/26


Malexandria hit the proverbial nail on the head. Without a doubt, more and more powerful content display blocks are the number one need in my book.

A content management system needs to have multitudes of methods for displaying the content that it manages, it can be perfect in managing content for a webmaster but if there are only basic ways to display that content, it fails to deliver it's promise. In my opinion slick management pages etc would be nice but I'd rather present the nice face to my users and have a crappy backend interface than vice versa.

A system of display that includes elements of the great work Draven has done with his gaining-mass site would be outstanding, such as the news topics category listings and side blocks that let you handpick news items for display. A block like I manually created in my newshax site would be great too, where we could list a certain number of stories of our choice by the headline and a fixed-size thumbnail image. I have a hand-coded version on my site at www.newshax.com, on top of the right column.

Anyway, my point is that admin interface improvements are certainly welcome but are a much lower priority than public interface improvements.


Quote:

malexandria wrote:
NEWS CATEGORY BLOCKS

A way to display News Topics by Individual Categories
in Blocks - with automatic bullets to distinguish headlines. So on the Home Page you can have 4 Blocks
for 4 Separate Topic Categories. Top News, Top Reviews,
etc...

And maybe a single Top Line Block for the Headline of
the moment, where you can have a big photo with some
intro text or something.



45
Big_Bro
Re: Date & Time displayed in realtime?
  • 2003/10/10 16:13

  • Big_Bro

  • Just popping in

  • Posts: 52

  • Since: 2003/2/26


If you are referring to a clock like I have under my banner at www.newshax.com I would be happy to send you that portion of the code as well.



46
Big_Bro
Re: How to get the lawyers off our back?
  • 2003/3/12 19:44

  • Big_Bro

  • Just popping in

  • Posts: 52

  • Since: 2003/2/26


If the story is true they should theoretically have no right to complain. That is a perfect world however and not the one we live in.

If it was me I'd go on the offensive and tell the world what a slimy thing they are trying to do in squashing all negative press about their company.

Some similar cases have popped up this week, most notably at www.whitehouse.org, who was threatened about an unflattering bio of Lynne Cheney by Whitehouse lawyers, who is a public figure and open to parody. (ACLU lawyers eagerly took that case). And of course the Crossroads mall incident where the mall arrested a man for wearing a peace t-shirt. The charges were dropped in that case due to massive negative publicity for the mall and it's owners.

I am very curious to see the offending post and to know what slimeball company is asking you to throw away your God-given birth right of communication just to protect their reputation to sell more crap.

They seem to be paranoid about negative publicity, if it was me I'd give it to them. But that's me, you should decide what is the best way to handle this for yourself.

I'm upset by this and I call myself Big Brother, the irony is thick.

www.newshax.com




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