Hi Chris,
On 15/10/12 21:43, Chris Dennis wrote:
> At the AGM, we discussed the fact that the existing website is
> languishing somewhat for lack of fresh content and general TLC.
>
How does moving from Website Engine A to Website Engine B generate fresh
content? In my experience it results in a small bump in website activity
then as excitement about the new system fades, it falls back to the
current state, no activity besides when the last/next meeting was/is.
> Another problem was that the wiki was (until recently) updatable by
> anyone, resulting in vast amounts of spam.
>
So perhaps it's time to have an ACL where everyone on the list gets an
account on the wiki. If we think we're going to lock out random drive-by
edits then we're deluding ourselves.
Nobody edits the wiki for anything other than anti-spam and meeting
updates. Nobody. (aside from the odd edit on Hugos Random Benchmark
page). The only drive-by edits are spammers really.
http://hants.lug.org.uk/wiki/RecentChanges
> People at the meeting seemed to like the idea of converting the site to
> a CMS, probably WordPress, and granting HantsLUG members permission to
> add and edit the content.
>
Wordpress is great, if you have content to put in it and people willing
to put that content in it. Look at Surrey LUG CMS:-
http://surrey.lug.org.uk/
1 x Welcome post
1 x Event promotion post
8 x Meeting posts
> I'm happy to get that process started unless there are any objections --
> initially I'll get the new site running in parallel with the old.
>
Why "initially"? Does that mean you'd shut the wiki down? That would be
unfortunate.
What we (Ubuntu) have found is a way forward is to have multiple sites.
www.ubuntu.com - flashy "look at us" page which is the home page
wiki.ubuntu.com - technical documentation for users/developers
There's other sites too of course, but my point is that there are two
audiences to be served, two main use cases. One allows us to introduce
new people to the LUG, the other creates a place where we can put
free-form documentation including meeting minutes, technical notes,
"about me" pages and so on. We (Ubuntu) do all of that on the wiki, and
leave the ubuntu.com site as the welcome mat for new users.
Perhaps we should have
www.hants.lug.org.uk which is the "front door"
and has one simple but pretty main page which contains links to the
right wiki pages, and have the same theme on
www.hants.lug.org.uk/wiki
and lock it down to only be edited by us.
> I'd like to get members' ideas and opinions on these sorts of questions:
>
> * What is the website for?
* What is HantsLUG
* Where is the next meeting
* What happens at a meeting
* What happened at the last meeting
* What resources does the LUG have
* How can I get in touch with the LUG
etc
> * Who is it aimed at?
New people and us.
> * What should it look like? Suggestions for suitable WordPress
> templates will be especially welcome.
WooThemes is good for decent wordpress themes.
> * What should it contain? These sorts of things perhaps...
> (in no particular order)
> - Reviews
> - books
> - hardware
> - software
Nobody will write these. See the wiki for evidence of one book review in
2 years.
http://www.hants.lug.org.uk/wiki/BookReviews?action=info
> - Meetings and other events
> - upcoming events
> - records of previous events
> - talks, photos, etc.
> - presentation topics
> - wanted
> - offered
This is probably the most valuable part of the whole website, for new
and existing users alike.
Cheers,
--
Alan Pope
Engineering Manager
Canonical - Product Strategy
+44 (0) 7973 620 164
alan.pope@???
http://ubuntu.com/
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