[Koha] [Koha-devel] Announcing ... New koha.org Website based on Plone

[Thomas Dukleth]

Reply inline:

On Fri, May 8, 2009 3:20 pm, Joshua Ferraro wrote:

[...]

> This decision to move to Plone is a widely documented one

[...]

I knew about the decision to move to Plone and supported that move myself
years earlier.  My complaint is mainly about how it is implemented where
there has been no open community discussion.  I find some structural and
content problems.

The CSS is very attractive except for some layout problems I discovered. 
The CSS design of the current koha.org site has long been considered quite
attractive.  This design is a good match for that one.

> In particulare, I'm sure that some folks in non-English
> speaking
> contexts will be quite keen to start transating as soon as possible so
> that
> the Koha website can be used widely around the world.

I am concerned that poor planning may have left some elements such as
navigation links untranslatable.  I may be entirely mistaken.  The proof
would be in the testing but what I see already translated leaves me in
some doubt.

[...]

> There were no localization options on the old website, so this isn't a
> blocker.

If some localisation could not be done because of poor planning that
should be a blocker.

> Also, I don't find any links to koha-fr.org on the old koha site
> either.

There are some references but no proper links to koha-fr.org as a French
localised site in the way which there had been at one time.  The
koha-fr.org site has been functioning as a community website for the Koha
French language community even if it may have once been less
communitarian.

[...]

>> 2.  KOHA WORLD MAP.

[...]

>> There seem to be many functionality bugs which may
>> be related to JavaScript problems in how Google maps has been used.

There are some significant bugs for the map function but they should not
be considered blocking.  This is a feature which had been lost after all.

>>
>> The actual number of libraries included currently gives a poor
>> inaccurate
>> impression of Koha.  The map had been woefully out of date four years
>> ago
>> but gave a much better representation of the distribution of Koha four
>> years ago than the current world map gives now.  I hope that libraries
>> will actively populate it.
>
> As do I. This is not a blocker for site launch either.

I agree that nothing which I have seen about the map should be considered
a blocker.

[...]

>> 3.  ORGANISATIONAL PROBLEMS.
>>
>> 3.1.  DEMONSTRATION.
>>
>> The demonstration links are broken because demonstrations had formerly
>> been linked from showcase which is now more appropriately the Koha world
>> map.  Demonstrations are now listed in a links subsection of
>> documentation
>> which does not seem to be an appropriate location to me.

[...]

> The demo links are working fine for me, can you specify where exactly you
> are seeing broken links?

The link from the main page to demonstrations still points to the page for
demonstrations which is no longer being used for that purpose in the new
organisation, http://new.koha.org/showcase/ .  However, I contend that the
demonstrations do not belong as a subsection of documentation,
http://new.koha.org/documentation/link/koha-demos , although, they should
also be linked from documentation.

Other things seem inappropriately placed in documentation even if they
should also be linked from documentation.

The new organisation is liable to present a difficulty for users finding
some material when it should do the opposite.

[...]

>> 3.2.  PAY FOR SUPPORT.
>>
>> The pay for support page no longer seems as communitarian as it should.

[...]

>> Linking to a more complete attribution document will also avoid the
>> greatest problem present in the new page which has been the source of
>> some
>> controversy recently.  The presentation as it now stands violates a
>> principle of the Koha community guidelines of trying to avoid the
>> appearance of any particular Koha support company seeming more official
>> than any other.
>>
>>
>> 3.2.1.  ORDERING OF PAY FOR SUPPORT.
>>
>> The ordering of listings on the page has been changed from the arbitrary
>> alphabet to a less arbitrary but incorrectly specified historical
>> ordering.  I suggest providing links to various ordering arrangements
>> and
>> allow visitors to the website to choose which arrangement to view.  In
>> any
>> historical arrangement, the historical order should be correctly
>> specified
>> as I explain below.
>>
>>
>> 3.2.1.1.  ORGANISATIONAL SCHEMES.

[...]

>> 3.2.1.1.2.  HISTORICAL.
>>
>> Historical organisation is the next worst organisational scheme unless
>> the
>> material being organised has an intrinsically historical function.
>> Organising the history of something historically is natural.  Organising
>> other aspects of something in an historical manner is inappropriate.
>>
>> In a proper historical presentation, Katipo and Paul Poulain would be
>> listed on their own account even if they would be no longer prominently
>> offering Koha support or now using a different name in business.  In
>> such
>> cases, there should be links within the page from Katipo to LibLime and
>> Paul Poulain to BibLibre with appropriate annotations at the origin of
>> the
>> links.  "Katipo Koha interests acquired by LibLime" and "Paul Poulain
>> formed BibLibre" would be appropriate annotations.  The use of
>> 'grandfathered' is a mistaken use of the expression.

> This is not an issue that can easily be resolved unfortunately and the
> koha-manage group decided to list by date of entry rather than the above
> ideas.

When a lack of consensus is present, then the Koha community should solve
the problem in the wonderful communitarian way it always has in the
software.  Provide a system preference and let the users choose.  The
equivalent to a system preference for this problem on the website should
be different pages with different ordering of the information which the
user can select to suit the user's interests.

I understand that historical presentation had been suggested but that
presentation should then actually be historical.  See the section above
quoted from my previous post and additionally in my previous post for how
to correct the problem.

This particular problem has been much too contentious to be considered
anything other than a blocker until resolved.


>> 4.  LAYOUT.
>>
>> I also note some cases where text containing layout elements are too
>> narrow for the content included and text is sloppily spilling out of
>> those
>> elements and overlaps the body element.  I have not seen it yet in my
>> brief view but the hazard is that text spilling out of one element will
>> overwrite text in other text containing elements.  This problem is
>> evident
>> with standard browser settings for any user.
>
> Please detail these issues and provide some suggestions for fixes to the
> CSS
> if you can and we'll do our best to update.

I need to investigate further but I noticed the layout problem immediately
when looking at the news or events pages.  I do not find the problem at
the moment.  Maybe it has been fixed already or too much playing with the
website has cached the wrong CSS in my web browser.

>
>
>>
>>
>> Increasing the text size for disability access would only exacerbate
>> such
>> already existing problems.  Plone can be perfectly compliant with
>> disability access rules but implementers need to observe them.
>
> If you notice, there is an 'accessibility' link which should address this
> concern.

I assume that you do not mean the section 508 or WCAG links.  Which link
do you mean?

[...]


Thomas Dukleth
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