Call for Volunteers - New MapServer Website

[Steve Lime]

Greetings all: A small group of folks have been working for some time on
developing a new and improved MapServer website. Howard Butler was the
main instigator and has probably spent the most time getting this
initiative underway. One of the driving principles of the new site is
based around community ownership and development. (the site will still
live on UMN infrastructure) Bottom line? Howard et al. have done a great
job so far, but they cannot do it alone- we need your help!

To date a prototype site has been developed using a content  management
system called Plone <http://plone.org>;.  Plone will allow give  our
website some capabilities that members of the project have been wishing
for.  These include:

  - Through-the-web editing using a browser, WebDAV, or an external
editor like emacs or vi ;-)

  - Translatable content (the French/German/Portuguese/etc version of
documents exist alongside English ones.  They aren't automagically
translated, however.

  - User contributed content and workflow (anyone can submit a document
for review and inclusion on main/public/anonymous portion of the
website)

  - Authenticated document commenting (an authenticated user can post
comments on a document)

  - Multiple content input types (reStructured text will be preferred,
but  HTML and plain text are supported).

  - RSS feed of items that were recently added to the site

One big advantage is that all MapServer Documentation Project (MDP)
documents will be moved out of their current XML format into Plone. This
will really make a difference for authors. Contributing and maintaining
a "how-to" documents will be as easy as logging on to the web site. No
more hand editing of XML documents and then waiting overnight to make
sure the changes you made look right in HTML. Yipee!

The new site should also address the spam issues that plagued towards
the end, yet will still allow user contributed documentation- such as
the Python MapScript samples that a user recently wanted to contribute.

So, if you've been looking for a way to get involved in the project this
might be it! You don't have to be a C/C++ programmer to participate.
Please contact me (steve.lime at state.mn.us) if you are interested in
helping out.

Thanks!

Steve

Stephen Lime
Data & Applications Manager

Minnesota DNR
500 Lafayette Road
St. Paul, MN 55155
651-297-2937