[Qgis-psc] Fwd: Re: QGIS-Hub proposal

[ElPaso]

Forgot to forward to the list.



-------- Messaggio Inoltrato --------
Oggetto: 	Re: [Qgis-psc] QGIS-Hub proposal
Data: 	Fri, 7 Aug 2020 09:24:54 +0200
Mittente: 	ElPaso <elpaso at itopen.it>
A: 	Klas Karlsson <klas.karlsson at geosupportsystem.se>



Il 06/08/20 13:35, Klas Karlsson ha scritto:
>
> Hi
>
> My name is Klas Karlsson and I dabble with QGIS in my spare time, and 
> once in a while I get an idea...
>
> # Proposal to implement a "QGIS Hub" on the official qgis.org site.
>
> ## Background
>
> I was creating a lot of styles just for fun, and was thinking about 
> creating a PR to the QGIS GitHub.
> However, a lot of the styles were really intricate and might apply to 
> relatively few use cases.
> In stead of filling up the default styles with nice but really 
> "un-expandable" styles, there should be
> an easier way.
>
> Sure, there's the resource sharing plugin, and it works great. But it 
> is a lot of steps to go through
> for someone that is only interested in sharing a simple style or two. 
> Enter the idea of a "style hub".
>
> On https://style-hub.github.io I created a demo of how it could look. 
> I also created https://layout-hub.github.io
> and that made me realize that there may be a few of these simpler 
> resource files that the community
> would like to share, but don't because of the complexity to do so.
>
> ## QGIS Hub
>
> So why not at central "Hub" for all kinds of small and easy to share 
> resources?
>
> On https://github.com/style-hub/hub-server/ I started a project to 
> create such a hub.
> During the development so far I've used local servers to test it, but 
> to get some feed-back
> I also set up a site on free hosting at http://qgis-hub.rf.gd, which 
> isn't great since it for instance lack
> TLS/SSL, which is required for some functions, but it should be enough 
> to get some user reactions.
>
> The goal is to create the style-hub first, and then use that to 
> "clone" it to a layout-hub too.
>
> I'm doing this because it's fun and educational, but if it gets 
> approval it would probably look good at:
>
> __hub.qgis.org__
>
> ## Requirements
>
> The code is available at GitHub and basically the requirements are:
>
> * PHP web hosting
> * MySQL database (users and meta data)
> * TLS/SSL for https (required for some functions)
> * Storage space for resource files (write access) (1 Gb will probably 
> store well over 1'000 resources)
>
> I'm willing to continue to work on the site, but I would prefer not to 
> do so alone, since I don't
> have the time to drop everything if there's a problem (as mentioned in 
> the beginning I'm doing this in my
> spare time).
> My skills at PHP and MySQL is also limited (this is a learning 
> experience),
> so the code would probably benefit from some audit, and if the hub is 
> to be included in the official site
> I guess it should be styled in the same way, which also would require 
> some work.
>
> For now I will continue to work on the site at http://qgis-hub.rf.gd 
> as long as I think it is still fun
> and I have time available.
>
> Best regards
>
> Klas Karlsson


Hi Klas,


Thank you for sharing! The sites are nice and good-looking.


I think that you already said what the problem is: the resource sharing 
plugin was designed exacly with the same goal in mind but unfortunately 
it is too complicated for some users.

Back in the days we already thought about a python Django app to share 
"resources" (styles etc.), you may also find some old implementation 
code somewhere.

Now, I don't think that having multiple systems for sharing resources is 
the right decision, we should focus on maintaining a single "official" 
and recommended system instead and make it simple enough for occasional 
users.


I see two options here:


1. we adopt the new system based on web apps instead of the overly 
complicated git-based resource  sharing

2. we make the resource sharing plugin easier to use (a create GitHub 
repo/upload features was indeed planned but never done)


Of course we can also endorse/recommend multiple sharing systems, but I 
think it would be a source of confusion for the users and a waste of 
time and resources for the developers.


Kind regards


-- 
Alessandro Pasotti
w3: www.itopen.it