[Web Comm] Fwd: About project categories

[Frank Warmerdam]

Jo Walsh wrote:
> Mateusz sent this great proposal for reorganising the 'categories' on
> the website in order to explain more to new users... he's not on this
> list so it got bounced. I'd like to act on this, but i'm not sure if
> a/ i have the right project role or b/ if it's something only CN can do
> 
> -------- Original message --------
> Subject: About project categories
> Date: Mon, 24 Jul 2006 21:25:04 +0200
> From: Mateusz Loskot <mateusz at loskot.net>
> To: dev at webcommittee.osgeo.org
> 
> Hi,
> 
> I'm not a member of the WebCom but I hope you don't mind
> I'll share some ideas here.
> 
> I'd like to give my proposal of reorganization of project categories.
> Currently, OSGeo project categories do not tell much about a type of
> project, but about state (approved, in incubator, etc.).

Jo / Mateusz,

I think this is something Auke would do if we wanted to change the
categories.  I believe I also have a sufficient access level, but I'm
leery to fiddle with such things.

> IMHO, good example of categories is avaiable on the Tigris.org
> http://www.tigris.org/servlets/ProjectList
> 
> Those categories are easy for users to navigate and find projects they
> are interested in.
> 
> My proposal includes 2-3 or more branches of categories:
> 
> |- projects
>    |- state
>       |- in incubator
>       |- approved
>    |- software
>       |- libraries
>       |- frameworks
>       |- web mapping
>       |- desktop
>       |- spatial databases
>       |- utils
>       |- ???

I think it is sufficient to have a "software projects" category in so far
as the CN groupings work.  I do think we need a "roadmap" web page that
provides some useful categorization and indicates information such as
the state, license, and language (in addition to the core breakdown by
role).

> |- foundation
>    |- committees
>    |- local chapters
>       |- countries
>       |- ???

Sounds good.


> |- infrastructure
>    |- mail
>    |- website
>    |- ???

Well, I think one "infrastructure" category for all these.

> Also, it could be nice to be able to assign project to more than one
> category. For example, library XYZ could be assigned to
> - projects - software - libraries
> and
> - projects - state - in incubator
> 
> IMHO, the 'projects' branch is most important for common users and
> developers, so they will be able to find a project walking down the
> categories tree.

IMHO, we shouldn't be putting to much effort into the CN platform groups
categorization as I don't think most people new to the site are going to
make use of it.  Instead I think just appropriate web navigation pages
is the key to finding things.  But the breakdown is quite good.

Best regards,
-- 
---------------------------------------+--------------------------------------
I set the clouds in motion - turn up   | Frank Warmerdam, warmerdam at pobox.com
light and sound - activate the windows | http://pobox.com/~warmerdam
and watch the world go round - Rush    | President OSGF, http://osgeo.org