Main new features section on OFBiz home page

[David E Jones]

I've seen commits in the recent past for the "Main new features"  
section on the OFBiz home page.

I agree that this section is a good idea, but it is huge and requires  
one to scroll down a lot in order to see a summary and description of  
what OFBiz even is.

How about leaving a link to the more detailed what's new page near the  
top, and then moving some of this further down? Or perhaps that  
nullifies the intent and a prominent link is all that is needed?

I'm all for long pages that are easily scrolled down as a good design,  
but it is important with that approach to prioritize information with  
the most important items at the top and the bottom of the page.  
Amazon.com is perhaps one of the more extreme examples of this, with  
typically very long pages and such.

In any case, please comment on ways we can improve the home page for  
the project. Some of the news at the top is quite old and needs to be  
moved down, and I'll try to clean up some other things as well.

-David

[Yitao_Zhao]

Hi

I try to create a new customer with web service as follows
           
However I am not sure which is the correct entity for create

Party or userLogin or others

Programme example:
   GenericValue customerValue=delegator.create("Entity
Name",(Map)customerMap);
   customerValue.create();
Thanks

[Jacques Le Roux]

Davis,

From: "David E Jones" <[hidden email]>
>
> I've seen commits in the recent past for the "Main new features"  section on the OFBiz home page.
>
> I agree that this section is a good idea, but it is huge and requires  one to scroll down a lot in order to see a summary and
> description of  what OFBiz even is.

Jacopo has suggested to put only 10 items, it's twice this number now and I agree that it's too much (even if most part was commited
by me, actually I was waiting for reactions ;o)

> How about leaving a link to the more detailed what's new page near the  top, and then moving some of this further down? Or perhaps
> that  nullifies the intent and a prominent link is all that is needed?

I agree that only a link should be enough. Though we could keep some really important changes like the new Project Manager, or the
Accouting component enhancement.

> I'm all for long pages that are easily scrolled down as a good design,  but it is important with that approach to prioritize
> information with  the most important items at the top and the bottom of the page.  Amazon.com is perhaps one of the more extreme
> examples of this, with  typically very long pages and such.
>
> In any case, please comment on ways we can improve the home page for  the project. Some of the news at the top is quite old and
> needs to be  moved down, and I'll try to clean up some other things as well.

I think we should have a sort of rule to keep things updated. At least each month we should remove old stuffes. Which does not mean
that all infos have the same importance and some stuffes might stay more longer. But in any cases news after 3 months are really
old, isn'it ? For instance the "the presentation on Apache OFBiz at JavaOne" is now outdated. And we could put the TLP things in the
header also (with a fetaher icon to link to corresponding page, for instance). I can try to do somehting around this and propose a
screen copy.

There is still this page wich could be updated and used as a guideline : http://docs.ofbiz.org/display/OFBIZ/OFBiz.org+New+Site+Plan

Jacques

> -David

[David E Jones]

I'm working on this page right now.

What I'm thinking is we'll highlight 2-3 high-level areas getting  
recent attention in that section, and then leave the rest to the  
confluence page.

I have already moved news down, updated some links and done some  
general cleanups on the page. It is amazing how stale things are...  
some entries at the top from 2006!

-David


On Jan 22, 2008, at 10:52 AM, Jacques Le Roux wrote:

> Davis,
>
> From: "David E Jones" <[hidden email]>
>>
>> I've seen commits in the recent past for the "Main new features"  
>> section on the OFBiz home page.
>>
>> I agree that this section is a good idea, but it is huge and  
>> requires  one to scroll down a lot in order to see a summary and  
>> description of  what OFBiz even is.
>
> Jacopo has suggested to put only 10 items, it's twice this number  
> now and I agree that it's too much (even if most part was commited  
> by me, actually I was waiting for reactions ;o)
>
>> How about leaving a link to the more detailed what's new page near  
>> the  top, and then moving some of this further down? Or perhaps  
>> that  nullifies the intent and a prominent link is all that is  
>> needed?
>
> I agree that only a link should be enough. Though we could keep some  
> really important changes like the new Project Manager, or the  
> Accouting component enhancement.
>
>> I'm all for long pages that are easily scrolled down as a good  
>> design,  but it is important with that approach to prioritize  
>> information with  the most important items at the top and the  
>> bottom of the page.  Amazon.com is perhaps one of the more extreme  
>> examples of this, with  typically very long pages and such.
>>
>> In any case, please comment on ways we can improve the home page  
>> for  the project. Some of the news at the top is quite old and  
>> needs to be  moved down, and I'll try to clean up some other things  
>> as well.
>
> I think we should have a sort of rule to keep things updated. At  
> least each month we should remove old stuffes. Which does not mean  
> that all infos have the same importance and some stuffes might stay  
> more longer. But in any cases news after 3 months are really old,  
> isn'it ? For instance the "the presentation on Apache OFBiz at  
> JavaOne" is now outdated. And we could put the TLP things in the  
> header also (with a fetaher icon to link to corresponding page, for  
> instance). I can try to do somehting around this and propose a  
> screen copy.
>
> There is still this page wich could be updated and used as a  
> guideline : http://docs.ofbiz.org/display/OFBIZ/OFBiz.org+New+Site+Plan
>
> Jacques
>
>> -David
>

[Adrian Crum-2]

--- David E Jones <[hidden email]> wrote:
> In any case, please comment on ways we can improve
> the home page for  
> the project. Some of the news at the top is quite
> old and needs to be  
> moved down, and I'll try to clean up some other
> things as well.


1. Remove invalid links in the left column.

2. "Introduction: What is Apache OFBiz?" section in
right column should be on top.

3. Announcements section in right column should be
thoroughly cleaned out. Any event older than say 6
months ago is technically old news - it's not an
announcement. Maybe older events could be kept in a
different section if anyuone feels a need to keep
them.

4. "Apache OFBiz in the News" section in right column
- eliminate links more than two years old. A lot has
changed recently, so any reviews older than that are
going to be irrelevant.

5. Shouldn't we have a link back to the main Apache
site (apache.org) somewhere?

-Adrian




      ____________________________________________________________________________________
Looking for last minute shopping deals?  
Find them fast with Yahoo! Search.  http://tools.search.yahoo.com/newsearch/category.php?category=shopping

[Jacques Le Roux]

From: "Adrian Crum" <[hidden email]>

> --- David E Jones <[hidden email]> wrote:
>> In any case, please comment on ways we can improve
>> the home page for
>> the project. Some of the news at the top is quite
>> old and needs to be
>> moved down, and I'll try to clean up some other
>> things as well.
>
>
> 1. Remove invalid links in the left column.

+1

> 2. "Introduction: What is Apache OFBiz?" section in
> right column should be on top.

+1

> 3. Announcements section in right column should be
> thoroughly cleaned out. Any event older than say 6
> months ago is technically old news - it's not an
> announcement. Maybe older events could be kept in a
> different section if anyuone feels a need to keep
> them.

Why not a page in Confluence for old links ?

> 4. "Apache OFBiz in the News" section in right column
> - eliminate links more than two years old. A lot has
> changed recently, so any reviews older than that are
> going to be irrelevant.

+1

> 5. Shouldn't we have a link back to the main Apache
> site (apache.org) somewhere?

There is already one http://incubator.apache.org/projects/ofbiz.html from "Apache OFBiz is now officially a TLP (top level project)
at the Apache Software Foundation! See the details here."
I rather propose to replace this by puttin a feather icon in the header using this link. From there people might surf to what they
want...

Jacques

> -Adrian
>
>
>
>
>      ____________________________________________________________________________________
> Looking for last minute shopping deals?
> Find them fast with Yahoo! Search.  http://tools.search.yahoo.com/newsearch/category.php?category=shopping
>
>

[Adrian Crum-2]

--- Jacques Le Roux <[hidden email]>
wrote:

> From: "Adrian Crum" <[hidden email]>
> > 5. Shouldn't we have a link back to the main
> Apache
> > site (apache.org) somewhere?
>
> There is already one
> http://incubator.apache.org/projects/ofbiz.html from
> "Apache OFBiz is now officially a TLP (top level
> project)
> at the Apache Software Foundation! See the details
> here."
> I rather propose to replace this by puttin a feather
> icon in the header using this link. From there
> people might surf to what they
> want...
>
> Jacques

Actually, there is also one at the bottom of the left
column. I didn't notice it at first.

-Adrian



      ____________________________________________________________________________________
Never miss a thing.  Make Yahoo your home page.
http://www.yahoo.com/r/hs

[David E Jones]

Okay, I've cleaned up a bunch of stuff and incorporated this feedback.  
Please let me know if I missed anything though!

The updated page is now live, and includes some L&F changes to make it  
more similar to other ASF projects.

http://ofbiz.apache.org/

-David


On Jan 22, 2008, at 12:34 PM, Jacques Le Roux wrote:

> From: "Adrian Crum" <[hidden email]>
>> --- David E Jones <[hidden email]> wrote:
>>> In any case, please comment on ways we can improve
>>> the home page for
>>> the project. Some of the news at the top is quite
>>> old and needs to be
>>> moved down, and I'll try to clean up some other
>>> things as well.
>>
>>
>> 1. Remove invalid links in the left column.
>
> +1
>
>> 2. "Introduction: What is Apache OFBiz?" section in
>> right column should be on top.
>
> +1
>
>> 3. Announcements section in right column should be
>> thoroughly cleaned out. Any event older than say 6
>> months ago is technically old news - it's not an
>> announcement. Maybe older events could be kept in a
>> different section if anyuone feels a need to keep
>> them.
>
> Why not a page in Confluence for old links ?
>
>> 4. "Apache OFBiz in the News" section in right column
>> - eliminate links more than two years old. A lot has
>> changed recently, so any reviews older than that are
>> going to be irrelevant.
>
> +1
>
>> 5. Shouldn't we have a link back to the main Apache
>> site (apache.org) somewhere?
>
> There is already one http://incubator.apache.org/projects/ofbiz.html 
> from "Apache OFBiz is now officially a TLP (top level project) at  
> the Apache Software Foundation! See the details here."
> I rather propose to replace this by puttin a feather icon in the  
> header using this link. From there people might surf to what they  
> want...
>
> Jacques
>
>> -Adrian
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>      
>> ____________________________________________________________________________________
>> Looking for last minute shopping deals?
>> Find them fast with Yahoo! Search.  http://tools.search.yahoo.com/newsearch/category.php?category=shopping
>>
>

[Jacques Le Roux]

Thanks David,

Look fine to me so far. I will check links tomorrow.

Jacques

From: "David E Jones" <[hidden email]>

>
> Okay, I've cleaned up a bunch of stuff and incorporated this feedback.  
> Please let me know if I missed anything though!
>
> The updated page is now live, and includes some L&F changes to make it  
> more similar to other ASF projects.
>
> http://ofbiz.apache.org/
>
> -David
>
>
> On Jan 22, 2008, at 12:34 PM, Jacques Le Roux wrote:
>
>> From: "Adrian Crum" <[hidden email]>
>>> --- David E Jones <[hidden email]> wrote:
>>>> In any case, please comment on ways we can improve
>>>> the home page for
>>>> the project. Some of the news at the top is quite
>>>> old and needs to be
>>>> moved down, and I'll try to clean up some other
>>>> things as well.
>>>
>>>
>>> 1. Remove invalid links in the left column.
>>
>> +1
>>
>>> 2. "Introduction: What is Apache OFBiz?" section in
>>> right column should be on top.
>>
>> +1
>>
>>> 3. Announcements section in right column should be
>>> thoroughly cleaned out. Any event older than say 6
>>> months ago is technically old news - it's not an
>>> announcement. Maybe older events could be kept in a
>>> different section if anyuone feels a need to keep
>>> them.
>>
>> Why not a page in Confluence for old links ?
>>
>>> 4. "Apache OFBiz in the News" section in right column
>>> - eliminate links more than two years old. A lot has
>>> changed recently, so any reviews older than that are
>>> going to be irrelevant.
>>
>> +1
>>
>>> 5. Shouldn't we have a link back to the main Apache
>>> site (apache.org) somewhere?
>>
>> There is already one http://incubator.apache.org/projects/ofbiz.html 
>> from "Apache OFBiz is now officially a TLP (top level project) at  
>> the Apache Software Foundation! See the details here."
>> I rather propose to replace this by puttin a feather icon in the  
>> header using this link. From there people might surf to what they  
>> want...
>>
>> Jacques
>>
>>> -Adrian
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>      
>>> ____________________________________________________________________________________
>>> Looking for last minute shopping deals?
>>> Find them fast with Yahoo! Search.  http://tools.search.yahoo.com/newsearch/category.php?category=shopping
>>>
>>
>
>

[Jacopo Cappellato]

Cool, I like it, thanks David.

Here are a few suggestions that in my opinion could improve the page:

1) move to a separate page (in Confluence) the section "Old
Announcements and News"
2) it would be nice to see a border around the boxes in the left bar, or
at least a different background color for the left bar titles.
3) slim down the list of links in the left bar; for example, in the
section "What is Apache OFBiz?", "Feature List" and "Feature Cooming
Soon" could be unified in one link (to one of the two pages where the
other one is referenced); the same could be done for "User List" and
"User Stories", for "Brochures, etc" and "Documentation", for
"Conference Videos" and "Framework Intro Videos", for "Project Overview"
and "If OFBiz for me?"; the final list could be:

* == What is Apache OFBiz? ==
* "Introduction" (or "Project Overview")
* "Features"
* "Main new features" (but we could merge this with the above)
* "Users"
* "Documentation"
* "Videos"

etc...

4) Find a better title for the "Apache OFBiz Communities" section
5) move the "Apache OFBiz Related Blogs" into another page

As a final note, I still think we should provide a weekly/monthly export
and publish this in the main page.

Jacopo


David E Jones wrote:

>
> Okay, I've cleaned up a bunch of stuff and incorporated this feedback.
> Please let me know if I missed anything though!
>
> The updated page is now live, and includes some L&F changes to make it
> more similar to other ASF projects.
>
> http://ofbiz.apache.org/
>
> -David
>
>
> On Jan 22, 2008, at 12:34 PM, Jacques Le Roux wrote:
>
>> From: "Adrian Crum" <[hidden email]>
>>> --- David E Jones <[hidden email]> wrote:
>>>> In any case, please comment on ways we can improve
>>>> the home page for
>>>> the project. Some of the news at the top is quite
>>>> old and needs to be
>>>> moved down, and I'll try to clean up some other
>>>> things as well.
>>>
>>>
>>> 1. Remove invalid links in the left column.
>>
>> +1
>>
>>> 2. "Introduction: What is Apache OFBiz?" section in
>>> right column should be on top.
>>
>> +1
>>
>>> 3. Announcements section in right column should be
>>> thoroughly cleaned out. Any event older than say 6
>>> months ago is technically old news - it's not an
>>> announcement. Maybe older events could be kept in a
>>> different section if anyuone feels a need to keep
>>> them.
>>
>> Why not a page in Confluence for old links ?
>>
>>> 4. "Apache OFBiz in the News" section in right column
>>> - eliminate links more than two years old. A lot has
>>> changed recently, so any reviews older than that are
>>> going to be irrelevant.
>>
>> +1
>>
>>> 5. Shouldn't we have a link back to the main Apache
>>> site (apache.org) somewhere?
>>
>> There is already one http://incubator.apache.org/projects/ofbiz.html 
>> from "Apache OFBiz is now officially a TLP (top level project) at the
>> Apache Software Foundation! See the details here."
>> I rather propose to replace this by puttin a feather icon in the
>> header using this link. From there people might surf to what they want...
>>
>> Jacques
>>
>>> -Adrian
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>    
>>> ____________________________________________________________________________________
>>>
>>> Looking for last minute shopping deals?
>>> Find them fast with Yahoo! Search.  
>>> http://tools.search.yahoo.com/newsearch/category.php?category=shopping
>>>
>>

[Jacopo Cappellato]

In general, I like the layout and some of the ideas of the Apache
Geronimo project:

http://geronimo.apache.org/

For example:

1) (I think) it is entirely in Confluence
2) I like the search box in the left (powered by Google)
3) I like the Activity section at the bottom of the page (with a list of
recently resolved Jira issues)

Jacopo

Jacopo Cappellato wrote:

> Cool, I like it, thanks David.
>
> Here are a few suggestions that in my opinion could improve the page:
>
> 1) move to a separate page (in Confluence) the section "Old
> Announcements and News"
> 2) it would be nice to see a border around the boxes in the left bar, or
> at least a different background color for the left bar titles.
> 3) slim down the list of links in the left bar; for example, in the
> section "What is Apache OFBiz?", "Feature List" and "Feature Cooming
> Soon" could be unified in one link (to one of the two pages where the
> other one is referenced); the same could be done for "User List" and
> "User Stories", for "Brochures, etc" and "Documentation", for
> "Conference Videos" and "Framework Intro Videos", for "Project Overview"
> and "If OFBiz for me?"; the final list could be:
>
> * == What is Apache OFBiz? ==
> * "Introduction" (or "Project Overview")
> * "Features"
> * "Main new features" (but we could merge this with the above)
> * "Users"
> * "Documentation"
> * "Videos"
>
> etc...
>
> 4) Find a better title for the "Apache OFBiz Communities" section
> 5) move the "Apache OFBiz Related Blogs" into another page
>
> As a final note, I still think we should provide a weekly/monthly export
> and publish this in the main page.
>
> Jacopo
>
>
> David E Jones wrote:
>>
>> Okay, I've cleaned up a bunch of stuff and incorporated this feedback.
>> Please let me know if I missed anything though!
>>
>> The updated page is now live, and includes some L&F changes to make it
>> more similar to other ASF projects.
>>
>> http://ofbiz.apache.org/
>>
>> -David
>>
>>
>> On Jan 22, 2008, at 12:34 PM, Jacques Le Roux wrote:
>>
>>> From: "Adrian Crum" <[hidden email]>
>>>> --- David E Jones <[hidden email]> wrote:
>>>>> In any case, please comment on ways we can improve
>>>>> the home page for
>>>>> the project. Some of the news at the top is quite
>>>>> old and needs to be
>>>>> moved down, and I'll try to clean up some other
>>>>> things as well.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> 1. Remove invalid links in the left column.
>>>
>>> +1
>>>
>>>> 2. "Introduction: What is Apache OFBiz?" section in
>>>> right column should be on top.
>>>
>>> +1
>>>
>>>> 3. Announcements section in right column should be
>>>> thoroughly cleaned out. Any event older than say 6
>>>> months ago is technically old news - it's not an
>>>> announcement. Maybe older events could be kept in a
>>>> different section if anyuone feels a need to keep
>>>> them.
>>>
>>> Why not a page in Confluence for old links ?
>>>
>>>> 4. "Apache OFBiz in the News" section in right column
>>>> - eliminate links more than two years old. A lot has
>>>> changed recently, so any reviews older than that are
>>>> going to be irrelevant.
>>>
>>> +1
>>>
>>>> 5. Shouldn't we have a link back to the main Apache
>>>> site (apache.org) somewhere?
>>>
>>> There is already one http://incubator.apache.org/projects/ofbiz.html 
>>> from "Apache OFBiz is now officially a TLP (top level project) at the
>>> Apache Software Foundation! See the details here."
>>> I rather propose to replace this by puttin a feather icon in the
>>> header using this link. From there people might surf to what they
>>> want...
>>>
>>> Jacques
>>>
>>>> -Adrian
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>    
>>>> ____________________________________________________________________________________
>>>>
>>>> Looking for last minute shopping deals?
>>>> Find them fast with Yahoo! Search.  
>>>> http://tools.search.yahoo.com/newsearch/category.php?category=shopping
>>>>
>>>

[Jacques Le Roux]

Using Xenu's Link Sleuth (http://home.snafu.de/tilman/xenulink.html, Windows only I guess) I got a report that I posted here
http://www.les7arts.com/xenuReport.html

11 broken link(s) reported

http://hello2.cellularone.com/
error code: 12029 (no connection), linked from page(s):

http://joss4biz.interition.net/
error code: 12002 (timeout), linked from page(s):

http://joss4biz.interition.net/roller/page/joss4biz/20061002
error code: 12002 (timeout), linked from page(s):

http://ofbiz.apache.org/services.html
error code: 404 (not found), linked from page(s):

http://validator.w3.org/check?uri=referer
error code: 403 (forbidden request), linked from page(s):

http://www.channelinsider.com/c/menu//
error code: 404 (not found), linked from page(s):
 http://www.channelinsider.com/article/ERP+Share+and+Share+Alike/173029_1.aspx

http://www.chocolatesecrets.net/index.htm
error code: 404 (not found), linked from page(s):

http://www.dkny.com/control/main
error code: 404 (not found), linked from page(s):

http://www.esalton.com/control/main
error code: 404 (not found), linked from page(s):

http://www.ofbiz.co.uk/
error code: 503 (temporarily overloaded), linked from page(s):

http://www.sykesdevelopment.com/
error code: 12029 (no connection), linked from page(s):

I will retry tomorrow and will withdraw still broken links.

I will clean the page every months...

Jacques

From: "Jacques Le Roux" <[hidden email]>
> Thanks David,
>
> Look fine to me so far. I will check links tomorrow.
>
> Jacques
>

[Jacques Le Roux]

From: "Jacopo Cappellato" <[hidden email]>
> Cool, I like it, thanks David.
>
> Here are a few suggestions that in my opinion could improve the page:
>
> 1) move to a separate page (in Confluence) the section "Old Announcements and News"

+1

> 2) it would be nice to see a border around the boxes in the left bar, or at least a different background color for the left bar
> titles.

+1

> 3) slim down the list of links in the left bar; for example, in the section "What is Apache OFBiz?", "Feature List" and "Feature
> Cooming Soon" could be unified in one link (to one of the two pages where the other one is referenced);

+1

the same could be done for "User List" and

> "User Stories", for "Brochures, etc" and "Documentation", for "Conference Videos" and "Framework Intro Videos", for "Project
> Overview" and "If OFBiz for me?"; the final list could be:
>
> * == What is Apache OFBiz? ==
> * "Introduction" (or "Project Overview")
> * "Features"
> * "Main new features" (but we could merge this with the above)
> * "Users"
> * "Documentation"
> * "Videos"
>
> etc...

+1 (I agree to merge "Features" and "Main new features")

>
> 4) Find a better title for the "Apache OFBiz Communities" section

What will you suggest ?

> 5) move the "Apache OFBiz Related Blogs" into another page

+1

> As a final note, I still think we should provide a weekly/monthly export and publish this in the main page.

weekly/monthly export of what ?

I will soon create a page for alternate demo servers in Confluence (where I will put mine at least for now) and will put a link in
the Demo Sites box in left bar.

If we agree I'm also available to do the changes Jacopo's suggested

Jacques

> Jacopo
>
>
> David E Jones wrote:
>>
>> Okay, I've cleaned up a bunch of stuff and incorporated this feedback. Please let me know if I missed anything though!
>>
>> The updated page is now live, and includes some L&F changes to make it more similar to other ASF projects.
>>
>> http://ofbiz.apache.org/
>>
>> -David
>>
>>
>> On Jan 22, 2008, at 12:34 PM, Jacques Le Roux wrote:
>>
>>> From: "Adrian Crum" <[hidden email]>
>>>> --- David E Jones <[hidden email]> wrote:
>>>>> In any case, please comment on ways we can improve
>>>>> the home page for
>>>>> the project. Some of the news at the top is quite
>>>>> old and needs to be
>>>>> moved down, and I'll try to clean up some other
>>>>> things as well.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> 1. Remove invalid links in the left column.
>>>
>>> +1
>>>
>>>> 2. "Introduction: What is Apache OFBiz?" section in
>>>> right column should be on top.
>>>
>>> +1
>>>
>>>> 3. Announcements section in right column should be
>>>> thoroughly cleaned out. Any event older than say 6
>>>> months ago is technically old news - it's not an
>>>> announcement. Maybe older events could be kept in a
>>>> different section if anyuone feels a need to keep
>>>> them.
>>>
>>> Why not a page in Confluence for old links ?
>>>
>>>> 4. "Apache OFBiz in the News" section in right column
>>>> - eliminate links more than two years old. A lot has
>>>> changed recently, so any reviews older than that are
>>>> going to be irrelevant.
>>>
>>> +1
>>>
>>>> 5. Shouldn't we have a link back to the main Apache
>>>> site (apache.org) somewhere?
>>>
>>> There is already one http://incubator.apache.org/projects/ofbiz.html from "Apache OFBiz is now officially a TLP (top level
>>> project) at the Apache Software Foundation! See the details here."
>>> I rather propose to replace this by puttin a feather icon in the header using this link. From there people might surf to what
>>> they want...
>>>
>>> Jacques
>>>
>>>> -Adrian
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>     ____________________________________________________________________________________
>>>> Looking for last minute shopping deals?
>>>> Find them fast with Yahoo! Search.  http://tools.search.yahoo.com/newsearch/category.php?category=shopping
>>>>
>>>
>

[Jacques Le Roux]

From: "Jacopo Cappellato" <[hidden email]>
> In general, I like the layout and some of the ideas of the Apache Geronimo project:

Yes, I agree : well crafted. I, for instance, like easy access to  User List | Dev List | Wiki | Issue Tracker at the top of page...

> http://geronimo.apache.org/
>
> For example:
>
> 1) (I think) it is entirely in Confluence

Yes this seems right as the index page is editable (upper right icon, link is
http://cwiki.apache.org/confluence/pages/editpage.action?pageId=11380).
Moreover this page uses Apache Confluence

> 2) I like the search box in the left (powered by Google)
> 3) I like the Activity section at the bottom of the page (with a list of recently resolved Jira issues)

This is maybe a profit which cames when using Apache Confluence (synergy with Apache Jira). I mean the ability to (easily?) feed
this section.

Jacques

> Jacopo
>
> Jacopo Cappellato wrote:
>> Cool, I like it, thanks David.
>>
>> Here are a few suggestions that in my opinion could improve the page:
>>
>> 1) move to a separate page (in Confluence) the section "Old Announcements and News"
>> 2) it would be nice to see a border around the boxes in the left bar, or at least a different background color for the left bar
>> titles.
>> 3) slim down the list of links in the left bar; for example, in the section "What is Apache OFBiz?", "Feature List" and "Feature
>> Cooming Soon" could be unified in one link (to one of the two pages where the other one is referenced); the same could be done
>> for "User List" and "User Stories", for "Brochures, etc" and "Documentation", for "Conference Videos" and "Framework Intro
>> Videos", for "Project Overview" and "If OFBiz for me?"; the final list could be:
>>
>> * == What is Apache OFBiz? ==
>> * "Introduction" (or "Project Overview")
>> * "Features"
>> * "Main new features" (but we could merge this with the above)
>> * "Users"
>> * "Documentation"
>> * "Videos"
>>
>> etc...
>>
>> 4) Find a better title for the "Apache OFBiz Communities" section
>> 5) move the "Apache OFBiz Related Blogs" into another page
>>
>> As a final note, I still think we should provide a weekly/monthly export and publish this in the main page.
>>
>> Jacopo
>>
>>
>> David E Jones wrote:
>>>
>>> Okay, I've cleaned up a bunch of stuff and incorporated this feedback. Please let me know if I missed anything though!
>>>
>>> The updated page is now live, and includes some L&F changes to make it more similar to other ASF projects.
>>>
>>> http://ofbiz.apache.org/
>>>
>>> -David
>>>
>>>
>>> On Jan 22, 2008, at 12:34 PM, Jacques Le Roux wrote:
>>>
>>>> From: "Adrian Crum" <[hidden email]>
>>>>> --- David E Jones <[hidden email]> wrote:
>>>>>> In any case, please comment on ways we can improve
>>>>>> the home page for
>>>>>> the project. Some of the news at the top is quite
>>>>>> old and needs to be
>>>>>> moved down, and I'll try to clean up some other
>>>>>> things as well.
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> 1. Remove invalid links in the left column.
>>>>
>>>> +1
>>>>
>>>>> 2. "Introduction: What is Apache OFBiz?" section in
>>>>> right column should be on top.
>>>>
>>>> +1
>>>>
>>>>> 3. Announcements section in right column should be
>>>>> thoroughly cleaned out. Any event older than say 6
>>>>> months ago is technically old news - it's not an
>>>>> announcement. Maybe older events could be kept in a
>>>>> different section if anyuone feels a need to keep
>>>>> them.
>>>>
>>>> Why not a page in Confluence for old links ?
>>>>
>>>>> 4. "Apache OFBiz in the News" section in right column
>>>>> - eliminate links more than two years old. A lot has
>>>>> changed recently, so any reviews older than that are
>>>>> going to be irrelevant.
>>>>
>>>> +1
>>>>
>>>>> 5. Shouldn't we have a link back to the main Apache
>>>>> site (apache.org) somewhere?
>>>>
>>>> There is already one http://incubator.apache.org/projects/ofbiz.html from "Apache OFBiz is now officially a TLP (top level
>>>> project) at the Apache Software Foundation! See the details here."
>>>> I rather propose to replace this by puttin a feather icon in the header using this link. From there people might surf to what
>>>> they want...
>>>>
>>>> Jacques
>>>>
>>>>> -Adrian
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>     ____________________________________________________________________________________
>>>>> Looking for last minute shopping deals?
>>>>> Find them fast with Yahoo! Search.  http://tools.search.yahoo.com/newsearch/category.php?category=shopping
>>>>>
>>>>
>
>

[David E Jones]

Jacques,

This is a good effort, but please to whack links too easily. You might  
want to verify with others that the sites really aren't available,  
like the interition.net ones I'm able to hit just fine.

For some, like the services.html page we should look around and see if  
there is a replacement in the wiki. The best page for that is probably  
the service providers page now on confluence (that was probably an old  
link that got missed).

Anyway, the main point is that this is a great thing to do, but don't  
be too aggressive with removing stuff and maybe also start out by  
commenting instead of deleting.

-David


On Jan 23, 2008, at 3:31 AM, Jacques Le Roux wrote:

> Using Xenu's Link Sleuth (http://home.snafu.de/tilman/xenulink.html,  
> Windows only I guess) I got a report that I posted here http://www.les7arts.com/xenuReport.html
>
> 11 broken link(s) reported
>
> http://hello2.cellularone.com/
> error code: 12029 (no connection), linked from page(s):
>
> http://joss4biz.interition.net/
> error code: 12002 (timeout), linked from page(s):
>
> http://joss4biz.interition.net/roller/page/joss4biz/20061002
> error code: 12002 (timeout), linked from page(s):
>
> http://ofbiz.apache.org/services.html
> error code: 404 (not found), linked from page(s):
>
> http://validator.w3.org/check?uri=referer
> error code: 403 (forbidden request), linked from page(s):
>
> http://www.channelinsider.com/c/menu//
> error code: 404 (not found), linked from page(s):
> http://www.channelinsider.com/article/ERP+Share+and+Share+Alike/173029_1.aspx
>
> http://www.chocolatesecrets.net/index.htm
> error code: 404 (not found), linked from page(s):
>
> http://www.dkny.com/control/main
> error code: 404 (not found), linked from page(s):
>
> http://www.esalton.com/control/main
> error code: 404 (not found), linked from page(s):
>
> http://www.ofbiz.co.uk/
> error code: 503 (temporarily overloaded), linked from page(s):
>
> http://www.sykesdevelopment.com/
> error code: 12029 (no connection), linked from page(s):
>
> I will retry tomorrow and will withdraw still broken links.
>
> I will clean the page every months...
>
> Jacques
>
> From: "Jacques Le Roux" <[hidden email]>
>> Thanks David,
>>
>> Look fine to me so far. I will check links tomorrow.
>>
>> Jacques
>>
>

[David E Jones]

On Jan 23, 2008, at 3:05 AM, Jacopo Cappellato wrote:

> Cool, I like it, thanks David.
>
> Here are a few suggestions that in my opinion could improve the page:
>
> 1) move to a separate page (in Confluence) the section "Old  
> Announcements and News"
> 2) it would be nice to see a border around the boxes in the left  
> bar, or at least a different background color for the left bar titles.

There is still a border commented out in the styles. I removed it  
because most other ASF pages don't have a border or any decoration  
around the left bar.

> 3) slim down the list of links in the left bar; for example, in the  
> section "What is Apache OFBiz?", "Feature List" and "Feature Cooming  
> Soon" could be unified in one link (to one of the two pages where  
> the other one is referenced); the same could be done for "User List"  
> and "User Stories", for "Brochures, etc" and "Documentation", for  
> "Conference Videos" and "Framework Intro Videos", for "Project  
> Overview" and "If OFBiz for me?"; the final list could be:
>
> * == What is Apache OFBiz? ==
> * "Introduction" (or "Project Overview")
> * "Features"
> * "Main new features" (but we could merge this with the above)
> * "Users"
> * "Documentation"
> * "Videos"
>
> etc...
>
> 4) Find a better title for the "Apache OFBiz Communities" section
> 5) move the "Apache OFBiz Related Blogs" into another page

In general I'm not opposed to long lists of organized links, mainly  
because they are better than the alternative of a sort of hierarchy of  
pages that you have to search and click around through in order to  
find what you are looking for.

The main reason to move a link to another page would be to "de-
prioritize" it, or kind of hide it in a way. If there are things  
linked to that we should combine into single documents, or that we  
don't think are a big deal for people looking into OFBiz, then that's  
just what we should do.

-David

[Jacques Le Roux]

Hi David,

From: "David E Jones" <[hidden email]>
>
> Jacques,
>
> This is a good effort, but please to whack links too easily. You might  want to verify with others that the sites really aren't
> available,  like the interition.net ones I'm able to hit just fine.

I double checked by hand broken links reported by Xenu this morning, at least these links are still broken :
http://hello2.cellularone.com/
http://www.channelinsider.com/
http://www.chocolatesecrets.net/index.htm
http://www.esalton.com/control/main
http://www.ofbiz.co.uk/
http://www.sykesdevelopment.com/

I'm not surprised by the last 2 ones as Andrew (Sykes) is anymore involved in sykesdevelopment but has co-created a new company :
"OpenEqual", I will investigate with Andrew as I can't no longer reach http://www.openequal.com this morning

I will check a last time tomorrow and will clean definitively broken links. They seems to alienate newcomers (at least from my
experience).

I will clean also the following broken links in a way or another
http://ofbiz.apache.org/services.html
http://validator.w3.org/check?uri=referer

I have updated the Xenu report at http://www.les7arts.com/xenuReport.html

Jacques

> For some, like the services.html page we should look around and see if  there is a replacement in the wiki. The best page for that
> is probably  the service providers page now on confluence (that was probably an old  link that got missed).
>
> Anyway, the main point is that this is a great thing to do, but don't  be too aggressive with removing stuff and maybe also start
> out by  commenting instead of deleting.
>
> -David
>
>
> On Jan 23, 2008, at 3:31 AM, Jacques Le Roux wrote:
>
>> Using Xenu's Link Sleuth (http://home.snafu.de/tilman/xenulink.html,  Windows only I guess) I got a report that I posted here
>> http://www.les7arts.com/xenuReport.html
>>
>> 11 broken link(s) reported
>>
>> http://hello2.cellularone.com/
>> error code: 12029 (no connection), linked from page(s):
>>
>> http://joss4biz.interition.net/
>> error code: 12002 (timeout), linked from page(s):
>>
>> http://joss4biz.interition.net/roller/page/joss4biz/20061002
>> error code: 12002 (timeout), linked from page(s):
>>
>> http://ofbiz.apache.org/services.html
>> error code: 404 (not found), linked from page(s):
>>
>> http://validator.w3.org/check?uri=referer
>> error code: 403 (forbidden request), linked from page(s):
>>
>> http://www.channelinsider.com/c/menu//
>> error code: 404 (not found), linked from page(s):
>> http://www.channelinsider.com/article/ERP+Share+and+Share+Alike/173029_1.aspx
>>
>> http://www.chocolatesecrets.net/index.htm
>> error code: 404 (not found), linked from page(s):
>>
>> http://www.dkny.com/control/main
>> error code: 404 (not found), linked from page(s):
>>
>> http://www.esalton.com/control/main
>> error code: 404 (not found), linked from page(s):
>>
>> http://www.ofbiz.co.uk/
>> error code: 503 (temporarily overloaded), linked from page(s):
>>
>> http://www.sykesdevelopment.com/
>> error code: 12029 (no connection), linked from page(s):
>>
>> I will retry tomorrow and will withdraw still broken links.
>>
>> I will clean the page every months...
>>
>> Jacques
>>
>> From: "Jacques Le Roux" <[hidden email]>
>>> Thanks David,
>>>
>>> Look fine to me so far. I will check links tomorrow.
>>>
>>> Jacques
>>>
>>
>
>

[Jacopo Cappellato]

Jacques Le Roux wrote:
>
> I will clean also the following broken links in a way or another
> http://ofbiz.apache.org/services.html
> http://validator.w3.org/check?uri=referer
>

Jacques, validator is not broken, but maybe it just answers with an
error if not invoked in the proper way; you can verify it is working by
clicking at the links at the bottom of the page.

Jacopo

> I have updated the Xenu report at http://www.les7arts.com/xenuReport.html
>
> Jacques
>
>> For some, like the services.html page we should look around and see
>> if  there is a replacement in the wiki. The best page for that
>> is probably  the service providers page now on confluence (that was
>> probably an old  link that got missed).
>>
>> Anyway, the main point is that this is a great thing to do, but don't  
>> be too aggressive with removing stuff and maybe also start
>> out by  commenting instead of deleting.
>>
>> -David
>>
>>
>> On Jan 23, 2008, at 3:31 AM, Jacques Le Roux wrote:
>>
>>> Using Xenu's Link Sleuth (http://home.snafu.de/tilman/xenulink.html,  
>>> Windows only I guess) I got a report that I posted here
>>> http://www.les7arts.com/xenuReport.html
>>>
>>> 11 broken link(s) reported
>>>
>>> http://hello2.cellularone.com/
>>> error code: 12029 (no connection), linked from page(s):
>>>
>>> http://joss4biz.interition.net/
>>> error code: 12002 (timeout), linked from page(s):
>>>
>>> http://joss4biz.interition.net/roller/page/joss4biz/20061002
>>> error code: 12002 (timeout), linked from page(s):
>>>
>>> http://ofbiz.apache.org/services.html
>>> error code: 404 (not found), linked from page(s):
>>>
>>> http://validator.w3.org/check?uri=referer
>>> error code: 403 (forbidden request), linked from page(s):
>>>
>>> http://www.channelinsider.com/c/menu//
>>> error code: 404 (not found), linked from page(s):
>>> http://www.channelinsider.com/article/ERP+Share+and+Share+Alike/173029_1.aspx 
>>>
>>>
>>> http://www.chocolatesecrets.net/index.htm
>>> error code: 404 (not found), linked from page(s):
>>>
>>> http://www.dkny.com/control/main
>>> error code: 404 (not found), linked from page(s):
>>>
>>> http://www.esalton.com/control/main
>>> error code: 404 (not found), linked from page(s):
>>>
>>> http://www.ofbiz.co.uk/
>>> error code: 503 (temporarily overloaded), linked from page(s):
>>>
>>> http://www.sykesdevelopment.com/
>>> error code: 12029 (no connection), linked from page(s):
>>>
>>> I will retry tomorrow and will withdraw still broken links.
>>>
>>> I will clean the page every months...
>>>
>>> Jacques
>>>
>>> From: "Jacques Le Roux" <[hidden email]>
>>>> Thanks David,
>>>>
>>>> Look fine to me so far. I will check links tomorrow.
>>>>
>>>> Jacques
>>>>
>>>
>>
>>

[Jacques Le Roux]

Thanks Jacopo,

BTW I have contacted Andrew Sykes and I will replace http://www.sykesdevelopment.com/ by www.openequal.com (the site is currently
worked on)
Also Andrew reminded me that http://www.ofbiz.co.uk/ is not his own but Ian GIlbert. I will try to contact Ian before removing this
link too.

Jacques

PS : I sent a 1st email with an address not registered to the ML, maybe it will reach the ML though...

From: "Jacopo Cappellato" <[hidden email]>

> Jacques Le Roux wrote:
>>
>> I will clean also the following broken links in a way or another
>> http://ofbiz.apache.org/services.html
>> http://validator.w3.org/check?uri=referer
>>
>
> Jacques, validator is not broken, but maybe it just answers with an error if not invoked in the proper way; you can verify it is
> working by clicking at the links at the bottom of the page.
>
> Jacopo
>
>
>> I have updated the Xenu report at http://www.les7arts.com/xenuReport.html
>>
>> Jacques
>>
>>> For some, like the services.html page we should look around and see if  there is a replacement in the wiki. The best page for
>>> that
>>> is probably  the service providers page now on confluence (that was probably an old  link that got missed).
>>>
>>> Anyway, the main point is that this is a great thing to do, but don't  be too aggressive with removing stuff and maybe also
>>> start
>>> out by  commenting instead of deleting.
>>>
>>> -David
>>>
>>>
>>> On Jan 23, 2008, at 3:31 AM, Jacques Le Roux wrote:
>>>
>>>> Using Xenu's Link Sleuth (http://home.snafu.de/tilman/xenulink.html,  Windows only I guess) I got a report that I posted here
>>>> http://www.les7arts.com/xenuReport.html
>>>>
>>>> 11 broken link(s) reported
>>>>
>>>> http://hello2.cellularone.com/
>>>> error code: 12029 (no connection), linked from page(s):
>>>>
>>>> http://joss4biz.interition.net/
>>>> error code: 12002 (timeout), linked from page(s):
>>>>
>>>> http://joss4biz.interition.net/roller/page/joss4biz/20061002
>>>> error code: 12002 (timeout), linked from page(s):
>>>>
>>>> http://ofbiz.apache.org/services.html
>>>> error code: 404 (not found), linked from page(s):
>>>>
>>>> http://validator.w3.org/check?uri=referer
>>>> error code: 403 (forbidden request), linked from page(s):
>>>>
>>>> http://www.channelinsider.com/c/menu//
>>>> error code: 404 (not found), linked from page(s):
>>>> http://www.channelinsider.com/article/ERP+Share+and+Share+Alike/173029_1.aspx
>>>>
>>>> http://www.chocolatesecrets.net/index.htm
>>>> error code: 404 (not found), linked from page(s):
>>>>
>>>> http://www.dkny.com/control/main
>>>> error code: 404 (not found), linked from page(s):
>>>>
>>>> http://www.esalton.com/control/main
>>>> error code: 404 (not found), linked from page(s):
>>>>
>>>> http://www.ofbiz.co.uk/
>>>> error code: 503 (temporarily overloaded), linked from page(s):
>>>>
>>>> http://www.sykesdevelopment.com/
>>>> error code: 12029 (no connection), linked from page(s):
>>>>
>>>> I will retry tomorrow and will withdraw still broken links.
>>>>
>>>> I will clean the page every months...
>>>>
>>>> Jacques
>>>>
>>>> From: "Jacques Le Roux" <[hidden email]>
>>>>> Thanks David,
>>>>>
>>>>> Look fine to me so far. I will check links tomorrow.
>>>>>
>>>>> Jacques
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>>
>
>