[OGo-Discuss] user contribs [was Re: [OGo-Users] Default settings for new appointments, tasks, projects]

[chris h]

On Sunday 21 January 2007 06:37, Helge Hess wrote:

> That doesn't mean that I'm against "Ajax" in the WebUI :-) Though I
> wonder whether it makes a lot of sense. Going with an IE specific
> DHTML UI *and* a XUL UI is probably less effort and provides better
> results.
>
> Anyways, for discussions we have the discuss mailing list ...

Just an idea. 

Why not have a dedicated user contrib section on the main plone site that 
would allow users to share and distribute patches or code of modules or fixes 
to cool enhancements that are clearly identified as user contrib's, not 
tested and not recommended for production use. In that manner members with 
skill can contribute, users are made aware that its strictly buyer be ware, 
and the main code tree in svn does not become polluted. With time and testing 
by OGo/Skyrix group of developers, pending on license, code could be merged 
as testing permit. 

At present the are many bits of code, solutions or patches in plone but you 
need to look for them specifically. In other words you need to know exactly 
what you are looking for. This is OK for long time project members or new 
members with an advanced skill set. New users are left in the cold at present 
as contribs are not easily identified in the search function as no one 
ever "to the best of my limited knowledge" uses the keyword indexing system 
upon content generation. 

One simple solution is to tag a file or document with the keyword "user 
contrib" or something similar to be agreed upon by the project and plone 
admin then setup a global folder like for "user docs" tab and all "user 
contrib's" are indexed and collated on one page. 

If we take this one step further and systematize the input format; say with a 
brief explanation of what the code does, rev version test on etc etc. then 
users would have a nice way of testing solutions or mods with limited support 
and extraneous discussions. What you want to avoid is longish discussions on 
why stuff doesnt work on certain rev's of OGo. What you want is discussion on 
stuff that works and doenst work on tested versions of OGo. Those are the 
important ones and serve as a pre test phase for eventual conclusion if so 
desired into the main source code branch. 

Now that Adam has commit access for patches perhaps this could also be used to 
distribute the work load of the testing phase while limiting people with 
actual commit access and ensuring quality at the same time. 

Just my 2 cents Canadian (approx 0.5 Eur cents)

/ch