Date: Fri, 6 Dec 1996 19:55:09 -0500 (EST) From: Mark Mayo <mark@quickweb.com> To: "Jordan K. Hubbard" <jkh@time.cdrom.com> Cc: hackers@freebsd.org, doc@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Following positions seeking volunteers! Message-ID: <Pine.BSF.3.94.961206192118.10900A-100000@vinyl.quickweb.com> In-Reply-To: <18334.849897620@time.cdrom.com>
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On Fri, 6 Dec 1996, Jordan K. Hubbard wrote: > As some of you may already know, our long suffering and now > far-too-overloaded Webmaster / Docmaster, John Fieber, has asked that > one or more people be found to fill his shoes in the Webmaster & > Docmaster roles so that he may focus on his doctoral studies. Sounds fair! I've always thought that the FreeBSD web pages were a fantastic resource, and maintaining / improving that resource is something very worth while. > > All we can offer you in return is a good opportunity for learning and > a chance to do something truly important for FreeBSD. Documentation > and Webmastering can be a somewhat thankless job, and the better job > you do it seems the more people will take you for granted, but it's > nontheless absolutely *vital* that FreeBSD continue to grow and > improve in these areas, and your contributions are the only way that > will happen. > > Anyone? > I'll volunteer for anything you need help with. I'm available as a "general" and a "soldier" - see below for details =) Basically, I think I have the time / qualifications to help out with 3 of the positions below, and be a "general" on the database stuff. > Thanks! > > Jordan > > Positions: > > News Bureau > > Track new release, important changes and other news (eg: monitor the > freebsd-announce lists). Maintain the "Release info" and > "Newsflash" pages. A weekly or bi-weekly "Whats new with FreeBSD" > summarizing interesting developments in or related to FreeBSD would > be a great addition, but a fair amount of work. I can help out with this - I'm a relatively good writer, and a decent motivator/promoter. I don't have the time it would take to do this job right, but I'll help assemble articles, etc.. Or just HTML formatting if trench work needs to be done. > Style Police/Art Director > > Ensure consistent and effective use of layout, graphics and logical > structure of the site as a whole. Assist other WWW developers in > implementing the "www.freebsd.org look and feel". A background in > HCI, with a focus on electronic text and graphic design, is > *extremely* desirable. Again, I can help on this one, but I don't have the design/HCI knowledge to feel comfortable dictating to others how sites should be laid out. I do have a LOT of experience with web site building, but I'm always on the technical "this is what the technology can do" side of the table. My artistic innovation is far less than I'd like =) For a reference, check out http://www.hi-fi.com. I created/designed/coded this site with 3 other friends. www.audiobile.com as well... On a side note, I'm currently talking with a brilliant design friend about the "FreeBSD Image" - he professinally designs the look (logos, slogans, etc.) of companies, and has recently been playing with web site layout. He might have some neato ideas about a new FreeBSD layout. > > Handbook/FAQ/Tutorial Editor > > Solicit new materials, arrange for updating of obsolete sections, > mundane style editing. Good technical writing skills essential > (since hackers are notoriously terrible writers). A familiarity > with the "novice user" is also helpful. Scanning the > freebsd-questions list is a must to keep in touch with what should > be in the FAQ. A broad familiarity with FreeBSD/Unix/X11 is more > important than a deep familiarity. > > Note: The head FAQ maintainer's position has now been assumed > by Peter da Silva <pds@FreeBSD.ORG>, though the Handbook / Tutorials > still need attention and I'm sure that Peter would certainly welcome > any and all help with the FAQ as well. > Again, I can help out... Although I am currently and undergrad in Comp. Sci., I came to University on an Engligh scholarship. I can write, when forced too ;-) > > Database Engineer > > Manage (and hopefully improve) the mailing list archives and web > page searching. > This is the area I'd most like to look into. I don't know if you noticed, but I've already started work along this line! I posted a while back that I was playing with a new mail archive and search format. The fruits of my labour are at: http://vinyl.quickweb.com/mark/FreeBSD The above URL leads to "Round 1" of the experimentation. The current setup uses hypermail to archive, and HtDig to search. Hypermail has to go: pid 14424 (hypermail), uid 1: exited on signal 11 pid 14442 (hypermail), uid 1: exited on signal 11 pid 14567 (hypermail), uid 1: exited on signal 11 pid 14579 (hypermail), uid 1: exited on signal 11 It dumps on any amount of load... The top contender for replacing hypermail is MHonArc - a perl script that arranges articles, which you can view by thread, or date. It's not quite as nifty as hypermail (which lets you order articles by thread, date, subject, or author), but it doesn't core dump - always a bonus. My initial testing of MHonArc is encouraging. Performance is not bad, and the results are visualy pleasing as well. I'm happy with HtDig for searching. I haven't played with the config too much at the above URL, but I think that it can be tweaked to be quite suitable for searching the mail archives (or a web site in general). I like the "5 star" rating stuff, and the ability to display results in a long or short format. An alternative to HtDig (assuming I keep with the MHonArc archiver) is a dedicated MHonArc script. There are two available that I'm aware of, but I haven't tested them yet. And there's always the custom approach, which will eventually be required. I'm still now completely satisfied with any of the systems out there, which suggests I'll have to write one up that does the job right. Maybe I'll talk to my supervisor and see if I can't arrange for some funding to start research along these lines. It's exam time right now, so I've been busy with other matters, but I'm planning on spending a day on the MHonArc testing next Friday (Dec. 13th). Otherwise, I'm heading home for the holidays, so I won't be available until the beginning of January. I'll be on a strict no-computer diet :-) Joe Grecco and myself (as well as several others) have discussed the database possibilities in low detail already. I'm sure we can get something together that will make the wealth of knowledge tucked away in the mail archives more approachable for novices, while being powerful enough to satisfy the hackers. cya, -Mark --------------------------------------------------- | Mark Mayo mark@quickweb.com | | RingZero Comp. vinyl.quickweb.com/mark | --------------------------------------------------- "To iterate is human, to recurse divine." - L. Peter Deutsch
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