A reference site needs simplicity and clarity: you want to get to the info fast.
I worked on the premise that everything would be categorised by topics that became directories on creation so that you could type a directory structure as a url eg/important/stuff and go there immediately.
This also lets you set permissions by category.
You can decide in advance (together with your users) how all the information will be categorised and then only show categories with information when called for display, but show all when you're deciding where to put a document.
For displaying info I used templates that were set on creation of a category. Each category comes with an introduction, list of PDF's that are available in that category along with other stuff like a glossary with terms relevant to the topic/intro, news items (what is new to the topic, whatever) etc. All PDF's have to have some introductory text to give users a snapshot of the thing to help them decide if it's what they're after.
All this searchable by keywords, glossary terms, related items, etc.
Users are able to upload PDF's, manage categories, add news, new pages of text (which can be written to static html), etc.
You can ask to be emailed when stuff is added to the category.
An added advantage of rolling your own is deciding how to integrate those 2500 pages without redoing them!
The largest amount of scripting by far goes into the administration system of course, but it's all very manageable and do-able in 2 months.
I used php/mysql, use what you like - in the end it's the ease of use, both from the admin and user side, that counts.
Apart from the natty meme 'open monopoly', what value will Slashdotters get from this article? Did you get to the bottom? To the bit where it says
who's speaking?
Petr Hrebejk is a senior software architect and developer on the open source NetBeans Tools Platform project at NetBeans, working for Sun Microsystems in the Czech Republic.
Tim Boudreau is a software developer, writer and marketing manager on the same project, also working for Sun Microsystems in the Czech Republic.
Don't forget that there are people out there that support OBL and they are likely to be stoked listening to OBL himself. Having said that, once you start censoring on the grounds that 'someone bad' out there might have something to gain from listening to his words the slope becomes slippery.
Especially if the justification is not what he actually said, but the secret hidden message that that must not be heard!
PBMR's are HIGHLY contentious in South Africa
on
Fission in a Box
·
· Score: 1
Nice tech stories don't always fit with the prevailing realities. Pebble Bed Modular Reactors have not been received with open arms in South Africa and for a large number of good reasons. A local environmental group - Earthlife Africa - has put forward substantial arguments against PBMR's - as well as a well thought out strategy for sustainable and renewable energy technologies - which are far more promising and interesting than the widely discredited nuclear technologies, IMHO.
[These are serious documents so don't bother looking unless you're serious about the issues]
Check out Robert Kaplan's "The Nothing That Is - A natural history of zero"
It pretty much covers everything about zero from Sumerians to binaries to getting all the naturals from empty sets ala Neumann - and it's done with style and wit.
Some equations but nothing that can't be understood with highschool algebra.
Slashdot Mirror
A reference site needs simplicity and clarity: you want to get to the info fast.
I worked on the premise that everything would be categorised by topics that became directories on creation so that you could type a directory structure as a url eg /important/stuff and go there immediately.
This also lets you set permissions by category.
You can decide in advance (together with your users) how all the information will be categorised and then only show categories with information when called for display, but show all when you're deciding where to put a document.
For displaying info I used templates that were set on creation of a category. Each category comes with an introduction, list of PDF's that are available in that category along with other stuff like a glossary with terms relevant to the topic/intro, news items (what is new to the topic, whatever) etc. All PDF's have to have some introductory text to give users a snapshot of the thing to help them decide if it's what they're after.
All this searchable by keywords, glossary terms, related items, etc.
Users are able to upload PDF's, manage categories, add news, new pages of text (which can be written to static html), etc.
You can ask to be emailed when stuff is added to the category.
An added advantage of rolling your own is deciding how to integrate those 2500 pages without redoing them!
The largest amount of scripting by far goes into the administration system of course, but it's all very manageable and do-able in 2 months.
I used php/mysql, use what you like - in the end it's the ease of use, both from the admin and user side, that counts.
Have fun!
... it wouldn't be if US lawmakers had a clue.
who's speaking?
Petr Hrebejk is a senior software architect and developer on the open source NetBeans Tools Platform project at NetBeans, working for Sun Microsystems in the Czech Republic.
Tim Boudreau is a software developer, writer and marketing manager on the same project, also working for Sun Microsystems in the Czech Republic.
Now can you spell a-d-v-o-c-a-c-y ?
This puff piece was meant for the suits.
Especially if the justification is not what he actually said, but the secret hidden message that that must not be heard!
[These are serious documents so don't bother looking unless you're serious about the issues]
Check out Robert Kaplan's "The Nothing That Is - A natural history of zero" It pretty much covers everything about zero from Sumerians to binaries to getting all the naturals from empty sets ala Neumann - and it's done with style and wit. Some equations but nothing that can't be understood with highschool algebra.