WOW - Loaches.com "Community Edition"

[pedzola]

VERY NICE!!!

Every fish website should be like this! And I for one have been looking for the right Content Management System to make it happen forever.

I'd never heard of the Plone CMS. It is very interesting, technically speaking (based on python and a server product which, to me, is obscure). From what i have read there are some challenges to making it capable of supporting a high volume website, but you guys have obviously done a great job of making it happen!

It looks fantastic. I look forward to further reorganization and integration of the content management system to the site.

Thanks for the effort in this direction. It is a huge step forward for all of us "little people" who use the site on a regular basis.

- Chris

[Martin Thoene]

Thanks Chris. I'm working right now on moving over from the old site details on books and magazines featuring Loaches.

I'm a complete doofus of the highest order when it comes to using computers but I've picked up Plone really quickly. Today is the first day I've created a folder, specified a default view and created pages within it all from scratch.

I found it completely logical and easy to do, and all without instruction.
Jeff sorted out some understanding probs initially, but I'm really finding it easy now.

The real beauty of this software from my point of view and I'm sure the other Moderators is that we can just nip in and add any new snippet of info we hear or read and thereby keep LOL at the absolute cutting edge of Loach knowledge which is what we've always wanted.

I find its greatest feature is the ease of putting in internal and external links that make the whole thing so interactive. Because I've been involved so much with it since day one after Jeff got it set up I've now got this 3-dimensional concept of it within my head that is just like the 2-dimensional concept I drew up to visualize the interconnections of things.

It's really shaping up beautifully IMO. I can't wait to see it get its new appearance. I came up with a conceptual rendition for "look"and I know that Jeff is tinkering away seeing what he can do along those lines.

You'll note Bamboo featured in several places. That's part of the concept because it connects to SE Asia and Clown Loaches are caught using bamboo "tabung", so there's a direct connection.



Glad you like what we've done so far

Martin.

[pedzola]

There are so many content management systems out there, but I've never found one to satisfy all needs.

Sometimes the technology it uses can be limiting, or a core feature is supported in one but not another, or sometimes they can be just plain difficult to use.

It seems like Plone is working out very well, so thats fantastic. The bamboo is a nice touch. Typically most CMS's support some kind of theme or template that doesn't require much more than changing a CSS file to completely alter the way the site looks. I don't know how much you are into web development Martin, but CSS is the artists tool for web design. It's very simple and very powerful code. Check out http://www.csszengarden.com/ for some ideas of what you can do with it.

Anyway...

If there is any need to do some custom coding for the site, feel free to tap me. I've got a month long break from school coming up. I've never done python, but I'd be interested to check it out. I was able to learn PHP and code a whole website in under a semester for my fishiz.com project - so I don't think i'd have a problem with python. Scripting languages are very similar.

[Martin Thoene]

You're "talking in tongues" now....that's how far my knowledge goes

Martin.

[shafer]

VERY NICE!!!

Every fish website should be like this! And I for one have been looking for the right Content Management System to make it happen forever.

I'd never heard of the Plone CMS. It is very interesting, technically speaking (based on python and a server product which, to me, is obscure). From what i have read there are some challenges to making it capable of supporting a high volume website, but you guys have obviously done a great job of making it happen!

It looks fantastic. I look forward to further reorganization and integration of the content management system to the site.

Thanks for the effort in this direction. It is a huge step forward for all of us "little people" who use the site on a regular basis.

- Chris

The new site: http://community.loaches.com

Hey Chris, I'm glad you like the new site! Martin and Mark and Shari and Emma have done an INCREDIBLE job making it come to life! It'd be an empty shell without their efforts.

I've been thrilled with the way Plone has worked thus far. As Martin will testify, it really does make editing pages easy. I had been looking for a good CMS to meet our needs for over a year, and it was the latest Plone upgrade that finally satisfied me.

It's definitely a resource intensive system, but I don't consider Loaches Online a "high-volume" site, so I'm not expecting any problems when it becomes the main site. Plus, most viewers will be anonymous (not logged in) and the pages won't change, which means I can put a good caching program in front of it and serve the same pages repeatedly. So, Plone won't even have to run for those visitors.

I don't really have any need for Python customizations at the moment. I'm trying to keep this installation as 'stock' as possible so I can keep upgrading Plone as it develops. (I've got a very short list of code customizations that I'll have to migrate at the next upgrade)

Probably the only remaining customization to do is to change the skin to be more 'fish like'. (And incorporate Bamboo too!) That's still pending. There's a lot of CSS to wade through...

Jeff

[avant]

Hey guys... just saw this thread. I did a one year long project last year for my honours year project using Plone to set up a knowledge management site. If you folks need any help, I'll be ready to offer some of my limited skills

[pedzola]

Sweet. Well if there is any need for some help ever, feel free to tap me.

Also, I'm interested to see if anyone here thinks my fish store rating website is any good.

I'd like to see it endorsed by a forum, because I really do think it would be a useful tool. Sadly it's not internationally-enabled at the moment, which is why I haven't sought a loaches.com endorsement. I realize that the membership here has a large contingent outside North America.

But if anyone is interested in some sharing potential I would be happy to talk w/you! I've got a month coming up to make any upgrades necessary to make it a worthy of partnership.



- Chris

[Barracuda518]

New site looks good. Nice work