[Typo3-dev] Call for volunteers: fe extension coordination team

[Kasper Skårhøj]

Hi Elmar, hi all who replied.

I'm very happy to see Elmar take this initiative and in such an organized and 
result oriented way. I noticed that David would like some endorsement from me 
and I couldn't be more pleased to offer it! If Elmar didn't kick this 
initiative off I would have had to myself in a few months.

In my view - not moderated by the R&D group yet - I think this group could 
work on a portal standard for version 4.5 even. I think the features we are 
aiming at can safely be said to increase "easy-of-use" of TYPO3 although on 
another level than mere usability improvements in the interface! On top of 
that comes that the "Portal standard" part of version 5.0 is yet so vague an 
idea that moving on this subject will provide a great clue for version 5.0 
development! So lets go...


> * a name

I'm fine with ECT (Extension Coordination Team) although I am also at first 
focused on FE so something with "portal" is fine with me as well.

> * a team

I would like to be a part of the team at first to overlook the process and 
later possibly more involvement.

> * a plan

Elmars roadmap in fixed-width fonts looks fine to me. Must go to the 
communication base...

> * a communication base

... which at first is a wiki. However I think a news group is justified if one 
is for "content rendering". But we can start out on the dev-list for now.



A little about my specific views on what a portal standard could be for 
frontend extensions:

- Same templating principle applies to all extensions [Probably they all use a 
templating engine which in turn makes various types such as marker based, 
TemplaVoila, Smarty, hardcoded and TypoScript available based on preference.]
- Same CSS principles used for all default output to ensure quick deployment 
that fits website style out-of-the-box
- Same configuration principles in backend (FlexForms seems popolar 
now-a-days, probably very little TypoScript needed)
- Same style manuals and guarantee of a good manual
- Developed with other extensions in mind within the "family" adhering to the 
portal standard; means provides APIs to itselfs and supports APIs from other 
extensions (interoperability).

For version 4.5 I could hope for the top-20 types of frontend extensions 
(news, calendar, blog, forum, photogallery etc) being unified to follow the 
same principles so users will find it extremely easy and pleasant to build a 
website full of functionality, essentially by simply inserting plugins and 
checking a few checkboxes. In addition they can all be customized and 
templated to the exact needs of professionals. 

The long-term perspective of this work is also that we might form standards 
for building TYPO3 sites which a) provides a path of best-practice and b) 
easier entry for newbees and c) makes it easier to define certification 
courses.


Thats all for now.

- kasper












On Sunday 04 December 2005 15:35, Elmar Hinz wrote:
> Dear developers and extension users,
>
> please stop endless complaining and nail the things down this time.
>
> We highly need a core team for the coordination of frontend extension
> development. This field is neglegted since long because everything is
> still focused on BE-development. The amount of frontend extensions is
> daily rising, while quality and interoperabilty is decreasing.
>
> "Portal Standards" will be one topic of TYPO3 5.0 "Phoenix", that
> planned for Fall 2006, and is rather realistic in 2007. I think we
> shouldn't let the FE-things run without any direction until then.
>
> A coordination team could prepare the requirements for the "Portal
> Standards" meanwhile und help extension developers by providing them
> with the most necessary guidelines.
>
> Let's do the first step forward into a world of extensions that make
> TYPO3 easy to use, now. Extensions that work well together, extensions
> that are easy to configure, because they use the same technics and terms.
>
> IMPORTANT: The task of this team can't be to develop the FE-library,
> because we can assume that in future the  BE-library will be used for
> more and more FE-functionality. Our first focus should be to coordinate
> the already existing extensions and especially those that are currently
> in development. Our second focus should be to start the definition of
> the upcoming "portal standards".
>
> For this project we need
>
> * a name
> * a team
> * a plan
> * a communication base
>
> THE NAME
>
> It should be short enough to serve as a newsgroup name. It should be
> clear enough to hit the point.
>
> Some proposals:
>
> * Fe-Coordination: typo3.teams.fecoordination
> * Ext-Coordination: typo3.teams.extcoordination
> * Extension-Cooperation: typo3.teams.extcoop
> * Portal standards: typo3.teams.portal(standards)
> * Portal ware (like groupware): typo3.teams.portalware
>
> Please propose better ideas.
>
>
> THE TEAM
>
> Who is interested and capable to join this team?
>
> Ext-Developers: Those who already have experienced the points.
> Especially those dealing with the fe-users and address matters. Those
> who are missing roles in the current concept to realise their plans.
> Those who access other sources then fe_users and tt_address. (ldap, etc.)
>
> Users: Those who already did integrate TYPO3 setups with a large number
> of extensions, that know the problems and have concrete ideas how that
> could be solved.
>
> Projects: In the wiki you find different projects that focus on a
> special point of this complex but don't cover it as a whole.
>
> Core Developers: Those who already know that they will take part in
> refectoring the fe libraries.
>
>
> THE PLAN
>
> All members should contribute.
>
> A central point in the first phase will be the proper definition of the
> database model for FE-Users and Addresses. There are different people
> allready working in this field. They need to be coordinated.
>
> The mighty FE-User registration of Stanislas currently seems to go it's
> very own way. That is a development that seems very dangerous to me for
> the whole TYPO3 portal. We need a similar good FE-User registration that
> fits to a commonly defined DB-model. That's a very central point.
>
> We should define an API/Service to access users and addresses, so that
> the underlying storage can be exchanged. There are allready different
> extensions that access the BE users or LDAP to get the data. Theese
> concepts need a sytematical integration, to keep everything interoperable.
>
> After having done this we can concentrate on other tables that are of
> importance to get used by different extensions of one portal setup.
>
> Last not least there are questions how to use versioning from
> FE-Extensions.
>
>
> COMMUNICATION BASE
>
> Well we need to use newsgroup. Depending on the amount of posts and
> trolls that could be public or members excusive.
>
>
> If you are interested to bring in your part you can answer here ore
> write me directly to
>
> elmar(DOT)hinz(AT)team(MINUS)red(DOT)net
>
>
> Discussion on this should go mainly to typo3.english to keep it in one
> place. It concerns developers and users as well.
>
>
>
> Regards
>
>
> Elmar

-- 
- kasper

-----------------
"A 'please' would be nice", John Travolta, Pulp Fiction