Puppy Linux Discussion Forum

[tombh]

Edit: There is now a separate thread for suggestions, bugs, wishlists, etc, you may want to contribute to that one instead/aswell.
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It was suggested to me some months ago that I might like to contribute to a renewing of the current Puppy website, puppylinux.org. Firstly I was concerned to discover what this might involve and what was actually possible. My opinion regarding the current state of Puppy's web presence is, like many others, that it is an unjust reflection of Puppy itself. So I wanted to think a little bit bigger and little bit more seriously about what could be done.

The gist of my thinking was that the WIKI was the site that was *actually* providing the function of a Puppy website, but that it was obscured and hidden behind a maze of links! If the WIKI could somehow be 'brought forward', as it were, then that would be a great improvement. Clearly, a Content Management System (CMS) is needed, Puppy enthusiasts are obviously keen to contribute content to Puppy's web presence and this should be encouraged and utilised. It seemed to me that Drupal, a very powerful and popular CMS, would come in useful -- it has WIKI capabilities (user contributable content, revisions, categories), yet a whole host of other features to support a community website.

So I have developed a proto-site, a proof of concept site that uses Drupal and has its own custom design using Rasterpax's Puppy logo. I have not had the opportunity to test the feasibility of migrating the WIKI to Drupal yet, so I can't back this approach 100% yet, though I suspect it is very much possible.

So I propose that this site replace both the main website at puppylinux.org and the WIKI. Please visit it and feel free to offer any feedback. There is still a lot of work to be done, so please bear that in mind before responding. The links on the Home Page where chosen purely for testers and highlight the most interesting areas at this current stage of the development.

The proto-site can be found at: Hostgator's temporary URL

[canerigal]

Looks great - gives it a real professional look.

Eric likes it also.

You're hired

canerigal

[Dingo]

on

Dokupuppy I have programs, manuals and more and next days i will start mirroring all pupplets existing, you can link me if you like

[SirDuncan]

I just gave it a quick once-over but it looks good. The menu doesn't seem too hard to navigate and the layout looks fairly professional. I did notice that the link to the forum is wrong. You forgot the "a" in "murga".

The layout of the logo seems a little off to me. The way I would read it is "Linux Puppy", not "Puppy Linux", but that is just nit-picking.

Good job.

[headfound]

Great work Tom!
Its a very smart, clean and friendly layout.

[Lobster]

The site is great
Congratulations on all your efforts

Hopefully the site will be supported by puppy people (puppys)
adding material

this is the key
- getting people to use the site and come back
- this took two years with the wiki.
You need to encourage regular updaters and contributers
after the initial interest and effort

So I suggest that the front page is kept interesting
with 'Featured Puppy configs'
latest Puplets and other pup treats

Barry maintains his own blogs and web pages
good to see those in the site

Barry's material needs to be engaged
with a blog feed and links to his page
or some logo with his avatar

- Barry and other developers and puplet creators
can perhaps be offered services
within the Drupal interface?

- why should Barry have to bother with
blog down and viruses (outrageous waste of effort) . . .
as is the situation at the moment

What a great start
woof woof

[floborg]

Definite improvement.

The Download page is a little busy. It looks, though, like you plan on splitting that stuff up.

Why does the logo have linux above puppy?

[oblivious]

Some initial thoughts (I understand it's just a prototype, so this could be directed at things that are intended to be changed/developed anyway)

Looks good - the design is great, layout clear, etc.

The problem I had when I started looking at Puppy was knowing what was going on - confusion with there being Barry's site (obviously official as it was the site of the developer) and Pupplinux.org and puppywhatever.etc.etc.etc. I gather that if the new site is adopted, puppylinux.org and the wiki site will be closed and redirected (ie the new site will be instead of, not additional to what's there now). If not, IMO the last thing that is needed is yet another website.

The first thing I like to see on a site is something that discloses who you are dealing with and that the site is legitimate.

Firstly, whose site it is (to keep the homepage clean, this info could be on a separate page with a link - repeat visitors can then disregard it, but it's there for those who want the info). Puppylinux.org's page welcomes the visitor to the "home of puppylinux", but having already seen Barry's site, I found that confusing.

Secondly, I'd like to know how the site fits with Barry's site and previous sites - starting again is a great idea, but for anyone who has seen the existing sites, they'll want to know how the new site fits or confusion will continue to reign supreme.

For the content taken from Barry's site - Barry says on his site says it is not to be reproduced - either it needs to be linked to, or redrafted from scratch.

Is it geared towards complete newbies? If so, I'd like to see content explicable to newbs. (eg rather than "GUI apps" something like just "software applications" and plenty of explanation as to how it all fits/what's going on.

My other comment is from the perspective of a dog owner - why has your puppy paw only got 3 toes - did he lose a toe in an accident?

[oli]

Looks good - but not with MS Internet Explorer (see attached screenshot).

[oli]

Sorry, the forum-software told me an error, so that I uploaded again.

[NathanO]

Good start.

One item that is needed is a:

'New Users Start Here'

That points them to what they need to look at first, with a simple step by step to get started with Puppy.

NathanO

[tombh]

Thanks for all the feedback

I am keeping track of them all but Oblivious's comments are what stand out for me at the moment.

[Everitt]

[oblivious]

Thanks Tom - this isn't very well expressed because I'm just going to rattle it off, but I hope you get the drift.

[NathanO]

One other item, because of the 'attacks' on all the Puppy related sites in the last few weeks, it needs to be bullet proof from the start.

Keep the 'keys' in the hands of as few people as you can. Have someone, or a small group look at everything that comes in so we do not be come infected with 'bad' software or viruses.

NathanO