Joomla! Forge is open for business

Post by **rhuk** » Sat Sep 17, 2005 1:59 am

The forge is up and ready to accept projects. VA Software has kindly donated SourceForge Enterprise Edition and 2 dual xeon servers for it to run on so this is going to give Joomla! a premiere solutions for project development. I'm sure we'll have some teething problems as things are quite a bit different from the old GForge implementation, there are some limitiations that we will work dilligently to overcome but I think you'll find the project management capabilities to be superb!

Check it out now at: http://developer.joomla.org

Post any issues or problems you have and we'll try to address them as soon as possible.

Cheers

pulp · Post by **pulp** » Sat Sep 17, 2005 2:19 am

its beautiful

however, while it looks and feels much better & faster than the old forge, i noticed some tasks take several additional clicks compared to the old forge.

for example, in the old forge u click on "Files" and in one screen u can find and download any release in that project. while in the new forge u have to navigate release/tree to obtain a file. same with bug reports, its nice to have tabs in the new forge, but before u were able to see/download patches etc from the same screen without additional clicks.

also, project urls are simply too confusing http://developer.joomla.org/sf/sfmain/d ... s.joomfish rather than http://mamboforge.net/projects/mambelfish

none of this is a big deal really, i am just nit picking here

overall i love the new forge, it just feels so much fancier

WillieManillie · Post by **WillieManillie** » Sat Sep 17, 2005 3:16 am

Glad to see. It has a great contrast. The color themes of each area is slick. Keep it up.

Matthew Schultz · Post by **Matthew Schultz** » Sat Sep 17, 2005 4:24 am

Awesome work guys, just goes to show that people work better when they're doing something they want to. Keep it up, working on getting Joomla installed on my site now (just some minor MosCE troubles holding my back from a full switch.) Have a cold one and call it a day.

Boomzilla · Post by **Boomzilla** » Sat Sep 17, 2005 4:27 am

Thanks for the feedback.

We hope and expect the new site to be faster than the old forge. Regarding the comment about more clicks to do stuff than were experienced on the old site -- you are correct. Part of the issue we juggled with while developing SourceForge EE was to keep pages clean and straightforward while ensuring the navigation was not overloaded. SFEE 4.x has been out for about 18 months now -- we find with the very large sites that the support for trees for file releases, documentation allow for much better structuring of large volumes of data. Now, this is not to say we can't do better... all of the feedback we get from site users goes to our product management team for them to work on improvements for subsequent releases. We feel we have a good reputation for listening and acting on recommendations -- but talk is cheap! Let's see how we do with this site :-)

Re: Project URL's -- you'll see some loooooog URL's (like the one referenced by Pulp). You'll also see some nice short ones like: http://developer.joomla.org/sf/go/rel1008  - we're working our way through the product to implement the short URL approach.

So, thanks for the feedback and keep those cards and letters coming.

Col

gsbe · Post by **gsbe** » Sat Sep 17, 2005 4:42 am

Great work. Thanks for getting something up so quickly! I'm sure that you are painfully aware of the issues my comments address but, hey, you're asking so...I'll be obvious man for a second.

First is the need for some categorization of function and features for the projects. We will quickly have difficulty keeping everything straight.

Second is the need for a rating and review system for projects. Most popular, most downloads per category, editor's picks, etc. I like Mozilla's UI for Firefox Extensions and Winamp's system for finding Plug-ins. They both have a heavy focus on user feedback in their display with similar emphases on number of downloads and user reviews/comments/ratings. They both also have a strong reliance on a categorization system by function/features. Winamp's use of "Top Staff Rated" is an important section. Official approval of some sort goes a long way in keeping standards high.

Thanks again for giving us someplace new to develop!

Boomzilla · Post by **Boomzilla** » Sat Sep 17, 2005 5:03 am

Re: "need for some categorization of function and features for the projects. We will quickly have difficulty keeping everything straight."

- Yup. We're working on a Project Categorization (Software Map/Trove/Whatever) for the site. Don't have a firm date yet -- but I'll get with Zac early next week and come back with a target.

Re: "Rating and review system for projects. Most popular, most downloads per category, editor's picks, etc...."

- Yup again. In the project "SourceForge - Joomla Modules " we're defining a series of Joomla modules that exchange data between SourceForge and Joomla. These modules will support extraction of stats from SourceForge and presentation within a Joomla instance. This will give us (a) modules that can be deployed in a Joomla! instance front-ending developer.joomla.org and (b) act as examples for folks who want to build additional modules for such integration. Ratings and review are part of this initiative.

Col

ChuckTrukk · Post by **ChuckTrukk** » Sat Sep 17, 2005 8:00 am

Boomzilla wrote:This will give us (a) modules that can be deployed in a Joomla! instance front-ending developer.joomla.org and (b) act as examples for folks who want to build additional modules for such integration. Ratings and review are part of this initiative.

Great Great Great!

Do you guys have any timetable set for this or is this part of the meeting with Zac?

Thanks Thank Thanks!
Chuck! (ala Joomla! and Great!)

Boomzilla · Post by **Boomzilla** » Sat Sep 17, 2005 8:06 am

No timetable yet (apart from "yesterday") but Zac is actively working on this. First/major thing we need to do is set up single sign-on between Joomla and SourceForge -- once that is done life will b pretty straightforward re: building the first set of Modules.

Keep an eye (or rather use SourceForge Monitoring) on the SourceForge - Joomla Modules project
https://developer.joomla.org/sf/sfmain/ ... ts.sfplugs
for progress.

Col

pitsche · Post by **pitsche** » Sat Sep 17, 2005 8:52 am

Hello ,

to be honest , it was easy to guess the URL of the new forge ( developer.joomla.org ) before it was officially announcend and so I had a peek before the announcement and I couldn't wait to post my " THANK YOU CORE TEAM and everybody who helped them !" here .

I'm happy that the success story of Mambo Open Source --> Mambo --> Joomla! continues

and I hope the German community will advance regarding politeness and cooperation in the future $:-\$

Again : Thank you very much !

pitsche ( Krefeld , Germany , Europe , Planet Earth )

P.S.: One Question - should we donate some money for the up-and-running of the Forge regarding Traffic costs , Hosting costs , etc. ?

I know , that VA donated a lot , but how long will that money last ?

gsbe · Post by **gsbe** » Sat Sep 17, 2005 4:17 pm

Boomzilla wrote:Keep an eye (or rather use SourceForge Monitoring) on the SourceForge - Joomla Modules project
https://developer.joomla.org/sf/sfmain/ ... ts.sfplugs
for progress.

Thanks for the updates, Colin. I'm finding it difficult to get the monitoring running on the project you linked above. Maybe I'm doing something wrong...

Boomzilla · Post by **Boomzilla** » Sat Sep 17, 2005 5:06 pm

Couple of replies from me to messages that came in while I was in the land of nod.........

pitsche: Thanks for your kind words. Re: donations - I'll leave that one to the Joomla core team to respond too. SourceForge/VA Software provided the app, the hardware and the bandwidth and plans to do so for the forseeable future. You gotta figure that since we run SourceForge.net, Slashdot, Linux.com etc etc one more site is not too much of a stretch :-) - We're getting lots in return: feedback in regards to SourceForge EE usability and feature recommendations, bugs (not too many thus far ), and support from the Joomla community as we work on modules that will integrate Joomla with SourceForge (first example of that work will be the forge integrated with a Joomla instance for project navigation, stats , community activities etc).

gsbe: I'll take a look at your permissions on the project -- you just may not have been granted the necessary permissions to monitor to the degree you want. If what I find is of general interest I'll post here. If it's just something about your account I'll send you a message.

Col

mbeach · Post by **mbeach** » Sun Sep 18, 2005 4:19 am

At first glance I was reminded of dotProject (which I believe someone around here was a big part of). I got a little excited and thought I missed a new release - no such luck, but the Forge site looks promising. I love a change - very energizing.

Don't know where I've been, but was just asked to setup another 'Mambo' site for a non-profit and went to check for any new releases - the surprise! Once Joomla starts rolling off the my tongue a little easier I'll be able to recommend it (2 J installs tonight - no major issues so far).

I've recently stumbled into "Ubuntu" (linux distro). Seems everyone's got the same idea in a name. Excellent stuff.

Best of luck to all,
mbeach.

Aristocrat · Post by **Aristocrat** » Sun Sep 18, 2005 4:54 am

Oh ... I like it better than the old forge. Looks lovely. Let's get busy and do some decent projects for Joomla

Rastin

rjs · Post by **rjs** » Sun Sep 18, 2005 8:31 am

Looks spectacular.

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