Narrative structure

Write book around a scenario? How specific it should be? What scenario? Or multiple scenarios? Should it be a real life site people can see the result of, or something very abstract?

Discuss

We definitely need a scenario which I think needs to cover installation, configuration, forum and member issues, major addons (Facebook, CEDI, e-commerce, etc). We also need to address basic theming and some Tempcode in my estimation. What do others think?

It would be great to have an ancillary site to demonstrate the the what it being discussed in the book. The downside to this approach is that you can only really discuss one use case.

Bob

Anyone have thoughts on a good use case/scenario that will employ all of ocPortal's most important features including forums, calendar, galleries, catalogs, CEDI and e-commerce? I think Facebook integration is also an important area.

Please also comment on other areas that need to be covered. Obviously we need to address theming and Tempcode. Any other areas I've missed?

Bob

This is mostly just a note to myself but I would also like to include a chapter on reporting bugs/issues.

Bob

BobS said

This is mostly just a note to myself but I would also like to include a chapter on reporting bugs/issues.

Bob

I disagree strongly with this.  It implies the system is buggy.  It could be, at most, a side note in the Troubleshooting chapter.  But no way a whole separate chapter.

O said

BobS said

This is mostly just a note to myself but I would also like to include a chapter on reporting bugs/issues.

Bob

I disagree strongly with this.  It implies the system is buggy.  It could be, at most, a side note in the Troubleshooting chapter.  But no way a whole separate chapter.

That's fine too. I just want to make sure that as part of this process that we help people to get their problems solved more expediently because good bug/issue reports are submitted to the developers.

The only reason I suggested a "chapter" is that I would prefer to have issue-specific troubleshooting guides at the end of each chapter which I think help people zero in on problems more quickly. The final chapter could actually be contact information along with best practices for reporting bugs and requesting new features.

Bob

Maybe a final 'Further Development' chapter, of which bug fixing/reporting is a part, along with feature requesting/development?  I'd keep it short though - more a gateway than a how-to.

In terms of scenarios, I'm thinking maybe a car website.

You could have news and forums, obviously, a calendar for upcoming car shows, a catalog of different makes and models of cars (e.g. reference guide), a gallery of car photos, and a shop for car bits.

Pretty easy to understand, even for those totally uninterested in cars.

O said

Maybe a final 'Further Development' chapter, of which bug fixing/reporting is a part, along with feature requesting/development?  I'd keep it short though - more a gateway than a how-to.

I got to thinking along the same lines. This could be a "Resources" chapter which explains the ocPortal forums, the bug tracker and so forth.

Bob

O said

In terms of scenarios, I'm thinking maybe a car website.

You could have news and forums, obviously, a calendar for upcoming car shows, a catalog of different makes and models of cars (e.g. reference guide), a gallery of car photos, and a shop for car bits.

Pretty easy to understand, even for those totally uninterested in cars.

I like the car scenario as is allows us to easily touch on the many features in ocPortal in a natural way (including CEDI and e-commerce).

Bob

Here is just a quick outline I have put together for potential chapters. Please let me know what you think needs to be added or changed.

Chapters

---

  * Introduction including sample scenario and conventions used
   * Installation including system requirements
   * Basic configuration
   * Admin area
   * Member mangement
   * Basic templating (change logo, header image, background image, menus), discussion of CSS(?)
   * Galleries and catalogs and other content
   * Configuring Catalogues
   * Adding blocks (news/blogs,calendar, gallery, catalog)
   * Setting Up Blogs and News
   * Forums
   * CEDI
   * E-commerce
   * Collaboration and Explanation of Zones
   * Facebook integration
   * Advanced templating
   * Tempcode
   * Importing from other systems
   * Resources (list of resources and suggestions for bug reporting and feature requests)
   * Glossary of terms

Bob

EDIT: Added additional chapters

I like the car site scenario. Originally I was thinking something like a Clan Site or a Sport Team site would make a good scenario.

Why? Because either of those sites can cover nearly every feature of ocPortal if needed.

However, I can see a car site also doing this. If we would like to do a Sporting site I suggest Soccer/Football as it is the most popular sport in the world with nearly 3.5 billion fans.

Bob add to the Chapters:

Setting Up Blogs and News  (I know you mention them in Blocks but that's not really the same thing is it?)
Configuring Catalogues
Collaboration and Explanation of Zones

Duck-

Thanks for the suggestions for chapters. I've added them above.

I can see a soccer/football site also being a god choice so I will start a poll to see which way the community leans.

Bob

If it's useful, ocProducts did a website type analysis a while back, and sites broadly classify as one or more of…

Organisation/companion websites
Information websites (e.g. tourism, religious, niche, government)
Marketing campaign websites
Database websites (e.g. property, holidays)
Support websites
Online communities / social networking (e.g. TV, gaming, sports, real-world friends, eGovernment)
Online portfolios / home sites / blogs
News websites
Shopping websites
Intranets / Collaborative hubs (i.e. as groupware)
Dating websites
Media websites (e.g. 'adult' sites, photography)
'Build your own site' websites

Should we cover OcCLE in the book?

Bob

BobS said

Should we cover OcCLE in the book?

Bob

Most Definitely. At least to a basic degree

Duck said

BobS said

Should we cover OcCLE in the book?

Bob

Most Definitely. At least to a basic degree

Kind of what I figured but I wasn't sure if I was alone in that thought.

Bob

As for why I had suggested a Clan site (besides a large familiarity with setting them up) is because I envisioned a good way to showcase complex catalogue setups along with every other feature.

For instance the Catalogue system could be used to create a Clan Signup Application. Also a Database of Axis and Allies Clans. Then Catalogue/Calendar could be utilized for Scrim scheduling. Blog can be used for writing blog posts for gaming community as well as news releases can be issued. Clans also use Forums heavy and a store can be setup to sell Clan paraphernalia (such as shirts, coffee mugs with the logo etc) Galleries utilized for Screenshots (a perfect place to represent personal galleries) and videos (like game trailers etc). Also Addons could be demonstrated like ocWorld, Facebook login etc.
Furthermore, Clans also like to use Server Query tools like GamesQuery and TSViewer which require building custom blocks based on html code which would be a good (but relatively simple) demonstration of adding outside stuff to a website. Cedi can be used for Gaming guides.
Lastly I run a clan site already (though it needs more work on it) that can be used as a sample site to work from and I am willing to give all collaborators complete access they need to play with it including FTP etc.

Of course I can see some of this being done on other subjects too like Soccer or Cars could also work. But I sort of like the Clan or Sports for the fact that community structure is a little more elaborate in them. Clans and Sports teams have good hierarchical structure of groups etc to work with to showcase permissions and community based features.

Hi,

I think this is too much, for 2 reasons.  Firstly, I think it's better to get the book done - with this much work it'll drag on, there'll be too much to coordinate and edit, too many decisions to discuss and make, and there will be too many points of failure.

Secondly, I think the book needs to be more basic - this is designed to get people involved in OCPortal, not to tell them how to do everything.  The vast majority will use it 'out the box' - see most blogs and personal sites that dominate the web.  The small number who want to go further can be pointed in the direction of the resources on the OCPortal website, or even covered in a future book.

I also think that as well as being shorter, the book should not be chaptered by item, but by activity.  I mean people start by knowing what they want to do, but not what they need to do it.  (For example a book on cars would have a chapter called 'Licensing your Car' rather than 'The Department of Motor Vehicles' or whatever.)

So, instead of a chapter on 'Theming', it could have a chapter on 'Changing the Look and Feel'; instead of 'Admin Zone' it could be split into 'Allowing Users onto the Website', ', etc.  (Some things are obvious - 'Adding a Forum' or 'Adding a Gallery' for example.)

This will also allow for activities that span multiple items, and lead to most of the Admin Zone will be covered by administering things that are covered in other parts of the book.  This will probably lead to more, shorter chapters, but that just breaks it up into more manageable chunks, and readers can just pick out the bits they need.

May I suggest:


Introduction

The Brief

Glossary of Terms

Installing OCPortal

Changing the Logos and Color Scheme (change logo, header image, background image, colors - no CSS)

Customizing the Home Page (Blocks and menus mainly, and referencing Forums, Gallery, etc. if required for those blocks)

Adding pages

Writing Stories (How to write the Blogs, News, attach images, etc.)

(Basic users now have a working blog/news site, and can go straight to 'Opening the Site').

Adding a Forum

Adding a Gallery

Adding a Catalog

Adding a Shop

Letting Users Collaborate on the Site (CEDI)

Integrating with Social Media (Facebook and Twitter)

Opening the Site to Users (Member permissions, opening site, etc.)

Importing your Current Website into OCPortal

More Advanced Activities (Talks about, but doesn't explain, CSS, tempcode, complicated Admin Zone stuff, etc.)

Further Resources (points to guides on OCPortal.com, reporting bugs, requesting features, etc.)

Index


(Definitely not perfect - more just to get the idea across.)


This way I can look at the Chapters and think 'What do I want to do?', and tell from the title where I should be reading.

I think the Clan thing is too geeky and impenetrable.

I have no idea what a Skrim is.  Most girls I know with blogs would be instantly put off by the 'geeky' nature of it.  (Sorry, but it's true - their blogs are all about cooking and flower arranging and interior decorating and shoes.)

If you're not a gamer, then you probably know nohing about gaming terminology.  If you're not a car-nerd, you'll still know what a Ford is.