I would suggest making the book specific. With the tutorials we had to be very general, catering for all the different things someone might be doing. But for the book, I would suggest agreeing what FTP software, what graphics software, etc, it will all be written to.
My suggestions (which nobody needs to follow!)...
- Windows
- Cyberduck for FTP (as works on both Windows and Mac)
- Google Chrome
- Paint.net
- Libre Office (if an office suite is involved)
If not, please let us know how we can do better (please make suggestions that are economically viable and scalable, not just requests to do more for free).
If so, please let others know about ocPortal whenever you see the opportunity.
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If I answered something that you think should be in the documentation, please take the initiative and add it to the community documentation. We really need people to help out here and build a well-organised large support resource.
Since Paint.net is not available for Macs, I'd suggest looking at Seashore (Screenshots) if looking for a free image editor. Pixelmator is a good paid solution that costs much less than Photoshop. And, of course, Gimp is free across all playforms but can be a bear to learn.
Gimp has the same structure as Photoshop so far i can see. Both have a learning curve
I have not looked at it in quite a while but Gimp is definitely a beast. This is probably the trickiest issue since I know of no other software but Gimp that is available across all three platforms.
- Filezilla as FTP client (works on Linux, Windows and Mac) - GIMP as an image editor (very powerful and works on Windows, Linux and Mac, too)
I think that Filezilla might be the best choice for FTP client. Though I personally use (and love) Cyberduck, I think many more people are already familiar with Filezilla.
The more I think about it, I think we should use Gimp as our standard image processor because it is available on all platforms. We won't need to delve into the complicated stuff like compositing but it will give us a uniform tool for cropping and resizing images. Gimp is tremendous overkill for these functions but it is freely available on all platforms.
Should we even be going down the specific image editing program route? Otherwise we'll end up with an image editing guide as well.
Wouldn't it be much easier to say that images can be edited with a variety of programs, and give some examples. Then after that say, for example, 'for the logo, create a 180 x 900 image', and leave it up to the user to create how they wish?
We will definitely not veer into an imaging guide but provided a standard approach for cropping and resizing might be useful. Personally, I am surprised by the number of people who undertake a CMS project that don't know the basics of, well, many things.
But your point is well-taken. What do others think?
I think Filezilla for FTP - it seems the most common, and is pretty simple, and will obviously be used a bit in the book.
I agree on Chrome, but for most screenshots it should crop out the browser bar, as it's not relevant. Chrome references are only needed for clearing the cache, etc.
Agree with Windows, but again referred only when absolutely necessary.
If we can agree on the software necessary and it is all available for all Windows, Linux and Macs, I don't even know that we would need to mention it.
As far as server requirements, ocPortal should install in any WAMP or XAMMP environment which means this should again be no issue. Perhaps special attention should be paid to Windows since it lacks standard Unix permissions but I would be curious in the breakdown of those who run their website from a Windows server compared to a Linux server.
I would suggest recommending Linux hosting and using eLief's details in the example, rather than hosting on own machine. Seems that people need to know how to publish, and Linux is the standard and easiest to configure.
If not, please let us know how we can do better (please make suggestions that are economically viable and scalable, not just requests to do more for free).
If so, please let others know about ocPortal whenever you see the opportunity.
This information has not loaded yet. It will be generated in the background, please come back later.
If I answered something that you think should be in the documentation, please take the initiative and add it to the community documentation. We really need people to help out here and build a well-organised large support resource.
I would suggest recommending Linux hosting and using eLief's details in the example, rather than hosting on own machine. Seems that people need to know how to publish, and Linux is the standard and easiest to configure.
Just my opinion, which may be ignored .
I thought of this but so many run their test site on a local Windows machine. I guess we could still steer people in the most headache-free direction.
Even though I use Macs and there is a Mac-centered colocation service here in Las Vegas, I would not consider anything but Linux for hosting, if only for the familiarity of others trying to assist.
I would suggest recommending Linux hosting and using eLief's details in the example, rather than hosting on own machine. Seems that people need to know how to publish, and Linux is the standard and easiest to configure.
Just my opinion, which may be ignored .
I thought of this but so many run their test site on a local Windows machine. I guess we could still steer people in the most headache-free direction.
Even though I use Macs and there is a Mac-centered colocation service here in Las Vegas, I would not consider anything but Linux for hosting, if only for the familiarity of others trying to assist.
Bob
I think both should be mentioned and then touch on the basic differences between Linux and Windows and how it pertains to ocPortal. And maybe give some references to a few sites if the reader wishes to read more on the subject.
i started reading this thread and immediately stared to think OMG why are we going into this software stuff each subject could be a book on its own and then I read O's post and he says just what I was thinking. Yup I think we shouldn't be mentioning too much about software except where it has a hidden feature that directly accesses ocPortal. ie explaining how Chrome or FF can be used with extensions to help you troubleshoot (or change CSS etc) your site or something along those lines.
Yes use of other software should be minor. Screenshots need to be consistent, and occasionally you may want to drop off and how how to crop an image or something.
I think whether to deploy to your own server, or hosting – maybe a poll should be done on which way the book should go (or both).
If not, please let us know how we can do better (please make suggestions that are economically viable and scalable, not just requests to do more for free).
If so, please let others know about ocPortal whenever you see the opportunity.
This information has not loaded yet. It will be generated in the background, please come back later.
If I answered something that you think should be in the documentation, please take the initiative and add it to the community documentation. We really need people to help out here and build a well-organised large support resource.
I think we need to deal with at least FTP because people will need to upload header and background images. I really think it needs to be presented as a potential toolkit with the acknowledgment that the the user can use his tool of choice.
I would suggest recommending Linux hosting and using eLief's details in the example, rather than hosting on own machine. Seems that people need to know how to publish, and Linux is the standard and easiest to configure.
Just my opinion, which may be ignored .
I thought of this but so many run their test site on a local Windows machine. I guess we could still steer people in the most headache-free direction.
Even though I use Macs and there is a Mac-centered colocation service here in Las Vegas, I would not consider anything but Linux for hosting, if only for the familiarity of others trying to assist.
Bob
I think both should be mentioned and then touch on the basic differences between Linux and Windows and how it pertains to ocPortal. And maybe give some references to a few sites if the reader wishes to read more on the subject.
This seems reasonable to me and covers probably the vast majority of deployments.
Yes use of other software should be minor. Screenshots need to be consistent, and occasionally you may want to drop off and how how to crop an image or something.
I think whether to deploy to your own server, or hosting – maybe a poll should be done on which way the book should go (or both).
I'm inclined to think that we should go with the examples of both Linus and Windows hosting. It really will not take much effort to cover both and covers virtually every hosting setup.
I think we need to deal with at least FTP because people will need to upload header and background images. I really think it needs to be presented as a potential toolkit with the acknowledgment that the the user can use his tool of choice.
Bob
Theoretically you don't need an FTP client once you've installed, as you can manage everything as some resource within ocPortal. In this case, theme images.
That said, it may or may not help understanding if the user uploads these manually, so my point may or may not be moot.
If not, please let us know how we can do better (please make suggestions that are economically viable and scalable, not just requests to do more for free).
If so, please let others know about ocPortal whenever you see the opportunity.
This information has not loaded yet. It will be generated in the background, please come back later.
If I answered something that you think should be in the documentation, please take the initiative and add it to the community documentation. We really need people to help out here and build a well-organised large support resource.
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