ocPortal version NEXT (9?) discussion

It's good news, the UK will be as competitive as India soon

The pound has been struggling for a while but the double-dip has potential to do more damage. Strangely, there was not as large a movement as I expected today so much of the double-dip may already be factored into the exchange rate, hence why people should start  thinking about buying credits soon.

Bob

Chris Graham said

It's good news, the UK will be as competitive as India soon

Perhaps true, but India just had their debt downgraded to essentially junk-bond status.

I really mentioned the exchange rate as the window may not be that big – for instance, there is some concern with slowdown in the US this spring which would remove some of that advantage for us.

Bob

That's interesting, I didn't know that about India. I don't really follow this kind of thing closely myself. The risk percentage in projects is always way more than the flux in exchange rates anyway, so from my perspective it's inconsequential. It was a problem though around 2008, as all exchange rates really shifted quite wildly.

Chris Graham said

That's interesting, I didn't know that about India. I don't really follow this kind of thing closely myself. The risk percentage in projects is always way more than the flux in exchange rates anyway, so from my perspective it's inconsequential. It was a problem though around 2008, as all exchange rates really shifted quite wildly.

Yeah, should make little difference to you. This is more about opportunity for people wanting to sponsor.

I doubt we will see a return to the previous chaos as things settled out from shifting economies at a macro level but I do expect a few (probably, new) players to emerge much stronger as this global downturn shakes out.

Bob

Hopefully soon we'll all just agree to switch to Latinum. Recent developments make both Gold and the US Dollar bad choices for a global currency.

As much as the US will resist. I expect that a new base will be decided upon that will aggregate a number of countries and factors into currency exchange.

Interesting discussing this here.  

Bob

Okay, I know I said I would not be sponsoring anything else until the multi-categorization feature (0000063: Multi-categorisation - ocPortal feature tracker) is fully-sponsored. While this is still a priority for me, I've decided that it is important that we get started with the CSS clean-up and, so, I have joined Fletch in sponsoring the "Scrap standard box" feature (0000292: Scrap standard boxes - ocPortal feature tracker); this feature is now two-thirds sponsored and needs just another 8 support credits to be started. Hopefully another person or two can join us in launching this new project.

I think that this is the beginning of a very important process for ocPortal. Even Chris acknowledges that the CSS has grown overly-complex as ocPortal has grown organically, and it is now time to clean things up so that we can begin to move forward with more rational mark-up.

Hope someone can join Fetch and I in sponsoring this great feature.

Bob

I'll happily give the 8 credits for that.

Chris, can you add it to my bill or do you want me to do it officially through the website?

Thanks, O!

It will be great to have Chris get started with making the CSS more rational and easier to deal with, I think this will be a big step forward and we now have the first of these CSS features funded with a few more to go.

Thanks again for your sponsorship.

Bob

Hopefully, this item will be marked as fully-sponsored in the tracker so that people know that it is fully-funded. If O wishes to remain anonymous, perhaps Chris could set up a generic "Development client" to note the sponsorship on items in these situations.

Bob

I need to correct the purchase amount from the above post (View topic: ocPortal version NEXT (9?) discussion - ocPortal.com):

But clearly, we can expect v9 to be similar to v8 in that is will be driven by your development projects and whatever community sponsorship we can muster. As times are difficult for business, so too are they for people, but I do hope that we can keep the community sponsorship moving ocPortal forward. Given that support credits can now be purchased in smaller quantities to aid sponsorship, I hope everyone singles out at least one item in the tracker and provides at least one credit to that item. At approximately $10, this would be a low-cost way for everyone to see that ocPortal continues to evolve. Of course, I am hoping that some of this sponsorship centers on the CSS changes (or the multi-categorization feature) I mentioned above so that this vital area can be addressed and improved.

I had mistakenly stated that 1 credit would cost $30 and have corrected it in the original post. As you can see, the $10 entry fee to co-sponsor an item should allow most people to participate. If you can do a bit more (3 or 6 credits to provide one-half the funding an one-hour or two-hour project, respectively), that is even better – especially if we can get people to coalesce around specific features so that they can be fully-funded and then coded. This thread is a great place to discuss items you feel are worthy of sponsorship.

Community-sponsorship is a great way to give back to the community, especially if you (like me) lack the skills to provide themes and add-ons.

Bob

After thinking this over for the past few days, I have come to a decision regarding my future sponsorship activities. While I am terribly disappointed that not even one person can sponsor at least one credit for the multi-categorization feature (0000063: Multi-categorisation - ocPortal feature tracker) which I believe (and a number of others have voted accordingly) will provide significant new benefits to site owners and their visitors, I consider the CSS cleanup a really important effort which will help to make ocPortal's CSS less intimidating and easier to maintain for developers and for site owners alike. Given the importance of this issue, I am willing to pledge the following sponsorships:

0000058: Remove panel_width option - ocPortal feature tracker - I will co-sponsor one-third (6 credits) for this feature once at least 6 credits have been already sponsored.

0000366: Drop legacy support - ocPortal feature tracker - I will co-sponsor one-third (4 credits) for this feature once at least 4 credits have been already sponsored.

0000423: Performance improvements: frontend technologies - ocPortal feature tracker - I will co-sponsor one-sixth (15 credits) for this feature once at least 30 credits have been already sponsored. This will get this project 50%-sponsored. I think this is a really important issue because it should provide performance benefits and, at least, keep JS loading from slowing the page rendering. I would like to do more here, and I will if I can, but it is a lower priority to me than multi-categorization. I guess what I am saying is that if I get some co-sponsorship for multi-categorization, then I will likely be able to do more here – perhaps doubling my sponsorship to one-third (30 credits). If that happens, this item will have two-thirds of the credits needed to see it coded.

Thanks to Fletch and Viewfindr, we already have the first CSS cleanup item fully-sponsored: 0000292: Scrap standard boxes - ocPortal feature tracker

Anyway, this is what I can do to help make these needed improvements. What can you do help make these changes happen? Remember, a single support credit is only  about $10.

Bob

If I could sponsering I had done that. But I need every euro I can get now.  But that live.

Hi Harry-

I know times are difficult for many people right now. I am just hoping to attract some people who are in a position to sponsor and to remind people that a single credit is only about $10.

While sponsoring a single credit may not seem like much, I look at it as being one credit closer to the goal.

At any rate, it is really about people doing what they can to support ocPortal and the community. This takes many forms: helping others in the forums, providing a theme or an add-on, coding up something useful or something already listed in the tracker, posting about ocPortal in appropriate venues like CMS comparison sites, recommending someone take a look at ocPortal if it seems like it might be an appropriate solution and, of course, sponsoring features when that is possible.

Bob

I know Bob. Lets hope the economy will be standing up shortley.
But if I can do it, then I'am with the party.

Since it is my birthday,  I have decided to celebrate by kickstarting two projects rather than awaiting sponsorship from others. I have made the pledged amounts mentioned above.

0000058: Remove panel_width option - ocPortal feature tracker - Sponsored 6 of the 18 credits needed
0000366: Drop legacy support - ocPortal feature tracker - Sponsored 4 of the 12 credits needed

Both of these items will help to clean up the CSS (and some JS) and make ocPortal a more approachable product. It will likely make it easier to maintain the CSS both for the developers and members who work on theming and reworking templates.

If possible, please join in my birthday celebration by adding your sponsorship to one of these projects. Remember that a single credit can be sponsored and costs only about $10, and will help to make ocPortal an even better and more manageable product.

Bob

I am really hoping that we can muster the additional eight points to get this item fully-sponsored: 0000366: Drop legacy support - ocPortal feature tracker

In order to move forward, we often need to drop our baggage from the past. This is the issue which will force people to move forward if they are going to choose to use the latest releases of ocPortal. In addition to setting new baseline standards for hosting, this issue promises to "Update our coding guidelines, our requirements (on website and docs), tidy up CSS and JS to remove hacks (e.g. setOpacity should not be needed, or the PNG hack, or re-definition of file_get_contents)." In other words, tying up a lot of loose ends so that future growth will be easier.

A few one or two-credit sponsorships ($10 or $20) could get us over the top rather easily and if one can sponsor another 4 credits (about $40), we will be two-thirds the way to full funding of the project.

Bob

Version nine… pffft I already thinking about v12  

I am not sure I get this sponsering bit... how does it work... I am sure you will pont me to a thread that explains it...?

You sponsor a feature by going to the Issues Tracker (My View - ocPortal feature tracker) and find an issue you'd like to help sponsor. Or you can create your own issue. Make sure you monitor whatever issue(s) you are interested in following. And vote for items if you think they are important development steps even if you will not be sponsoring.

Once you find a feature you would like to sponsor, scroll down the page to the "Users sponsoring this issue" block. Make note of how many support credits are required to fully-sponsor the project and how many points are still required to complete the project. Think about what you can afford to spend (support credits currently cost about US$10 each) and then type what you would like to sponsor in the "Amount in support credits" box.

You have now sponsored a portion (or all) of a project but will need to make sure you have support credits to back the sponsorship. Select the "Support" link in the top navigation on ocPortal. You will see near the top how many support credits you currently have (but remember to subtract any sponsored but unfinished project). Go to the bottom of the page and click the "Experts by the hour link" which will take the purchase page for support credits (ocPortal.com - Experts by the hour). Use the dropdown to purchase whatever number of credits are needed and just follow the instructions which will send you to Paypal for payment and then return to ocPortal.

This sounds a lot more complicated than what it really is. Basically, find a project that you want to help sponsor, pledge whatever number of support credits you wish towards that project and then purchase the backing credits for the support credits you pledge. I always try to buy a few more just in case I need ocPortal tech support to take a look at something.

Hope to see you sponsoring an issue soon and monitoring/voting for others that might be of interest in the future.

Bob