[Seattle-editorial] dadaimc code comments

[Sheri Herndon]

>Delivered-To: sheri at speakeasy.org
>Delivered-To: sheri at indymedia.org
>Date: Thu, 21 Nov 2002 15:03:38 -0500
>Subject: Re: dadaimc code vs. others
>From: dadaIMC Support <support at dadaimc.org>
>To: Sheri Herndon <sheri at indymedia.org>
>
>Sheri --
>
>To the best of my knowledge, there isn't a comparative matrix of the 
>various codebases. The wiki pages at 
>http://www.bandwidthcoop.org/imc/tech/FrontPage are the closest 
>thing, but they're a bit scarce on comparisons, and I'm not sure how 
>much they're even kept up-to-date.
>
>As for dada vs. SFActive, I can't say _too_ much, since I've never 
>used SFActive. However, it is my understanding that SFActive is a 
>reworked version of the original Active codebase, and that's its 
>biggest problem as far as I'm concerned. dadaIMC was developed from 
>scratch, from the ground up, in order to avoid the legacy code that 
>made Active so problematic.
>
>SFActive has tacked on some features that dadaIMC also offers, such 
>as categorization of articles, a calendar, syndication, etc. But 
>since I developed dadaIMC from scratch, it was easier for me to 
>"modularize" the features, so they can be added/removed and appended 
>easily. So I was able to add a "Media Gallery" that holds images and 
>movies without the need to create an empty "article" to insert them 
>into. And the Other Press section, which offers a place to upload 
>summaries and links to articles on _other_ websites without 
>cluttering the newswire with reposts that are available elsewhere 
>(which almost ALL IMCs do, which I think is a shame).
>
>dadaIMC has a rating system, which allows users to rate articles. If 
>desired, articles with a certain rating are automatically suggested 
>to the Editors for Feature status (center column). Features can be 
>immediately posted by Editors, or you can implement a voting system 
>whereby the Feature requires approval (and you can set the 
>thresholds). Internationalization is almost 100%...virtually every 
>text string on the site (aside from articles posted by users) can be 
>displayed in any language for which a translation dictionary has 
>been provided.
>
>dadaIMC was designed to require virtually NO messing with the script 
>files, offering a web-based interface for almost everything on the 
>site, from color schemes to included modules to content sub-pages -- 
>great for non-techies. Even most of the installation is controlled 
>through a web interface.
>
>I'm not sure what you mean about the syndication stuff...dadaIMC 
>does generate RDF files for Features and Newswire articles, so any 
>site with the capability of parsing the RDF file can display the 
>headlines on their site. If you're talking about installing the 
>software on a non-IMC site, that's a bit more complex...aspects of 
>the code are pretty IMC-centric, but in theory it could be done.
>
>Let me know if you have any further questions...oh, and as a caveat, 
>the .94 code on dadaimc.org is stable, but contains known bugs. 
>Version .95 should be out within the week and is worth waiting for 
>to avoid running into any of the bugs...
>
>Cheers,
>spud.
>
>On Thursday, November 21, 2002, at 02:30  PM, Sheri Herndon wrote:
>
>>hey
>>i'm just checking out the new tallahassee site and it's so cool.  i 
>>think i like dada.  how was the name chosen?  curious.  i'm 
>>wondering if there is any sort of documentation that does a quick 
>>compare of the various code bases - active, sf-active, mir, 
>>dada....for the lay person.  so they can see oh they have this, oh 
>>they don't, oh that would be too hard for us to do, oh we should 
>>have that....etc.  as a non-techie geek girl these things are 
>>important.  translating this kind of critical information.  from 
>>tech speek to non-tech speek....
>>in seattle we've been talking alot about moving to sf-active.  and 
>>i talk all the time with the techies up in vancouver who are 
>>working on active2....and i'd love to be able to say to the seattle 
>>editorial folks, hey this is the reason why we should go with dada 
>>over sf-active.  but i have no way to do that.
>>so i'm asking :))
>>thanks.  i really love the documentation on the dadaimc site and am 
>>really impressed.  does it work well with syndication when you want 
>>to put the code on a local organization's site that doesn't want to 
>>be an imc but would like to find a way to syndicate easily between 
>>their work and the local imc?
>>peace
>>sheri
>>
>-------------------------------------------------------------
>a.h.s. boy
>support at dadaimc.org
>dadaIMC support
>http://www.dadaimc.org/
>-------------------------------------------------------------