Re: Module lists: defining the problem, restating the goals [was Re: OK, so we've decided...]

[Michel Rodriguez]

Hi,

I think an interesting angle, first to get an idea of what the problem is,
and later (hopefully!) to see if we have improved the situation, is to put
ourselves in the position of a Perl programer that doesn't know the
community, maybe doesn't even know that CPAN exists.

Her first reflex would probably to google for perl + keyword. So let's see
what she'd get for some sample keywords:

perl xml
        perl-xml mailing list archive
        perl-xml FAQ

perl date
  perl-date-time
  cvs.sourceforge.net/cgi-bin/ viewcvs.cgi/perl-date-time/

perl time
  nothing really interesting

perl database
  recent useless article
  dbi.perl.org

perl oracle
  nothing really interesting
perl mysql
  nothing really interesting

perl cgi
  Matt's Script Archive ???

perl mail
  an old article http://alma.ch/perl/mail.html

perl csv
  2cd hit: a 2001 page about a non-CPAN CVS module
http://rath.ca/Misc/Perl_CSV/index.shtml

Not great hey? (At least the Perl-XML folks got it right, props to Grant
McLean!).

After looking at the results, it seems to me that one of the problems here
is that you can't really link to CPAN: there is no single URL for the
latest docs of a module, so they are never properly indexed by search
engines.A simple step would be to have a single, static, doc page for each
module, generated for each new release, but with a stable and easy to
remember URL. Then we can start refering and linking to it, and Google can
perform its role and we shall be happy for ever after (or at least we can
find something else to do with our time ;--).

Generating the doc (from the POD) for each module (with a link to the
tarfile or to the CPAN search page for the lates release of the module),
and putting it on CPAN in something like cpan.org/docs/<module name>.

If size is a problem for mirrors, then a shorter version, with just links
to the docs, would work, maybe the search.cpan.org results for example:
http://search.cpan.org/~timb/DBI-1.40/ could be statically generated to
just http://cpan.org/docs/DBI/index.html

Does this make sense?

--
Michel Rodriguez
Perl &amp; XML
http://www.xmltwig.com