If that is the direction the group wants to go, I am supportive. I have just lived WordPress plugin hell for longer than I care to admit. I agree that the hosted options have matured and are a solid option.
If WordPress is the direction you take, I would strongly recommend trying to avoid extensive customization of themes and plugins as that is where you paint yourself into a corner, in terms of maintainence, with a rotating group of collaborators. Cheers, Will On Sat., May 22, 2021, 8:37 a.m. Sunando Bhattacharya, <suna...@indiqus.com> wrote: > Hi Will, > > I think the world of WordPress hosting has really evolved over the last > few years and you can get a fully managed & hosted WordPress site for 20-40 > dollars a month! > > From a design perspective, you have tonnes of readymade themes and page > builders that simplify the design effort to a large extent. Moreover, you > also get ready-made plugins for practically any and every third party > tool/app. > > Hence I would strongly suggest that we move the CCC event site as well as > the main cloudstack website to WordPress. > > Best, > > Sunando > www.indiqus.com > +91 97111 52299 > > *Book my time for a call here <https://calendly.com/sunando> * > > > On Sat, May 22, 2021 at 5:27 PM Will Stevens <williamstev...@gmail.com> > wrote: > >> As you wish. I personally hate WordPress, as it becomes a bear to >> maintain over time. You also have to find somewhere to host it and someone >> to maintain it. I find that static sites built with something like Hugo are >> actually easier to maintain, but you are right that some understanding of >> html is usually required. Static sites also cater to distributed >> contribution more easily. If you use a service like Netlify, for example, >> all contribution can be handled through GitHub PRs and the changes can be >> live previewed within the pull request. Once merged, the site is >> automatically updated. >> >> I am willing to support whatever direction is taken, but my personal >> involvement supporting a WordPress implementation will be much more limited >> as I don't have the time to dedicate to that sort of a rebuild. >> >> I have a ton of experience with WordPress, Drupal and the like, so I feel >> obligated to provide my honest opinion. You are right that minor content >> changes are easier for non-techies, but as soon as you want to make any >> structural changes or improvements, it becomes highly technical and >> extremely difficult. The only way to make a WordPress implementation >> successful, in my experience, is to have consistent technical maintenance >> by someone with moderate to high technical ability. You also have to >> actively maintain contributors within the system. >> >> Given that CloudStack is an open source Apache project, the majority of >> the community members are technical users of the platform, so there is a >> skewed technical bias within the community participation. I think >> ShapeBlue is the obvious exception, because they run a business around >> CoudStack, rather than CloudStack just being a piece of a bigger business. >> ShapeBlue may have staff with skills capable of maintaining something like >> this, and the contextual interest in investing their paid resources time, >> but I don't think the majority of the community has the luxury of >> dedicating this type of profile to focus on CloudStack. Giles, I hope you >> don't mind me mentioning ShapeBlue in this way. You and your team have >> remained a constant in the community and your CloudStack focused team has a >> much more diverse set of skills than most strong contributors in the >> community. For example, if I compare to Simon's team at ENA, they have been >> strong contributors for a long time but their team is much more technical >> and operations focused, which I think is more common in the CloudStack >> community based on my experience. >> >> The reason I raise this is because contribution will naturally wax and >> wane within the community based on the different organization's ability to >> fund contribution. Given the fact that WordPress requires dedicated >> maintenance over time, my concern is that the community will have a much >> harder time maintaining it with a rotating group of contributors. >> >> As an individual contributor, my contribution has waxed and waned over >> the years and I am not in a good position to represent the needs and >> capabilities of the current community. I don't know if what I laid out >> here resonates with the group, so please take it with a grain of salt if >> you see things differently. >> >> Cheers, >> >> Will >> >> On Sat., May 22, 2021, 5:18 a.m. Sunando Bhattacharya, < >> suna...@indiqus.com> wrote: >> >>> Hi Will, >>> >>> I think it's best to set up the site afresh using WordPress as it would >>> be far easier to administer for a non-tech person. Moreover, WordPress also >>> has readymade plugins for the virtual event and Webinar platforms, which >>> will make the event setup much easier. >>> >>> Want do you think Ivet? >>> >>> Best, >>> >>> Sunando >>> www.indiqus.com >>> +91 97111 52299 >>> >>> *Book my time for a call here >>> <https://t.sidekickopen45.com/s3t/c/5/f18dQhb0S7kv8bWL06W1M6vxk59hl3kW7_k2842Qy2TxW7XLCJP7blRHjN83GqGkDyk8yf8bQQB202?te=W3R5hFj4cm2zwW3F4Fph41QWmBW1JxwY51LDLyRf3zdYTm04&si=5666632314912768&pi=b39b9ed8-71b1-4341-dec1-f2b7cc7261c2> >>> * >>> >>> >>> On Sat, May 22, 2021 at 12:03 AM Will Stevens <williamstev...@gmail.com> >>> wrote: >>> >>>> Hey Ivet, >>>> It is built using Hugo (https://gohugo.io/), which produces a static >>>> website. >>>> >>>> The different site repositories are here: >>>> https://github.com/cloudops/?q=cloudstackcollab >>>> >>>> The `cloudstackcollab.org` repo is a simple landing page site which >>>> basically references all of the upcoming CCC events (the subdomain sites). >>>> Then each event gets their own site. The `us.cloudstackcollab.org` >>>> repo has seen the most activity over the years and is likely a good >>>> starting point. >>>> >>>> Currently, I am personally hosting the sites, but we could change >>>> that. I could potentially host it via a `gh-pages` branch in the same repo >>>> if that is preferred. We could also move these sites to the apache org if >>>> that is desired, but I suspect there will be some red tape in making that >>>> happen. I am happy to deploy the updates to the current hosting if that is >>>> desirable for the short term anyway. >>>> >>>> The easiest way to get started would be to clone one or two of the >>>> repos and get them working locally on your system by setting up Hugo. From >>>> there, we can potentially handle the content / site changes through PRs >>>> which I can then merge and deploy. That is probably the shortest path, but >>>> I happy to accomodate if we would like to approach this differently. >>>> >>>> Let me know if/when you have questions. >>>> >>>> Cheers, >>>> >>>> Will >>>> >>>> On Fri, May 21, 2021 at 10:13 AM Ivet Petrova < >>>> ivet.petr...@shapeblue.com> wrote: >>>> >>>>> Hi Will, >>>>> >>>>> I am volunteering to make updates there if you agree. >>>>> Looks like not WorPress. Is it plain HTML? >>>>> Kind regards, >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> On 21 May 2021, at 17:07, Will Stevens <williamstev...@gmail.com> >>>>> wrote: >>>>> >>>>> Yes, I have not been as active in the community as I once was. I am >>>>> happy to support the CloudStack Collab website as I have in the past, but >>>>> I >>>>> am also willing to get someone else setup to take over if someone is >>>>> interested. >>>>> >>>>> I will try to stay on top of the CCC communications so I am not a >>>>> bottleneck for progress. :) >>>>> >>>>> Cheers, >>>>> >>>>> Will >>>>> >>>>> On Fri, May 21, 2021 at 7:43 AM Giles Sirett < >>>>> giles.sir...@shapeblue.com> wrote: >>>>> >>>>>> Ivet – I think that is a GREAT idea. I’d love to see it happen >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> Obviously, you have experience in organising virtual events, so I >>>>>> wont try to offer any advice on that, but here’s a couple of things you >>>>>> would need to think about >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> 1. Permission to use the trademark. >>>>>> Officially there’s nothing to stop you (or anybody) organising an >>>>>> event at any time. The only official thing you need to do is ask the >>>>>> PMC >>>>>> for permission to use the ACS trademark. I’ll happily ask on your >>>>>> behalf >>>>>> if you like – let me know >>>>>> 2. CFP >>>>>> The way we have done this previously is ask for a small panel of >>>>>> volunteers to act as a “talk selection committee” >>>>>> Obviously , we then need some way of people actually submitting >>>>>> proposals. Previously, we’ve used the Apachecon CFP tool – obviously >>>>>> that >>>>>> wont be available for an event such as this >>>>>> >>>>>> 3. We have a website for Cloudstack Collab conferences : >>>>>> http://cloudstackcollab.org/ >>>>>> That’s managed by Will Stevens/ the cloud-ops guys (although >>>>>> they’re not so active in the community these days, so maybe somebody >>>>>> else >>>>>> could take it over ? ) >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> Happy to help / support this where I can >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> Kind regards >>>>>> >>>>>> Giles >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> *From:* Ivet Petrova <ivet.petr...@shapeblue.com> >>>>>> *Sent:* 21 May 2021 11:22 >>>>>> *To:* marketing@cloudstack.apache.org >>>>>> *Subject:* CloudStack Collaboration Conference >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> Hi all, >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> We have just a few days to the first CloudStack Virtual event! If >>>>>> still have registered, now is the time to do is: >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> https://zoom.us/webinar/register/3216172602723/WN_-zsXhTq_Ttu1Ktz82my06Q >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> (this is technically a meeting of the European User Group, but as its >>>>>> virtual anybody can join!) >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> I am writing to share also something more: >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> I’ve been thinking about trying to organise a virtual CloudStack >>>>>> Collaboration Conference in the Autumn. There is a Virtual Apachecon in >>>>>> the >>>>>> autumn but I think we have missed our chance with that because the CFP is >>>>>> long closed. >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> Organising this upcoming event has shown me that it is possible to >>>>>> get something virtual off the ground, and we’ve had a lot of interest >>>>>> from >>>>>> people wanting to speak. >>>>>> >>>>>> So, my proposal is that we run a Virtual Cloudstack Collab in the >>>>>> Autumn. I am happy to coordinate this in the community. >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> Тhe target of such event would be to share ideas, collaborate, bring >>>>>> more awareness for the technology and to attract new audience - new >>>>>> possible contributors and new potential users. >>>>>> >>>>>> In terms of format, I was thinking was 2-days event/ 4 hours per day >>>>>> with sessions into streams - one focused on tech and one focused on user >>>>>> stories and the business side. >>>>>> >>>>>> We’d need to run a CFP process – I may need some help with that. >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> What do people think? >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> Kind regards, >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>> >>>>>
