That's a lot of words. How about: "Apache Shindig is a reference implementation of the [link] OpenSocial specification".
I imagine that there are two groups who will ever read that overview: 1. People who have no idea what Shindig is. This one liner explains that it is a reference implementation of the linked specification. 2. People who already know what Shindig is and want to know details. For those people, you can't explain everything in an overview and you need a complete explanation anyway. Explaining that shindig "renders gadget XML" is meaningless to the first group, and woefully inadequate for the second. On Thu, Aug 13, 2009 at 3:10 PM, K Wong <[email protected]> wrote: > I'm no expert on Shindig, but I'd approach this by stating what it is > very directly (What is it? Why is it useful and worthwhile?). Other > projects like Apache state the project goals first then what the > project is producing. From a user perspective (ie. a social network > web site operator), I think that I'd want to know what it is before I > learn who is making it and what they want to achieve. Example follows. > > --- > > Apache Shindig is server-side software that allows social networks to > add functionality using OpenSocial gadgets. Shindig renders gadget XML > files into html and javascript and provides an implementation of the > OpenSocial API. Shindig provides reference implementations of > OpenSocial containers in both PHP and Java. > > The Apache Shindig project eases the adoption of the OpenSocial API as > a way to improve the portability of social applications among social > networks. > > > > > On Thu, Aug 13, 2009 at 2:09 PM, Kevin Brown<[email protected]> wrote: > > Wow, that is pretty bad. I am by no means a literary master, but I might > > take a crack at it if I get some free time. Something simple would be > good. > > > > On Thu, Aug 13, 2009 at 1:56 PM, Chris Chabot <[email protected]> > wrote: > > > >> Someone pointed out this typo to me: > >> > >> From: http://incubator.apache.org/shindig/overview.html > >> <http://incubator.apache.org/shindig/overview.html>*Apache Shindig, a > word > >> meaning party, was originally started by Google in 2007 as a reference > >> container for hosting OpenSocial compatible widgets in any website. > >> Originally a port of Google's iGoogle gadget container, with Brain > >> McCallister's PHP code, Apache Shindig through off it's egg shell, and > >> showed that Google was serious about making OpenSocial accessible to a > >> larger number of sites. Since December 2007, Apache Shindig is now an > >> Apache > >> project. > >> * > >> The "through of it's egg shell" should probably be "threw of its egg > shell" > >> > >> While this comment is completely correct, looking at our overview page I > >> really think we can do a better job altogether. The references to Google > >> are > >> not very Apache, and brian's PHP code hasn't been a part of the project > for > >> a a very very long time either. All in all this intro doesn't tell the > >> reader very much about what Apache Shindig (-incubating) is about. > >> > >> Is anyone feeling creative and willing to try to write a better intro > for > >> us? > >> > >> -- Chris > >> > > >
