Website Design for FOSS Website

[Danie van der Merwe]

The input may be in the area of look and feel, menu items, logo, colors, general content etc. So far we have added functionality for members registry and discussion forums. You are welcome to use the site for your contributions. It is currently hosted at http://foss.oss.gov.za/

[Danie van der Merwe]

It will also need:
* About Us – possibly giving some history too
* PAIA to be legally compliant
* Latest News
* Projects Catalogue
* logs
* Documents\Library
* Profiles expanded to show what organisation represented?
* Links to other related /useful resources

[Danie van der Merwe]

1. Probably also need different categories in the Forum (or maybe just can’t see to create them) for internal matters as well as more broader public inputs.
2. Not sure if we can edit posts we made – maybe just a setting?

[Danie van der Merwe]

Also needs Surveys/Polls like the old site had. Maybe also voting.

[Danie van der Merwe]

Site Profiles to be expanded to include drop list categories such as:
* Gov Dept (official e-mail)
* Local Gov (official e-mail)
* State Entity (official e-mail)
* Private Advocate (private e-mail)
* FOSS Vendor (company mail)
* Other (private e-mail)

So that we all know who we are speaking to, are able to communicate to all registered FOSS vendors or Gov employees etc for surveys. It will also help define roles for access to specific forum areas. We must remember we could also have citizens and others registering to comment or get information.

In principle access to information should be open to all without copyright, but certain parts of the discussion forums may be closed eg. for sensitive discussions around gov officials responding to lobbying or where discussion could eliminate some of our FOSS vendors from participating in a bid, etc.

[Danie van der Merwe]

We also must decide on the visibility of profile details eg. many officials will not want their e-mail address etc public so these could be hidden, but they can be messaged via this site.

I do feel though if we represent a specific interest eg. SITA, DPSA, National Treasury, LibreOffice, etc that this should be visible.

Will basic names and interest be visible publicly, or only to registered members on teh site.

• This reply was modified 5 years ago by casca.

[Mbombo Maleka]

Completely agreed

[casca]

Thank you very much for the contributions and suggestions. These will be added soon. Some may not be added until we have some content in those categories

• This reply was modified 5 years ago by casca.

[Simtandile Dlepuma]

Thank you for the input received regarding our site. We will continue to improve the site as we move along. We still need more upto date relevant content for the site, however the site is usable. I therefore suggest that everyone should register on the site site and all discussion should be move to the site. If needed I can also develop an android app for the site do that we can follow our discussion from there. So anyone who want to make an input should register on the site and start making contributions. We have made registration easy at this stage and we might tighten it as the need arises. Regards

[Danie van der Merwe]

Latest News or Blog can be configured to push to the Twitter account which will alert followers to website updates even if they are not registered on the website.

[Mbombo Maleka]

Is there anyway to access the forums from a mobile device? iOS?

[Danie van der Merwe]

The site may already render OK for mobile, but we’ll have to see if there is plugin capability specifically for mobile to enhance the forums experience. It was a concern before we brought the discussion forums into the site as the other alternative was a dedicated forum such as MatterMost which is designed for mobile and desktop use.

But we’ll see what can be added still for WordPress to try achieve a similar experience. It will depend on what plugin is being used. But we do need mobikle support yes.

[Mbombo Maleka]

no problem thanks-i think we can make do with what we have without devoting too much effort into fancier stuff

[Danie van der Merwe]

Another suggestion form some is a calendar for events to show what is coming up and for people to RSVP. Just parking it here for Simtandile to work through later.

[Gustav Meyer]

Suggestion:

Hide the Login and Register options in the Account menu.

[Simtandile Dlepuma]

Hi Gustav

If we hide Login and Register, how will participants get registered on the site, or are you suggesting that there should be no login at all.

Regards

[Gustav Meyer]

Another suggestion:

Set the site to use SEO Friendly URLs

Examples:

Non-SEO friendly URL: https://www.wpbeginner.com/?p=10467

SEO friendly URL: https://www.wpbeginner.com/how-to-install-wordpress/

[Danie van der Merwe]

Need to also look at the sending of e-mail for notifications. I subscribed for notifications on posts but no mail received.

[EDIT: Great I see we can edit a post now a few hours later]

• This reply was modified 5 years ago by Danie van der Merwe. Reason: Just testing editing a post

[Bulelani Didiza]

In our department, we specialise in liferay and Alfresco: See the portal we did for GITOC before SITA refused to provide the address http://www.gitoc.gov.za to use. Then DPSA sold our department by redoing the site in Microsoft sharepoint. I have never felt annoyed by the vibes at DPSA that said there were no OSS skills in government.

[Danie van der Merwe]

Hi Bulelani, please list your FOSS in use under the other discussion thread for the list. This one is to give feedback on suggestions for the functionality of this website, bugs, etc.

[Danie van der Merwe]

We will need wiki functionality to be able to simultaneously all work of drafting policy or minutes etc. If not in the site we link to Etherpad or host Etherpad on the server VM.

We also need an area to publish minutes and agendas for meetings.

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