TL;DR: - The DOAP editor (https://projects.apache.org/create.html) can now load your existing DOAP file, or fill in best guesses for a new one, and shows the finished file live as you edit. - Every project page now links to the editor. - There's a mock-up "help me choose a project" page for newcomers: https://projects.apache.org/chooser.html - If your project has no DOAP file (https://projects.apache.org/validation-report.html), please give the editor a whirl. It should take about five minutes.
Hi all, I've been working on projects.apache.org with two goals: make it easier for projects to create and maintain their project data, and use that data to help newcomers find a project to get involved with. 1. The DOAP editor (create.html) - Already have a DOAP file? Pick your project and the form fills in from it: all releases, repositories and standards. Edit it and copy the result. - No DOAP file yet? Pick your committee (or Incubator plus your podling) and click "Fill in best guesses". It fills in what the foundation already knows: committee records, gitbox repositories, releases on dist.apache.org, and GitHub language stats. Check it, fix it, done. - The file is rebuilt as you type, and changed lines are highlighted. "+ Add another" works for repeatable fields. Categories and languages are checkboxes now. - The instructions below the form now start with publishing. If your project already has a file, it shows where that file lives. If not, it's two steps: put the file on your website, then add one line to data/projects.xml. Not comfortable with svn? Email this list and we'll add it for you. Project pages now say "Suggest an update to this project's data" or "Help this project create its DOAP file". Anyone can draft a change, but only committers can commit it, so the page sends non-committers to the project's dev@ list. That makes fixing a stale release list or a broken link an easy first contribution, and a good reason to say hello on a project's list. 2. "Help me choose a project" (chooser.html) This is a mock-up and isn't linked from the front page yet. It asks what kinds of problems you like working on, then how you'd like to contribute: code, docs, testing, helping users, design, translation, outreach, or "not sure yet". It only asks about programming languages if you want to write code. It then suggests projects, with getting-started advice that matches how you said you'd like to help. It's built entirely from the project data we already have, and a script (scripts/cronjobs/buildchooser.py) rebuilds it, so it gets better as projects improve their DOAP files. That's the connection between the two pieces: better project data makes it easier for newcomers to find your project. (buildchooser.py is *not* currently in cron so those updates are not happening yet.) Something I chose not to do (yet) We could let projects say what help they want, for example with a DOAP extension like <asfext:help-wanted>documentation</asfext:help-wanted>. The chooser could then match people to projects that actually asked for that kind of help. I decided against it for now. It makes the files more complicated and is likely to go stale. Some of this metadata may also move to .asf.yaml eventually, and I don't want to ask projects to maintain something they'd later have to move. Opinions on where this kind of data should live are welcome. How you can help - Try the editor on your project and tell us what's confusing or broken. - Try the chooser and tell us whether the suggestions make sense. - The chooser's guesses about what problems each project addresses need tuning. The rules are a simple table at the top of buildchooser.py. - Making it easier to add a file to projects.xml is the biggest remaining obstacle. Volunteers very welcome. Thanks, Rich --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [email protected] For additional commands, e-mail: [email protected]
