Thoughts on Site Design
Okay, so the Cleveland Web Standards Association is starting to design its site. We’re having a meeting on Saturday to discuss it. Meanwhile, a bit of a schism seems to be developing. There are those who want to slap up something quick and dirty, then worry about designing our own software to suit our needs. The idea is that we’ll migrate data over later.
The other camp says, “Wait! No! Slow down and let’s do this thing right from the beginning.” Which approach is correct?
One part of me agrees that we need something up now. Right now our communication is almost exclusively through Meetup.com. As far as everyone can tell, there is no API and no way to get these communications back out. This may not be the end of the world, but I think everyone is interested in keeping as much history as possible. So at the very least, we need either a message board or a forum or a mailing list.
However, I also agree that we may not need to be rushing as much as we are. Perhaps it would be much better to start at the bottom right now and continue using the Meetup site.
Personally, I think everyone needs to take a step back. We don’t have any clear list of requirements for the site. Everyone is in agreement that we need communication of some type, but exactly what? Would we prefer a forum? A message board? An e-mail mailing list? Exactly what features do we need? Moderation? Searchable archives? Downloadable archives? Skinnable interface? Plug-in API?
That said, slapping up at least a forum of our own right now would be a good idea. We really shouldn’t have to lose any of this startup communication. I don’t think anyone wants to.
Hopefully, we can hash all of this out on Saturday. I know that there is a lot of excitement about the actual implementation and what software/languages/technology we should use, but before that happens I believe we should focus on the concepts first.