Goals of this group

[da...@bikecafe.net]

As we have a good group assembled to take on the task of figuring out
online registration etc, before we go down any path, we need to
identify a few things.

Project manager - who is going to lead the collaboration
Define the goals - as there has been work done with the results
already and group registration with teams submitting their teams with
a spreadsheet, we need to thoroughly look at what has been done and
evaluate the gaps

I know for the WSBA website there are other features needed.
- forum for open discussion
- improve the website design
- localized hosting. Right now the WSBA server is in Martin
Criminale's basement. This is not a good option. I have been looking
for a host that would donate their service to the WSBA. The results
are being hosted by Scott Wilson down in Oregon on his machine. We
need to get these consolidated for better management
- membership not only for riders but for other types of members such
as community partners. As the WSBA is a non-profit, getting
memberships outside of riders could generate money which is needed to
run the organization.

Long-term we need to evaluate what features users may want too
- RSS feeds
- mobile access

Thoughts?

[Scott]

Hey David,

Thanks for speaking up.

The current code includes a web archive that integrates with the
Mailman mailing list. OBRA uses it <http://app.obra.org/posts/obra/
2008/7>. It's the second Rails project I ever did, so it's pretty
weak, honestly. I would suggest either dropping in a Rail-based forum
like http://beast.caboo.se or http://agilewebdevelopment.com/plugins/savage_beast_2_0.
Or just forget integration and use something like phpBB.

All of the OBRA, ATRA, and ABA results and membership data are hosted
on an OBRA server in EasyStreet's data center. That's about as pro as
it gets. EasyStreet donates all the hosting and support <http://
easystreet.com/for_it_pros/colocation/>. Any interest in asking them
to host the WSBA server as well?

Everyone wants RSS feeds! (Me, too.) More than one developer has said
they would like to help with RSS, but no code yet.

Scott

[theRocket]

Here's my bits:

On Jul 30, 8:37 am, da...@bikecafe.net wrote:

> Project manager - who is going to lead the collaboration

As far as the software project, I don't know any other Rails coders
signing up for this but me and Scott. Since I will be leaning on two
years of his work, I consider him my lead.

As far as feature decisions and requests, I defer to the club
leadership, members, and WA promoters (I count myself among the last
two).

> I know for the WSBA website there are other features needed.
> - forum for open discussion

I am inclined towards Beast or a similarly popular Rails-based
solution (for integration reasons). Caveat: this may take away from
the Registration objectives, and if you want those running before next
season, you will have to weight the priority. Also, I'm not as
motivated on this one because it's not a bike racing specific feature
- it's just a standard forum.

> - improve the website design

I defer to Hone - obviously his forte. We should be able to
collaborate and he can work fairly independently. I'm judging that
from the different styles among the various cycling groups' websites,
Scott separated his content from his layout.

> - localized hosting. Right now the WSBA server is in Martin
> Criminale's basement. This is not a good option. I have been looking
> for a host that would donate their service to the WSBA. The results
> are being hosted by Scott Wilson down in Oregon on his machine. We
> need to get these consolidated for better management

I would be willing to approach some enterprise-class vendors with a
proposal, but it sounds like Scott already has a connection in
Portland? My approach does not involve relocating the machine, only
the code and the data. That could come with some hiccups/delays. But
it is nice to not be responsible for the hardware.

> - membership not only for riders but for other types of members such
> as community partners.

Is there something specific you need on the website to make this
happen? Are we talking displaying logos? Making donations via the cc
processing?

> Long-term we need to evaluate what features users may want too
> - RSS feeds

Should be easy, thanks to Rails RESTful design (which I believe/hope
Scott has honored). What do you want RSS feeded?

> - mobile access
Which mobile device? Development is fairly custom to each unit at
this point, as far as I know. I have been working on my iPhone
development skills, but that's as far as I'll go into being platform
specific. The standardization just isn't there like you are beginning
to experience with your PC browsers.

Thanks,
RyanR>
(360) 927-2340