CMS

[Tom Novelli]

Hello everyone... Let me just start off by saying I've taken a renewed
interest in TUNES and software in general... and I finally met up with
Fare a few weeks ago in Boston and had a good talk about all this,
which really helped to clear up a few things.

I'm putting together a prototype CMS (Content Management System) to
replace the static web site, the wiki, and the mailing lists.  It'll
use wiki-style markup, but I'm designing it with the goal of running a
web site that's consistent, thoughtful and polished, like the old
pre-wiki site.  That means editors and moderators, and the tools to
support them.

Now, I should clarify what *I* think TUNES is about: The overarching
goal of TUNES is to make it *practical* and *convenient* for us
programmers to automate all the mind-numbing repetitive chores we so
loathe... or in our jargon, "to facilitate metaprogramming".
Realistically, that means creating a near-universal language and
making it extremely popular... which requires reaching out to all
sorts of people who use computers, and guiding them in the right
direction.  So, I see another role for us, as a trusted source for
*practical* advice (with an eye toward the ideal.)

Here's a mock-up to demonstrate what I have in mind for the CMS, in
terms of the structure and layout.  Implementation, style, and exact
wording can come later.

  http://tom.bespin.org/.tmp/tunes/index.html
  http://tom.bespin.org/.tmp/tunes/mockup.html
  http://tom.bespin.org/.tmp/tunes/edit.html

The implementation will be SQL, HTML/CSS/Javascript, and anything but
PHP.  It's got to be clean, maintainable, fairly stable, and not too
obscure.  I'm curious about Ruby... does anyone have enough experience
to weigh in?  If in doubt I'll use Python or LISP.

As for the actual content, I suggest we archive all the old stuff and
start fresh.  Let's lay down the ground rules... #1: Focus on general
techniques, and refer to places like Lambda-the-Ultimate and Wikipedia
for details on specific languages and implementations and such.  #2:
Focus on original content and *internal* organization.  Don't
plagiarize; summarize.  #3: ...

Comments welcome...

 - Tom


If you need to refresh your memory:
  http://lists.tunes.org/archives/tunes/2006-August/thread.html#3990
  http://lists.tunes.org/archives/tunes/2005-October/thread.html#3948
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Articles_for_deletion/TUNES_%28second_nomination%29