[LGM] the web infrastructure (Was: lgm/2024)

[Jehan]

Hi all!

On 11/23/23 13:54, ale rimoldi wrote:
> hi cédric
>
> yes, i guess that we might need to talk about our web infrastructure.
>
> the current status:
>
> for several years now, we have been hosted by tuxfamily.
> it's a simple hosting service that offers static websites and php (with
> a good ssh access to the site)
>
> on the one side, this has provided us with a solution that needs very
> little maintenance from our part and is compatible with our loose
> organization.
>
> on the other side, we have little choice on what we can run on the
> server.
>
> for many years we have had a wordpress instance per year that was then
> converted to static files. it was ok and allowed some degree of
> collaboration but (without commercial plugins) i don't have the feeling
> that nowadays wordpress provides a satisfying solution.
>
> the last few years we simply had static websites.
> that works well.
> but then we miss a tool for managing the submissions and registrations.
>
> i've tried to look for tools for managing conferences that are
> compatible with our server.
>
> i've found one that could work:
>
> https://github.com/opencfp/opencfp
>
> there are also a few plugin for wordpress, but they mostly are slimmed
> down version of pro (commercial; not really free software) plugins.
>
> generally speaking, my impression is that (even outside of the php
> based solution) there are not so many tools that focus on managing the
> content. they are mostly tools for selling tickets. and most of the
> tools that somehow fit our needs, are tailored for way bigger meetings.
>
> cédric is suggesting that the tool for managing the conference could
> run on their server.
>
> this is a very interesting option, because if other server side
> languages can be used, there is wider set of tools to choose from. (as
> an examplehttps://getindico.io/)
>
> if we can find something fitting that would be perfect (but won't give
> a solution for future organizers, who don't have access to their own
> server).

Honestly I think that for the website of a conference, a static website 
is just fine. Much less security worries, no performance worries either.

Static website generators are what we have been using for GIMP website, 
mostly thanks to Patrick David work. These days, the work is to move our 
websites to Hugo (still static). If not mistaken, Patrick also made the 
website for darktable, RawTherapee, Siril… As a user or tweaker, this is 
extra easy to use. A new article? Just some basic markdown content, 
commit, push, done. It's online.

You can of course easily tweak this to your needs, with a scheduling 
template for the conference, etc.

I find this so easy and comfortable to maintain and manage that I would 
absolutely advise this over any wordpress (I love Wordpress by the way 
and used it a lot, but these days, clearly simple static websites won 
over me) or any other dynamic tool. I don't know opencfp or other 
mentioned tools, but I don't see any kind of tool which could win over a 
very simple text-based repository, easy to navigate and generating 
static HTML contents in the end. It's not like LGM website really 
requires login for visitors or anything of the like.

Obviously as I'm saying all this, it also means I'd be happy to help and 
do my part. It would not be very nice to just give an "advice" and tell 
you to do it all. I have a lot on my plate already with GIMP 3 release, 
but I would definitely try and make a bit of time to participate to any 
such effort. :-)

Jehan

> there is one thing from my side: i'd prefer if we could have the
> schedule of talks and presenters on the lgm site and not on the
> external site. (we can always export it at the end, but it would be
> really nice if the links were correct from the start)
>
> and in the future, we might think if we should have our own instance on
> a server. but, then, somebody has to regularly pay the fee and there
> must be administrators who keep it secure.
>
> have a wonderful day
> a.l.e

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