[IPython-dev] [IPython-User] The site needs an update... Web team, anyone?

[Brian Granger]

> We've had a bunch of new stuff lately that isn't even linked
> *anywhere* on the site, the two major ones being the awesome nbviewer
> by Matthias and notebookcloud by Carl.  These are both services that
> make ipython better for everyone, and we're not even linking them!
> But rather than just throw yet two more links on the front page, I was
> thinking it would be really nice to have a bit of a redesign there, so
> that key items are easier to find.  Some ideas:

This bring up a discussion that we started to have earlier in the
summer, but never finished:

How do we decide what subprojects to include under the ipython
universe and what are the benefits/responsibilities associated with
inclusion?

The background is that nbviewer is more or less part of the ipython
universe, but notebook cloud is not.  Here is what I propose:

To be part of the ipython universe a subproject must:

* Be hosted as a github repo under the ipython org.
* Be released under a BSD license.
* Not charge users in any way or be funded directly through a for profit entity.
* Ideally, any funding would go through the ipython
foundation/numfocus.  This would allow for profit entities to sponsor
ipython development, but it would allow the foundation to make sure it
was being done in a way that was consistent with the goals of the
project.
* Participate in our governance model (although we haven't formalized this).
* Have someone who is committed to maintaining the project.
* Be approved for inclusion by a vote of the devs who have commit rights.

In return, the subproject would get:

* Possible funding through numfocus/ipython foundation and other grants.
* Promotion on the ipython website as an official ipython subproject.
* The participation of the ipython dev team in helping with development.
* Name recognition from being part of ipython.

This would allow us to distinguish, in a fair manner, between projects
that we promote on the website as "This project uses IPython" (for
that we should post anything and everything) and these approved
subprojects that are actually parts of the ipython universe.

What do people think about something like this?

What do people think about notebook cloud in this respect?

> - the main description should perhaps be a set of links to a short,
> single page with a screenshot and a small amount of text about each
> major feature.  I'm thinking that the terminal, qt console, notebook,
> etc bullets should each be links (or perhaps a visual grid of
> thumbnails/icons?) to concise but visually clean descriptions of each.
>  Maybe short pages, maybe even clean JS popups that show a screenshot
> and a small amount of text?

Yes, don't forget the parallel computing support.

> - the news section should be a lot easier to update... Right now it
> takes a full build of the site.  Rolling twitter feeds? Should we make
> an account that several people can control?

Yes,

> - our 'projects using IPython' page
> (http://wiki.ipython.org/Projects_using_IPython) is great as a
> resource and should be kept, modulo a move to the new wiki on GH when
> that happens.  But for key related projects that directly expose to
> general users ipython functionality, such as nbviewer and nbcloud, I
> think more prominent and visible links should be available.

Yes I just want to make sure that we all agree what those projects are.

> I'm not sure how to best go about the layout, not being a web designer
> *at all* myself.  If anyone wants to pitch in on this, keep in mind
> that our website is a nice, small and separate repo on github
> (https://github.com/ipython/ipython-website) so we can put interested
> contributors on the website team and you don't need to worry about
> having to touch the core code repos.
>
> Any takers?
>
> Cheers,
>
> f
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-- 
Brian E. Granger
Cal Poly State University, San Luis Obispo
bgranger at calpoly.edu and ellisonbg at gmail.com