SitePoint PHP in 2015: Future Plans

Thank you @s_molinari!

Ok, so we have our first suggestion, by Alexander Koko.

He suggests implementing a way for authors to keep their posts up to date.
I thought about this before, but haven’t yet managed to find an efficient way to make it happen.

Paying for minimal upgrades to posts would render us broke in very little time. Authors usually won’t do it for free because in the months/years that have gone by, they’ve usually moved on and don’t even remember what it is they were doing back when they wrote the post. Now, paying for full revisits is definitely an option - but a full revisit would be a completely new post, which is something that needs to be:

  1. sufficiently different from the old version to warrant a rewrite
  2. standalone - we can’t really republish new versions of entire series.

It would be easier if WP had a decent markdown plugin, which would let me put the content of the posts into Github for everyone to take a look at and tweak at will - this would be the most productive approach because the people reading the topic at hand will most likely be the ones most into it at that moment, and will be able to tweak the content to make it work for them, easily sharing their knowledge with others. However, with a disparity between content formats (original articles are MD, then converted to HTML for WP, and images are inserted additionally through the Edit Posts interface, a whole lot of processing obviously going on), that’s not really possible.

One ray of hope in the above matter is the WP REST API which, if done right, could be used to automate post updates from Github hosted article content, but that’s a long, long way off.

Suggestions on how to tackle outdated posts are welcome.

What is the purpose of updating old content?
For updating errors, the editor should do that on his own based on feedback.

For an addendum, this requires no editing of the original article, but perhaps just a styled box at the top with a few sentences explaining the issue (i.e. this technique is outdated, click here instead for a better method…)
The necessity for an addendum like this would likely also come through comments sent to the editor. If the editor is unskilled to deal with the issue, he could contact the original author, or query the current authorship to write the addendum. I personally don’t think this should cost anything, if a skilled author understands the issue, they could write a paragraph in no time. Perhaps this gives them some extra kudos in the publishing department? More points with the editors?

If an article needs a complete rewrite, like if some tool is drastically updated and Sitepoint wants a fresh look, this sounds like a full cost situation. The original article is little more than a template, as all facts, workflows, and details would have to be tested over again, new features explained, new screeshots taken, etc etc. The offer could go to the original author, then passed on to other authors if not accepted.

Using GIT on Markdown documents to accept pull requests for edits is a decent idea, but requires a lot of work vetting authors, controlling access, dealing with pull requests, setting up the final draft etc. I believe this should be in a private network instead, using a tool that allows for control of users, which documents they can edit, workflows with permission system and version control. Something more like document-based intranet service.

Trello is not without its problems, I don’t believe it’s the best for managing things. It’s hard to deal with revisions, consistent format of documents, attachments, live previews, approval process, etc. It doesn’t allow an easy way to have the peer review system you’d like, or dealing with future revisions and requests.

I would definitely look into an intranet system that allows for revisions, document management, approval/review process with comments, requests/task system, open discussion, user control and permissions system, and maybe even gamification to help analyze star players and engagement.
It would have an attachment system built-in with revisions even on files. A better idea board with discussions and system for accepting an article and moving into an author’s own draft pile. Being able to tag and define and make certain editors the admins over certain topics.

All of this stuff is what an intranet is for. I don’t think Trello is advanced enough, and most other tools cost for every seat. Think in the universe of Huddle, Yammer, Clinked, Basecamp, Podio, Mangoapps, and a dozen more.
However, Trello has its advantages too, that you can have different groups (PHP, Web, etc) but also have different sections within each group. Most intranets have groups and projects, but not an additional layers of sections within those groups for “In Progress” and “Ready for Editor” etc. These workflows and approval process would work different.

I’m sure Sitepoint will figure it out though!

1 Like

Fantastic feedback, thank you! I’ll ponder on this - already got the ball rolling on a couple of ideas mentioned here, but still experimenting and gathering feedback so this is super valuable, cheers!

Thanks. I’ll help any way I can, I’ve tested a lot of intranets and settled on Mango for our company.

Mango allows you to have unlimited guest users with unlimited groups and projects. Problem is, once inside a group, there is no further refinement of sections. So if there was a group for “PHP”, there is no further grouping for Drafts, Final Edits, and Ready to Publish, etc.
On the flip side, the file system lets you “upload new version” of files, keeping track of all revisions. And group chat, discussion, posts, wikis, even calendar, are a click away.

I don’t think Wordpress is up to the task of managing all this either. It puts a lot of extra workload on the server to run the front-end and backend intranet at the same time.

Not sure if you guys have given it a go but Jetpack by Automattic allows Markdown.

There’s other problems with Jetpack, we’ve looked at it.

By your description, Mango seems fantastic. Testing it now.

Edit: It’s awesome so far. Editing the calendar is a bit clumsy, and the task vs files interface tends to be confusing at first (until you realize they complement each other and sync updated), but all in all, very happy so far. One thing that confuses me, though, is “Admin Rights” in the second pricing tier - the free tier doesn’t have it.

If you remain in the free tier, all your users are free, but you won’t have admin features. As soon as you buy just ONE admin user, then every user with emails in the same domain will need to be paid too.

If you buy paid accounts for like sitepoint.com emails, then anybody NOT on a sitepoint email can still be a free user and only have access to groups/projects they are invited to.

I’m quite familiar with Mango but one of the issues it won’t handle as well as Trello is with sub-groups. For example you have a group for the PHP Channel for example, but then you also need a sub-group for suggestions, available topics, in progress, ready for edit etc.
I was thinking about this the other day, browsing my own Mango account trying to figure out how to organize the workflow of article editing. Use files only? Use one Post per article with tags? Use Wiki?

I don’t think Mango (or most other intranets) can do quite the same thing as Trello does by having multiple card topics within a general group. But then Trello doesn’t have the user permissions and document versioning and social aspects like an intranet does.

I see. I would actually only need it for the review part - comments by others and revisions of documents, so no need for sub groups like Ready for Edit etc. But this admin stuff when trial expires kind of throws a wrench into things. I wouldn’t mind paying for myself only, but having to pay for everyone with a sitepoint address wouldn’t be all that acceptable. I think I’ll go with a private github repo - this post is quite inspiring.

I guess I’m not exactly sure what you were looking to do then. Are you looking for a complete replacement of Trello? Or just a method of revisions on final drafts before publishing? Or method to submit changes to already-published docs?

I think it’s already difficult enough for you just getting authors to submit in Markdown, now they’d all have to have learn Git! That’s a tall order!

Since Github doesn’t have free private repositories, authors are likely to use BitBucket or something else to manage their articles, but again I think it’s a lot to ask authors to have to learn git and manage repositories for articles now. I could be very wrong, due to the nature of Sitepoint material, maybe most authors already use Git? But the point is where you host I guess, as long as it’s still free for authors and doesn’t require us to use one service for our private repositories, then transfer to a different service to work on the Sitepoint version etc.

I’m trying to imagine the workflow from article ideas and discussion all the way through to publishing and future revising.
It would nice if all of it could work in a single tool with a single login/interface, ya know? Hoping between forums and Trello and Git and WP is not nice :wink:

So, Sitepoint is using Wordpress? OMG!

Scott

No, I’m just looking to augment the Trello experience with some more structure and performance. With over 100 members and hundreds of cards, Trello regularly crashes and it’s incredibly slow.

I think most authors use Git by default, since I demand they publish Github repos of all demo code with tutorials, so forcing them to learn it proper would be a good thing, and would guarantee consistent quality across posts, at least in that regard. Still thinking about it though, nothing’s set in stone.

I’d pay for the private repo, and all the posts would just be forks or PRs, so no biggie. And it’s still markdown… just spitballing here though.

A single interface would definitely be better, yeah, but there’s not much that can be done about that until WP-API is implemented on SitePoint.

fewer and better , a great news !

I suggest you write an article about using paysafecard API in PHP

What exactly would you like to see? There are PHP examples on their site: https://www.paysafecard.com/en-global/business/downloads/

Anyone else interested in this? Indicate with a “like” please!

You are doing a great job! I wish you many good articles for 2015

Thank you, much appreciated!

Thanks!