Re: [boost] [1.35.0] Keeping home pages in sync

From: Beman Dawes (bdawes_at_[hidden])
Date: 2008-02-08 18:29:51

Doug Gregor wrote:
> On Feb 8, 2008, at 8:13 AM, Beman Dawes wrote:
>> David Abrahams wrote:
>>> I don't know.  Much as I am reluctant to do so, I'm thinking I  
>>> probably
>>> need to learn PHP to be effective with the new site.
>> I'm very unhappy with that. Are we going to effectively require every
>> Boost developer become proficient in PHP? That seems like a non- 
>> starter
>> to me.
> 
> 
> I think it's a non-issue, for several reasons. There isn't all that  
> much PHP on the new web site, so most web site updates will still be  
> good old HTML. Even in those parts that are PHP, most updates just  
> involve writing HTML, because PHP is just an HTML-generating superset  
> of HTML, and in unless there's a PHP control structure around it, the  
> HTML you write in PHP comes out as HTML on the other end.  Plus, we're  
> getting big benefits from the PHP that we are using, e.g., an RSS feed  
> for news from which we generate the front-page "News" section without  
> any separate steps. That kind of benefit, which keeps several places  
> up-to-date when the same underlying data is changed, is worth a small  
> amount of initial effort to save much more effort in the long-run.

The problem isn't the "small amount of initial effort". Rather, it is 
that important part of the web site content can only be updated right 
now by a very few people. For example, here is the section of the home 
page that reports "News":

                 <div class="directory-item" id="important-news">
                   <h2>News</h2>

                   <ul id="news">
                     <?php $_count = 0; foreach ( $_news->db as $_guid 
=> $_item ) { $_count += 1; if ($_count > 3) { break; } ?>

                     <li><span class=
                     "news-title"><?php print '<a 
href="'.$_item['link'].'">'; ?><?php print $_item['title']; ?><?php 
print '</a>'; ?></span>
                     <span class=
                     "news-description"><?php print 
$_item['boostbook:purpose']; ?></span>
                     <span class=
                     "news-date"><?php print $_item['date']; 
?></span></li><?php } ?>
                   </ul>

                   <p>More News... (<a href=
                   "feed/news.rss">RSS</a>)</p>
                 </div>

I suppose if you understand PHP then this is crystal clear. But I don't, 
so will have to use SVN blame to see who wrote this, get them to add a 
comment pointing to some documentation on how to add/update the news 
items, and then cross my fingers hoping it really just does involve HTML 
that I can edit with my trusty old HTML editor or maybe my shinny new 
HTML editor.

--Beman