What to do with Type Library.

James Puckett
James Puckett Posts: 1,998
edited October 2014 in Miscellaneous News
I’m trying to figure out what to do with Type Library (http://type-library.com/). I don’t have the skills to build a better version of the site by myself. I’d also like Type Library to get updated often, to include content from other authors, and to cover languages besides English. Is anybody interested in collaborating on something bigger and better?

Comments

  • Eris Alar
    Eris Alar Posts: 455
    Keeping the same goals, or changing the purpose as well? Are there many books being created about type, enough for regular updates? Or are you thinking more of a magazine type thing with articles?
  • James Puckett
    James Puckett Posts: 1,998
    I’m not sure what the goals should be. My original goal was just to create a list of good books that I could link to when people ask for one. I could just update to a Wordpress based list that’s prettier and easier to navigate. But there’s probably potential for a lot more, so I’m asking.
  • PabloImpallari
    PabloImpallari Posts: 806
    edited June 2014
    I’d also like it Type Library to get updated often, to include content from other authors, and to cover languages besides English.
    As an option, you can move it to Github, so people can easily contribute to it.
    AFAIK Github can host both, the source code and the live website, for free.
    http://designwithfontforge.com is managed that way.
    https://github.com/fontforge/designwithfontforge.com

  • Dave Crossland
    Dave Crossland Posts: 1,431
    edited June 2014
    Yeah, WordPress doesn't seem right for this to me; the collaboration model of github seems better, as it strikes a nice balance between a public wiki (which soon gets rotten) and a carefully reviewed and curated site

    I don't think the original goal should change, and I'd love to de-duplicate my own books list pages scattered about and just point to this site :)
  • Stephen Coles
    Stephen Coles Posts: 1,008
    edited June 2014
    A collaborative platform is a good idea. But there must be a wiki-style solution that is accessible to a wider audience than GitHub.
  • Thomas Phinney
    Thomas Phinney Posts: 2,896
    Agreed that most of the people who might be great contributors to this would probably be scared off by Github (as compared to a Wiki)
  • Thomas Phinney
    Thomas Phinney Posts: 2,896
    Github itself is not complex at all, but it is... foreign. And if the users are then expected to edit raw HTML files...? You will lose a lot of people.
  • James Puckett
    James Puckett Posts: 1,998
    Does anybody have a link to doing this kind of thing with Git? I agree that Git might scare off some people, but not everybody likes editing Wikis, either.
  • PabloImpallari
    PabloImpallari Posts: 806
    https://pages.github.com/
  • Dave Crossland
    Dave Crossland Posts: 1,431
    there must be a wiki-style solution that is accessible to a wider audience than GitHub.
    For those who can't work git, they can merely register an account and write what they would like to happen in the issue tracker. This can be linked to directly from the website, Eg, https://github.com/fontforge/designwithfontforge.com/issues/new

    The users who want to contribute directly will edit raw MarkDown files. That can be done on a desktop OS by forking the website's git repo to your username, cloning it to your machine and editing files, pushing your changes to your repo, and making a pull request. Or it can be done via the web through the Github web interface. For those with direct access to the website repo, they can edit it via the Github web interface in a way which is absolutely wiki style.

    Examples:

    http://designwithfontforge.com - https://github.com/fontforge/designwithfontforge.com

    http://fontforge.github.io - https://github.com/fontforge/fontforge.github.io

    This is all explained in full in https://pages.github.com :)
  • Dave Crossland
    Dave Crossland Posts: 1,431
    James, I wonder with your retirement of the forum if you have any more thoughts about passing on type-library.com?
  • Thomas Phinney
    Thomas Phinney Posts: 2,896
    edited October 2014
    With all due respect, Dave, your description of how easy it is to contribute to a Github project seems to me to reinforce my point that it is not the way to go.

    This stuff should live online, and only online, and we shouldn't have to clone the site to our computer, etc. That's just wacky for this type of project.

    Don't get me wrong. I have been pleasantly surprised by how easy it is to use Github. But it's just not right for this project given its typical/likely contributors.
  • [Deleted User]
    [Deleted User] Posts: 0
    edited October 2014
    The user and all related content has been deleted.
  • Scott-Martin Kosofsky
    Scott-Martin Kosofsky Posts: 422
    I think James has just the right idea. Perhaps someone like Nick Sherman, who understands the material and its usefulness, would shepherd it along and set up a scheme for its growth and maintenance. It's a wonderful resource.
  • Dave Crossland
    Dave Crossland Posts: 1,431
    Thomas, it would be simple to direct people to use www.prose.io

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