Developers Extensions Reference
This forum thread is to continue the discussion started about this topic on http://joomladevelopers.ning.com/group/sitebuilders?groupUrl=sitebu...
To start with my initial 2 cents:
I think the cause of this discussion is interesting.
I think it roots from not knowing which extension is the best choice in the oh-so-many different categories.
The JED lacks in this because:
- The ratings are 'contaminated' with votes from non-developers
- New extensions take long to be known as good (have to have minimum number of votes before they start to show up higher in the list).
- There is no emphasis on comparing extensions to its competitors
- There is no emphasis on developer cases.
- There are hundreds of bad quality extensions making the whole JED a jungle of extensions
It would be very good to have a "Developers" extension directory kind of thing.
What I mean is that developers that know what they are talking about can do the voting/reviewing/comparing/whatever.
The whole idea would be that, for instance:
If I need a Newsletter component - which I have never needed before - I don't have to try out 15 different ones. But that I can see which ones are most used and recommended by the developers who have experience with them.
If I need a Forms component, in which cases is it best to go for ChronoForms and when is RSForms Pro the best choice?
Stuff like that…
This is hard to set up and to do right, because you have to look out for favoritism and such… and not have to have some people acting as policemen to prevent stuff like that.
But I think this could help developers a lot to discover better extensions suited for them.
And save a lot of time having to find out which ones are good yourself.
Also I think it could help prevent duplicate extensions being created. Cause searching for an extension that does something specific is a drag. And I myself have made stuff I couldn’t find a solution for. Only to find out later there was already something for it.
To start with my initial 2 cents:
I think the cause of this discussion is interesting.
I think it roots from not knowing which extension is the best choice in the oh-so-many different categories.
The JED lacks in this because:
- The ratings are 'contaminated' with votes from non-developers
- New extensions take long to be known as good (have to have minimum number of votes before they start to show up higher in the list).
- There is no emphasis on comparing extensions to its competitors
- There is no emphasis on developer cases.
- There are hundreds of bad quality extensions making the whole JED a jungle of extensions
It would be very good to have a "Developers" extension directory kind of thing.
What I mean is that developers that know what they are talking about can do the voting/reviewing/comparing/whatever.
The whole idea would be that, for instance:
If I need a Newsletter component - which I have never needed before - I don't have to try out 15 different ones. But that I can see which ones are most used and recommended by the developers who have experience with them.
If I need a Forms component, in which cases is it best to go for ChronoForms and when is RSForms Pro the best choice?
Stuff like that…
This is hard to set up and to do right, because you have to look out for favoritism and such… and not have to have some people acting as policemen to prevent stuff like that.
But I think this could help developers a lot to discover better extensions suited for them.
And save a lot of time having to find out which ones are good yourself.
Also I think it could help prevent duplicate extensions being created. Cause searching for an extension that does something specific is a drag. And I myself have made stuff I couldn’t find a solution for. Only to find out later there was already something for it.
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Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Peter van Westen (NoNumber) on -
Leo: I think this decision is based on misunderstanding.
There have already been some stuff said about this in 'the other thread'.
Anyway, here is what I think, starting at what we want to do:
We don't want a simple table with yes/no/maybe's. We want to - and that is IMO the end goal - save other developers (webbuilders) save time and money in endless extension research and share our gathered knowledge.
A big part of that is the experts opinions/experiences. Those cannot very well be displayed in a table/chart view.
However, these charts do add information in a clear way. Like Alledia uses it is very nice. But even a little more than that would be very nice. So I think it needs to be a combo of these elements.
But where do you start with the comparison of a group of extensions?
I think the first step in research can be some kind of excel sheet where you compare the features. This can help you write your expert opinions on the extensions. And help with making a chart to be published.
So now back to Rob's CCK doc. I think that is where it comes in!
I think that Amy has only prompted Rob to share his work as it is a starting point in the research. A little help. A tool. But in no means an end product or model we should adapt.
At least, that's what I have understood. If this is Amy's idea, I disagree with her (which would be a first).
So Leo:
I am still very much into your ideas about this and see you have a passion to get this going. So please don't jump out of this initiative. Because we (you, I, ...) are not gonna make a public google spreadsheet comparison site. -
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Permalink Reply by Peter van Westen (NoNumber) on
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PS: Amy kinda wants to stop the forum discussions that are not in the groups.
I think with regards to how this discussion is going, it won't help to split the discussion over two threads.
Oleg has closed the other one. So we'll finish continue this discussion here. -
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Permalink Reply by Oleg Nesterov on -
Leo, indeed, please don't jump out.
So what makes a good comparison/research? I think we should figure out some key points of such comparisons: expert reviews, comparison tables (like it's done on alledia.com), charts?
Is it a good idea to make a review of each extension side-by-side with others? I don't think that one big table with many columns and content is a good approach. As I see it: some key points in a comparison table and then the detailed side-by-side comparison of other necessary features. We also can hide some content in order not to confuse people and provide links to the corresponding sections (using JavaScript for example).
I also believe we can collect as many experts' opinions as possible. I agree with Brian that "One persons feature is another persons dread". For example, If I want to buy a new monitor and read reviews like "This monitor is not bad, but the sound from its speakers is ugly" I will not take them into account.
We should help people to make a decision, but don't make this decision for them. (I think Peter already told about this somewhere in this thread). This should be a very usable system. -
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Permalink Reply by Peter van Westen (NoNumber) on
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Yep, so where do we go from here?
On the one hand I'd like to get started and actually begin.
On the other hand it is good to have a clear view of where we want to go with this.
And also who are 'we'?
Maybe it is good to have some sort of a get together with the people who want to be involved via a Skype group chat or something.
Just to get the stuff of our chats and be able to give direct feedback.
(Some of) The stuff that needs to be decided:
- Who is joining in to get this initiative started?
- What is the end goal of this project? (I have stated some stuff, but that's only my opinion)
- What way are we gonna represent the data that will achieve the goal (expert reviews/comparison charts/benchmark scores/charts/etc...)?
- How are we gonna gather the data and put it together?
- What system are we gonna use?
- Who does what? -
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Permalink Reply by Amy Stephen on
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I think this is where you are all still working? This relates to Extension Quality. I think that fits here. If not, please ignore. I just wanted to share an interesting post from a new Joomla! user who was frustrated. It reminds of the importance of quality.
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Can someone, Peter, Oleg, Leo, please summarize where things are at in a new thread in the Learning Group? Then, link back to this thread? We are closing the home page forum to simplify the site. Thanks!
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Can someone, Peter, Oleg, Leo, please summarize where things are at in a new thread in the Learning Group? Then, link back to this thread? We are closing the home page forum to simplify the site. Thanks!
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