Re: [libreoffice-marketing] Re: Templating Teams

Le 2010-11-07 12:23, Marc Paré a écrit :
> Le 2010-11-07 05:02, Andrea Pescetti a écrit :
> > On 04/11/2010 Marc Paré wrote:
> >
> > > Thanks. The obvious question is ... are we going to brand a page and
> > > have our own repository? I imagine this is yes.
> >
> > If the answer is yes, then you need much more than just web space for
> > rebuilding the Templates infrastructure. Just try uploading a template
> > on http://templates.services.openoffice.org/ if you don't get what I
> > mean.
> >
> > This will apply to a lot of the infrastructure: if LibreOffice wants to
> > have its own infrastructure for everything (including parts where there
> > is 100% compatibility with OpenOffice.org, like Templates and
> > Extensions) it will have the same complexity of the OpenOffice.org
> > infrastructure, plus the cost of initial import of existing material,
> > plus the cost of periodic synchronization from the OpenOffice.org
> > repository. This is a heavy technical burden that should be evaluated
> > before deciding on a separate repository.
> >
> > Regards,
> >    Andrea.
>
> Thanks Andrea.
>
> Good point. I guess it is a case of whether TDF/LibO is going to 
> declare itself as an independent organization where all of the 
> services come under its own umbrella or if it declares itself as an 
> independent organization where some of its services (in this case 
> templating offerings) are offered cooperatively with other 
> organizations such as OOo..
>
>
> I believe we can do both. It is just a matter of deciding in which 
> direction we should go.
>
> If we are to offer templates as part of our web service, then yes, the 
> infrastructure is a little complex, but is still with the capabilities 
> of our membership and (hopefully) resources (disk space). The template 
> repository would then become part of the marketing strategy of the 
> TDF/LibO where it could be touted as one of the clear benefits of 
> owning the LibO suite.
>
> If we are to offer these services in a cooperative way, the perhaps a 
> better way of offering these services would be to establish another 
> organisation under the TDF where the templates are reposited and where 
> they are put at the disposal of other suites should they decide to 
> adopt the template formats into their code. Perhaps at 
> TDF/TemplateRepository organization managed by the TDF. This way, the 
> templates would be handled by a non-profit foundation rather than a 
> for-profit enterprise. The template repository would then become part 
> of the marketing strategy of the TDF/LibO organisation where it would 
> claim cooperation between open sourced ODF-centric office suites.
>
> Depending on repositories controlled by Oracle may be, in part, a 
> little problematic, as it may at some point decide that the template 
> repository should no longer be made available to the general public 
> and  somehow made part of it marketing strategy of the OOo Office suite.
>
> How would this sound?
>
> Marc


I am not a fan of templates. Usually, there is either something that 
doesn't suit me, or I find it simpler to design from scratch, so I may 
not be the best guy to comment on the subject. With this disclaimer, 
here are my suggestions.

1. I think templates are completely different from software development. 
They may help "sell" LibreOffice, but there doesn't have to be any link 
between those who design LibreOffice (both the code and user interface) 
and those who design templates. So the structure designed for templates 
may even be at arms' length so it does not add extra work to those who 
are already working on the LibreOffice and Document Foundation websites.

2. At this time, there are no significant differences between 
LibreOffice and OpenOffice. And from what I see, there probably won't be 
any differences between LO and OOo documents for quite some time. I 
mean, even if LibreOffice comes with a totally redesigned interface, it 
still is committed to the .odt format. So in a nutshell, templates that 
work in LibreOffice will work in OpenOffice, with the other 
forks/variants, with Lotus Symphony, and maybe with a few others such as 
AbiWord (not sure, though).

3. Interface wise, I think it should be simpler. What about something 
like a forum (see http://libreofficeforum.org) where posts would have a 
template attached to it? Templates could then be evaluated and commented 
upon either through other messages of a forum or through a 1-to-5 
notation technique according to flexibility, conformity to style sheets, 
ease of use in other languages, etc.


4. There could also be a page linking to other websites with templates. 
For instance, on LibreOfficeTemplates, why not have a link to OOo 
Templates (with a note saying they are fully compatible)? In my humble 
opinion, the more standardized documents people see, the more they will 
value LibreOffice.

From the user point of view, there are two things I find missing on the 
current OpenOffice Templates website:
– There is a section on how to upload one's template, but nothing on how 
to download and start using a template (it's not obvious to newcomers)
– More examples, as well as a clear list of what it does and what it 
doesn't do.

And from the uploader point of view, I think the guide should add 
something with regard to how I would transform a perfect document into a 
template (maybe this exists elsewhere in the OOo wiki and books, I don't 
know.


Regards,

--
Michel Gagnon
Montréal (Québec, Canada) -- http://mgagnon.net

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