Even with themes, it still maintains the canned look, altho it does help a LOT if the admin isn't so lazy as to accept the default theme. I can find a person to handle general design (samples at www.spacetiger.com www.spacetiger.com/xanthotech www.spacetiger.com/supportbeamBETA.) And one or two people semi-proficient in PHP could easily pull off the application end, while either myself, my friend zed, or anyone else here could work on the database end. Sounds like a lot of work, but it really isn't too bad. Much easier to reinvent the wheel, than to retrofit one while driving down I-17 at 90mph. Not that *I* would do that. =) What level of content management are we looking for? A basic news system allowing for posting info on upcoming events, activities, etc would be a very simple task. Even to add a web calendar would not be much work (god bless planetsourcecode.com). This would all still allow for each authorized administrator to add/modify/remove content, or even make the site rotate content based on any number of variables such as date. I'm not sure how the PLUG mailing lists work, but if they happen to store information in a SQL database, that makes the site potentially even more interactive. Toss in a somewhat customized version of phpBB, and youve got yourself a good start, and a solid platform for future expansion. I truly think that by building a minimal framework now, PLUG can set a foundation upon which to add new features in the future, much more easily than modifying another design/system. The process of building a decent CMS wouldn't take very long either. Show us an ftp account with php/mysql and give us a week, and you would find a new site up and running. Could prove to be faster than postnuke should that particular system run into any glitches. Of course, like you said, the main focus is to get PLUG's limited resources back onto more important things. I think, however, that the small investment in time/energy up front would pay off not only immediately, but in the future. Whichever path is taken, it's still better than the current situation, so whatever works, well, works. Adam Rader -----Original Message----- From: plug-discuss-admin@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us [mailto:plug-discuss-admin@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us]On Behalf Of David Uhlman Sent: Sunday, September 01, 2002 1:30 AM To: plug-discuss@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us Subject: Re: PLUG website (was Re: class this Wed!) I agree that I would like to see the PLUG website not take on a "canned" or homogenized look, but I think that this is possible with postnuke. For version 7.1, earlier versions lack some important and useful new features and older themes do not support them, there are, at my brief count more than 400 themes. There really isn't a lot we could do about the links on left, itemized scrolling content down center, links features on right layout. I don't personally mind that because I find it effective and I don't think PLUG is in the web design business, its job is to empower community contribution and provide information, self generated content, and links to resources. It would be far simpler for PLUG to create its own theme than to program a content management system, though I would prefer not to do that if at all possible. I am trying to be realistic and also trying to improve the amount of impact PLUG has, I don't personally think that web site design and php coding is at this time the best route. Maybe to plan a transition a year or more from now and to actually solicit an organized program to recode a site is an idea, but again to me it just looks like reinventing the wheel. At this point everyone one plate is full with IF2, IF3, classes and a never ending lists of other commitments, let alone day jobs. I can say that postnuke allows for a very nice, multi site, multi themed setup on one server (or virtual host) and without a lot of database fuss. I don't want to make it sound like I am 100% postnuke, it just appears that postnuke currently fits the bill and I haven't seen an alternative that would work better yet. I think that if we make a concerted effort to take on a more professional appearance and to make strides lowering the barriers to volunteering and contribution, we will see a huge difference (increase) in our ability to promote linux and free software. Sincerely, David Uhlman CTO 50km Inc.