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We need to decide what the content structure will be for the magazine. What types of content and subjects should be regular features or sections in the magazine? Knowing what the content structure will be will help the design team know how many different sections need to be planned for in the magazine's design, will help authors know the type of subjects they should focus their attention on, and will help editors know where a submitted article fits, along with (in some cases) when to publish it.

Another set of factors that need to be taken into account is the existing content/subject matter areas on the Community site as well as the other joomla.org websites. There will inevitably be some overlap since we're all talking about Joomla!, but ideally there won't be conscious regular duplication. That will end up being confusing for users who should hopefully be able to find what they are looking for without having to check multiple places. And it also wouldn't be a good use of volunteer resources if the same content is being written and published in multiple places.

So let's use this thread to brainstorm and define the content structure for the magazine...

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Paul Orwig
President, Open Source Matters

As far as subject content goes, are we focusing more on the 1.6 release and whats coming? Or are we focusing more on the current 1.5 series? Or is it more 60-40 or 50-50 or something else.

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remember pillage...then burn.

There is room for content on both 1.5 and 1.6, but I think the overall focus is broader than that. Think in terms of potential content areas as:

* Interviews/Profiles of interesting people who have a connection to Joomla!
* Evaluations of websites/3rd party extensions
* Updates from OSM & Project Leadership
* Content for Developers
* Content for Designers
* Content for Administrators
* Joomla! Tips and Tricks

Does that help?

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Paul Orwig
President, Open Source Matters

Hi,

I hope I'm understanding the question correctly:

some more possible content areas:
* J! events - announcements, calendar, reports or something like that
* JUG's - in each magazine some articles done by JUG's or about JUG meetings ...
* News/interviews from/about other (F)OSS-projects (I see this as a short articles with links for further reading)

Regards, Carolien

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Carolien - http://twitter.com/caro84g
Don't forget: Backup and test before you do major changes to your site

Thanks Carolien! I think you understand the question correctly, and you have shared some good ideas.

I think the challenge for J! Events and JUG's magazine content will be to not simply duplicate what is already on the Community site. Perhaps we could offer a more in depth look at JUG's or J! Events?

I like the idea of covering info on other FOSS projects. The challenge there might be to offer a fresh angle (such as the connection to or impact on Joomla!) that hopefully isn't being written about on other sites.

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Paul Orwig
President, Open Source Matters

A generic case study would be interesting, maybe. Like how to setup some certain type of site using joomla from a free template?
Would reviews have a place in the magazine? Like grab some similar components and look over them. Not so much to bash them, but to highlight them?

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remember pillage...then burn.

Yes thanks bohn002, generic (or even specific) case studies and reviews are both interesting ideas!

I think reviews would definitely have a place in the magazine. We need to be careful not to overly self-promote our own products/services/templates/extensions/etc., or at a minimum disclose our relationship to whatever's being reviewed.

Regarding bashing vs highlighting, my opinion is we need to be committed to tell the truth, but while always being respectful and considerate.

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Paul Orwig
President, Open Source Matters

well i would love to do some reviews. I did a very similar job with another joomla related site like 2 years ago. But I think it would take some structure, since varying opinions might not work well. Getting excited!

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remember pillage...then burn.

Hi Paul,

I proposed the events and JUGs part to make the magazine also a bit more community orientated, instead of product orientated. I realise the difficulty with duplicating content.

I just checked out the 'events' part of the current community site:
I notice that you'll see a lot of announcements, but the event reports are posted as team blogs and you cannot find them through the events part of the site (I suggest you could try to change that...)
On events: it might be fun to have indeed some more in depth look at events: 'interviews with organizers' or 'why do people attend J!events' article and that kind of stuff.

About JUG's: I hardly see any blog posts or reports on specific JUG meetings. I've seen a blog post about 'how to start a JUG, or do's and don'ts,' (it's for sure on ATAAW, but maybe here too?) So I think there is room for such information/articles in the magazine.

About FOSS: I don't mind the fact that the information isn't exactly new. I think that most Joomla! users, who will read the magazine, don't read much news on other FOSS projects. I think the trick is to keep the article short and add a 'further reading' section. In this further reading section you add a link to the project (of course) and maybe some links to major bloggers on the project. For Joomla! that might be the Joomla! community blog, alledia.com, brian.teeman.net and some others. I like your suggestion on impact and connection with Joomla! very much.

And another content area:
* a fun/gossiping column. With things like 'xxx and xxx would make a very good standup comedian couple' or 'xxx won such and such price' and 'the mac has gained popularity among J! users, with picture', 'Joomla weddings', 'Joomla song top 10'
The difficulty with such a column is (not) crossing lines

I hope that at least the events and JUGs will make it into the magazine, maybe not every issue, but I think those should be regularly covered.

Regards, Carolien

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Carolien - http://twitter.com/caro84g
Don't forget: Backup and test before you do major changes to your site

Perhaps a permanent 'panel' with links to Joomla site eg security, announcements, JED, Wikki etc

Hils

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Member of the OpenTranslators Team
http://opentranslators.org

Thanks Hils, those are good ideas!

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Paul Orwig
President, Open Source Matters

Been thinking further (sorry!).

1. With the assumption that the magazine fundamentally is to promote Joomla! and its usage, it would be good to have a category/category for absolute beginners/non-coders/non-website makers. With such topics perhaps as:

So you want to build a Kennel Website?
So you want to build a Family Website?
So you want to build a Personal Blog?
So you want to build a Website for your Company?
So you want to build a School Website?
So you want to build a Photography Website?
etc...

which would include ideas/extension suggestions and guide them to 'best practice' and point to relevant existing resources if applicable.

2. Book reviews. With a grading system of suitability for purpose ie absolute beginner, developer and several in between.

Two simple things that would encourage people new to web dev & Joomla!

Hils

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Member of the OpenTranslators Team
http://opentranslators.org

What about "The story behind... [Joomla! based website X]"
Let the developer of website X explain how the site was built: which 3pd components, modules and plugins were used (and why).
What were the problems during development and of course: what were the solutions to those problems?

Other possible and important topic is (at least, I think so) performance optimization (things like caching, use of AJAX, Gzipping, use of JS libraries > Mootools, JQuery).

Regards
Gerlof

Paul, if the magazine will be inserted in the default layout for all Joomla! sites, wouldn't those links fit better in the main navigation?

Just my .02

Regards,

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Airton Torres
Joomla Bug Squad http://groups.google.com/group/joomlabugsquad
Community website - http://community.joomla.org
Unsolicited support PMs will be deleted and the user added to the foes list.

Some article-subject ideas I posted elsewhere:


Here are a few ideas about the type of articles that could be regular inclusions. (like a column)

A monthly article (by various authors), that features/introduces 2 or 3 Joomla User Groups, would be great way to emphasize the Community aspect of this magazine. (and a good way of involving all Joomla communities)

There should definitely also be a monthly article by the Project Leadership (regarding vision, progress), and by OSM (regarding the financial and legal interests of the Joomla project).
OSM should be encouraged to work with the Magazine Team to produce articles (regarding finance and legal issues) that help create understanding and trust.

A regular Article from the Resource, Extension, and Showcase teams that features some notable extension, resource site, and web site, and perhaps also addresses some common issues people have in submitting sites or extensions.

A regular Article from the Forum team that highlights some frequently asked question on the forum, or highlights an interesting or notable forum post.

A regular article introducing 2 or 3 of the Leadership, Working Groups, OSM, Community members. It should briefly mention how the person is involved with Joomla, but the focus should be more on getting to know them more. (what work they do; their family; hobbies; something about where they live, etc.)

Not sure if there's another thread to suggest the following:

The design should include a info box/block that links to the JUG listing and forum, and encourage people to join.

Also: How easy or difficult will it be to have each (monthly) edition translated into other languages?
(excluding the feeds)
Does the K2 technology allow for multi-language support?

I saw Elin Waring mention in this discussion:

Perhaps the multi-language idea (for the Magazine) should wait until after the launch of the first edition, and translations can then be created as enough people volunteer for a language. (the Translation teams can be involved with this)

Article contributions in other languages should of course also be encourage provided there is someone available to do a proper translation.

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Jacques Rentzke
New Web Consulting
http://www.new-web-consulting.co.za/
http://twitter.com/JacquesRentzke

Hi Airton, when you refer to the "main navigation", do you mean navigation for the magazine or navigation for all the Joomla! sites? I interpreted Hils' suggestion to mean having something like the "Quick Links" module that is on the Community site.

To me some of the major questions we should be asking about the magazine content structure are:
* What is the purpose and identity for the magazine?
* What is new and different about the magazine compared to the type of content that is already published somewhere else on the Joomla! websites?
* What content should not go in the magazine because that type of content is a better fit to be published somewhere else on the Joomla! websites?

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Paul Orwig
President, Open Source Matters

Thanks Hils, more good ideas here! One way or another I think the magazine should serve to help those new to Joomla!. Also, I think some form of Review section is also good, whether it's reviewing books, extensions, or other things.

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Paul Orwig
President, Open Source Matters

This is great! It's just what I had in mind to help promote Joomla. As I said in another forum, I'm using Joomla for a college web site and there are many unique challenges. That being the case with most every site, I think a series of "guides" columns like the ones you suggest and others would be extremely useful to existing and new members of the Joomla community.

Thanks for the responses!

re quicklinks: yes, something like the quick links on the Community site but more focussed and quicker to the important stuff eg security, announcements, JED, Wikki. ... and really prominent wherever it is.

Paul - thank you to you for being receptive to ideas and for making this a comfortable, friendly environment for 'juniors' to post in!

Hils

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Member of the OpenTranslators Team
http://opentranslators.org

You're welcome Hils, thank you for your suggestions!

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Paul Orwig
President, Open Source Matters

Hi Gerlof, thanks for your suggestion! I think it would be good to have some type of feature such as you are suggesting. What if we extended offers to previous "Site of the Month" selections from the Joomla! Showcase and invited the developer to provide a more in depth feature along the lines you are suggesting?

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Paul Orwig
President, Open Source Matters

Jacques,

Thank you for sharing your ideas here! I think you have identified some great types of articles that will really make the magazine a much more valuable addition to the Joomla! websites. Some of your ideas have been mentioned by others as well.

In order to do a good job of implementing these ideas, I think we will need more help to coordinate/remind/help members of other teams to contribute their articles. Perhaps we should have an editor for each section of the magazine? It may take some time to develop a team to do a good job covering all of these areas, but I think that is a worthy goal we can work toward achieving.

We have discussed whether the magazine should be published on a monthly schedule or perhaps just release new articles as they come in. I think your ideas suggest that an advantage of a monthly schedule is that it will be easier for project leaders to put "write a magazine article" on their calendars. In this way I think the magazine can make it easier for project leadership to stay in regular contact with the community.

I don't know if all of these ideas will make it into the magazine, but I hope a lot of them will!

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Paul Orwig
President, Open Source Matters

It looks like we now have the JCM Extensions and Services Teams being formed as of now.

Even with that part of the JCM Team now being a "known commodity", we still need to figure out what other parts of the JCM need a team assigned to that aspect of the magazine.



A monthly (or bi-monthly to start) schedule seems to be the way to do things.

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http://OnTheMarkDesign.com

Joomla! Community Magazine Team Member

Thanks Mark for helping re-start this discussion! There have been a lot of great ideas posted in this thread. I think now is a good time to try and pull things together and try to decide what the magazine's structure will consist of.

Here are some of the ideas which have come up that I think would deliver an interesting and well rounded magazine. Consider this as a starting point for continuing this discussion.

This list may be too big for starters, if so let's make some choices on what's most important and what is less so. Or it may be that there's a whole new way of structuring/organizing the content than how it's presented here.

To me the most important thing is that we focus on content that will be of interest and value to the community, and that we try to finalize pretty quick on this structure/organization (at least for the early magazine issues).

Editor's Introduction: An introductory article about what's included in each issue.

Leadership Updates: An article submitted for each issue from the Production WG leadership, Community WG leadership, and OSM. This will be an opportunity for these leadership groups to stay in more regular contact with the community instead of only posting ad-hoc announcements. Leadership groups could designate one person for their group's updates or everyone could take turns. Need agreement from leadership groups to implement this. Magazine should have someone assigned to remind these groups on deadlines for upcoming issues.

Joomla! Events/JUG in Depth: We could publish more in-depth coverage of Joomla! events and maybe also have an article about a JUG in each issue. We would need to recruit magazine authors for these assignments.

Website Case Study: In-depth profile of a Joomla! website for each issue. Interview the site's owner, give an overview of the site's purpose, the extensions used, the challenges/problems that were encountered, etc. Need authors to write the articles, and editor(s) to edit and help define a good variety of websites to be covered.

Designer's Studio: Issues important to website designers. Need authors and editor(s) to edit and define a good variety of article subjects.

Developer's Workbench: Issues important to developers. Need authors and editor(s) to edit and define a good variety of article subjects.

Administrator's Toolkit: Issues important to website administrators. Need authors and editor(s) to edit and define a good variety of article subjects.

Extension/Service Reviews: Evaluate different options in an extension/service category for each issue. Take community input to help choose what will be reviewed. Both a series of individual reviews will be written, as well as a comparative analysis of the chosen options. Need author/editor teams to write and edit articles, monitor community input, and recommend category options for upcoming issues.

Community Member Spotlight: Do an interview/profile of a member of the Joomla! community for each issue. Need to develop a nomination and selection process, and recruit authors/editors to write and edit the articles.

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Paul Orwig
President, Open Source Matters

in a follow up to a post abt 15 mouse scrolls, i would suggest a list of still unsolved extensions on my security footing, or the site showcase of the month on my other hat or perhaps the "get connected" issue

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HU2HY- Poor questions = Poor answer
Un requested Help PM's will be added to the foe list and possibly just deleted
{Community.Connect Administrator }{ Showcase & Security Moderator}

Okay I'm not sure exactly which post you're referring to, do you mean this one:

If so, I think we are planning to incorporate some of those ideas into an expanded Quicklinks module on the home page of the Community Site.

What are "still unsolved extensions"? Is that related to the VEL? If we could get more visibility for that on the home page of the Community site would that work?

We're also planning to include some more Showcase coverage on the home page of the Community site. So between that and the "case study" idea I think that gives us pretty good coverage there.

Can you expand some more on what you mean by the "get connected" issue?

Thanks!

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Paul Orwig
President, Open Source Matters

Quite possibly, i hate the colour red!

sounds/reads good.


latest feeds added etc, something like that, not just the popular ones.

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HU2HY- Poor questions = Poor answer
Un requested Help PM's will be added to the foe list and possibly just deleted
{Community.Connect Administrator }{ Showcase & Security Moderator}

Paul,
Suggest to add:
* User Experiences with Joomla (MY Joomla story)
* Case Studies (why/how/what/with whom)
* Joomla in the press (with back links:give and take)
* Joomlasphere explained (we have so many websites and sometime hard to find to digest what is where)
* The Joomla Story (history and Future)
* 3rd Party Press analysis (tricky but valuable: Imagine somebody like CMS-wire describing why something is so cool or sucks so much compared to others) keeps us all awake

Initial input

Leo

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Okay thanks, we'll see what we can do about that...


Okay thanks, we'll take a look at adding that somewhere. Do you think a "Latest News" type module might work for that?

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Paul Orwig
President, Open Source Matters

Wow thanks Leo you have a lot of great ideas here that I think would be good additions for the magazine!

I think we may have a challenge finding authors & editors to help with all of these categories. I think we should have some content in the magazine which explains to new prospective contributors what types of articles we are looking for. Then hopefully volunteers will step up to fill all of those "slots".

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Paul Orwig
President, Open Source Matters