Ideas for GSoC Students

[AmyStephen]

Here are a set of possible ideas for GSoC projects:

Unit Tests

Article Versioning

Whiteboard component

Multi-site implement ability to use one install base for multiple sites.

Image Manager improvements thumbnails and image resizing, watermarking, caching, batch uploading, flood protection, enhanced security checking on file contents, per user galleries

Searching Improvements advanced search capabilities including specific content types including third party extensions, section and category, weighted searches, Ajax support, multiple tabbed results sorted differently include most recent, relevance, external API's like Google and Yahoo

Multi-lingual support create environment where articles can be translated and stored using same menu structure, configured SEF URLs to have translated PLUGs and language in URL

SEF URL Plugins - various options like category/article-name.html, blog/CCYY-MM-DD/Article, etc.

MultiDB support - create database abstraction layer and support for MySQL and PostGres

Forms - create component that makes it easy for end users to create forms, consider Ajax support

Export and Import Tools - create tools that make it easier for end users to migrate content into and out of Joomla!

Comments - threaded and not threaded, support for various content-types, not just articles

Tags - tagging for various content-types

TinyMCE - create a plugin for TinyMCE that makes it easy for end users to choose which add-ons they want without hacking the core

Error Page Handling - create a component that will handle standard errors (ex. 404) so that headers are sent for the error code, but the error is trapped and redirected from the error.php file back to Joomla! where it can be handled on a normal webpage.

Data Portability - Implement recommendations for Site Developers for Data Portability http://groups.google.com/group/dataport ... developers including creating an OAuth plugin that can be used with data services http://oauth.net/core/1.0

Semantic Web - Deploy Triplify for Joomla! v 1.5, mapping to existing vocabularies and exposing publicly available content http://triplify.org/ and also deploy xmlgrddl, http://code.google.com/p/xmlgrddl/ producing RDF from the xHTML content. Compare and contrast methods; evaluate which method is better or if there are situations where one is better than the other. Create extension for use by community with instructions for both.

Semantic Web - Create RDF output for standard Joomla! website using various vocabularies http://www.w3.org/TR/rdf-primer/ ; create a set of template overrides that can be used by community to produce the semantic output

Facebook Integration

Open Social Integration

Also check out the Community-submitted White Papers for possible inclusion in v 1.6. There are really great ideas in there that won't be accepted as part of core, but should be done!

+++++

If you are considering applying, do it! You will have a blast!

Cheers,
Amy

[brad]

Error Page Handling - create a component that will handle standard errors (ex. 404) so that headers are sent for the error code, but the error is trapped and redirected from the error.php file back to Joomla! where it can be handled on a normal webpage.

Be careful with this.. we had it once.. it's a killer on the servers, better to let apache handle the 404's.

[AmyStephen]

I need to write these ideas up more clearly - I think Wilco is going to move these to the Wiki and I'll try to better elaborate.

Currently, Joomla!'s .htaccess directs *.php (and *.html when SEF URLs are used?) page requests to index.php. So, Apache is somewhat limited in what it is able to identify as a 404. (Some things still do get caught by Apache as 404's but I would have to do some testing to figure out what specifically Apache still catches.)

Then, in Joomla!'s router, if it cannot find the page as a menu item or as a component, it directs 404's to the error.php file in the system template folder and the site visitor gets that "big red box" that has the error code.

That causes a few problems for some site designers/end users:

1. If people want to keep the same "look and feel" of their template, they can follow these instructions.

2. What some have called for is to have those errors returned to a "normal" Joomla! URL where other options, like the search or pages that might appear to be close can be offered.

3. Joomla! does not return the 404 headers - it returns 200 page found messages. That causes problems for Google Web Master reporting - and those who guard their SEO and PR closely can't fix it. (Although that previous link to the wiki offers a solution for that issue.)

So, this project would help automate those types of solutions -- send out correct headers for 404's (and other errors); redirect back to a site where other solutions could be offered -- and even (possibly) provide a spot for permanent redirects to be handled (that might be the piece better left to Apache.)

Would be good to have you look over the project definition and see what concerns there might still be. Thanks.

[willebil]

I have asked Chrtis to set up an section on our wiki, it has been created. We will update the wiki with some ideas there so people can read up. During the SoC we also will try to post more information there.

Url to the wiki http://docs.joomla.org/Google_Summer_of_Code_2008

[fonsekaean]

I am really interested in working with the Image Manager Improvements project idea, How can I start this?
I am writing my proposal and will submit it to the GSoC website soon. And for that I need some help too, if you can help me on this I am really grateful.

[willebil]

The best thing you can do is write a detailled proposal. What do you want to achieve, how do you think to achieve it (projects steps, but also the technical approach). Add a planning so you have a proper proposal.

There are some hints in the student guideline decription in the student area, please read it. If you have any questions regarding setting this up, feel free to ask.

We have a public Skype chat where all mentors idle around, join it and ask questions whenever you feel it is needed. To join follow this link :

http://www.skype.com/go/joinpublicchat? ... ZDCjcLtSqt

[emakki]

Hi,

I have a question. Is it possible for more than one person (two) work on one project? I am willing to work with another Joomla expert on one of the proposed projects above. Is this acceptable to Joomla mentors and Google?

Thanks,
Zak

[willebil]

We have not done this before, and we prefer one student on one project. If two work on the project it is in principle ok, but only one can earn the money.

[emakki]

Perhaps who gets the money is not a big deal but the certificate from google is more important. Do both get the certificate?

[emakki]

Just found out in the FAQ page from Google that it is not possible.

Thanks for your help
Zak

[fonsekaean]

I added my proposal to the Google SoC

[lpdanh]

I'm interested in Semantic Web - Deploy Triplify and Semantic Web projects, so how can I contact with mentor to prepare proposal?

[AmyStephen]

Excellent! If you like, you can email me AmyStephen@gmail.com. There is also a Skype chat that several mentors and some of the students are on. If you logon to Skype, feel free to add me AmyStephen and I can add you to the chat. (I have the link on my "information line" anyway so clicking it will also add you to the group Skype.)

I have family visiting my home the next couple of days, so emailing me will likely be the best approach. I am very interested in the Semantic Web and ways to get Joomla! data ready to be mashed up. I have a number of blogs on it (see signature) if you are looking for great material.

Thanks for considering this project - this is where we are all heading and helping figure out a good way to start moving in that direction will be important!

Look forward to hearing from you,
Amy

[emakki]

Hi Amy,

I am also interested in the Semantic web project (Second one) is it possible for more than one persons work on it separately or I have to look for another project. I have already made contact with professors in my school who are expert in the field like Prof. E. Jacob.

Please let me know if I should continue or not since someone else interested in it.

Thanks,
Zak

[AmyStephen]

Zak -

In my opinion, the "Semantic Web" is a huge area where many people could easily work without significant overlap. As an example, check out the papers that will be presented for the W3C's Linked Data on the Web workshop to be held in Beijing April 22nd.

Broadly speaking - Joomla! can act as a server, making available Linked Data that can be used by others. The ideas discussed thus far really have focused on those concepts. But, one area that will have more immediate impact is creating ability for people to create mashups in Joomla! using Joomla! data and Linked Data. (In this sense, being more of a client - instead of a server.)

Creating an extension(s) that would make it easy for people to create SPARQL end points using Joomla! data and integrate it with Linked Data using the query results to create helpful mashups would be radically helpful.

Interesting resources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linked_Data
http://www.w3.org/DesignIssues/LinkedData.html
http://www.ldodds.com/projects/twinkle/
http://simile.mit.edu/

Question (she asked hopefully) - would your faculty member be interested in helping mentor your project? I believe we can have two mentors per project. If a faculty member you know would like to participate as a mentor on the project and we were able to add someone as a second mentor who can help share Joomla! resources, that might be a very valuable team. I think that would absolutely rock!

Good stuff everyone! Keep thinking! I am feeling very hopeful about this SoC

Amy

[fonsekaean]

Hi all,
I feel like joining Semantic web project too.

[willebil]

Hi all,
I feel like joining Semantic web project too.

Hope you mean you drop in a nice project proposal ;-)

[AmyStephen]

Yesterday, Berners-Lee had a great blog entitled Semantic Web in the news where he talked about misinformation that got out of control with bloggers recently, but more importantly shared a diagram of what he calls a double-bus architecture.

Again, this points out the two very separate functions of serving and consuming Linked Data.

Berners-Lee's blog is also a sharp reminder of hype versus function. He starts by trying to clarify misinformation and concludes that the Semantic Web is very simply about reusing data - either by a. creating raw data that can then be queried by other application developers using SPARQL (or some emerging protocol) or b. making mashups using Interlinked Public Data.

It's obvious today the big trend is the Semantic Web (said in hushed tones, of course). I personally would love to see *many* GSoC applications that address innovative ways to help the Joomla! community begin heading in this direction.

However, I caution anyone against submitting an application entitled "Create Semantic Web for Joomla!" as that says nothing and I expect such a project will simply be categorically rejected.

For me, the applications that will stand out will be those that detail specific ontologies / vocabularies that will be deployed - mapping to existing Joomla! data elements and new data elements that will be added (we can help you with ways to augment the data architecture), that will make it possible for end users without any knowledge of RDF or RDFa or OWL or Dublin Core to make a Joomla! website in a simple manner - just like they do today - and publish Linked Data with minimal effort - or those applications which integrate Flickr and GEO mapping data with nearby restaurant menus and public reviews only by "filling in the blanks" for data source locations.

Real world solutions.

It is those types of projects that not only allow you to research this quickly emerging field, but also, at project conclusion, offer real ability for thousands and thousands of people all over the world to publish data or embed innovative mashups. Real-world solutions can be unique of one another.

So, if you are interested in Semantic Web projects, cool! Go for it. But, zone in on what that means for real users very specifically in your application and why we should consider your project.

Also - the more I think about the idea of a member of your faculty participating as a second mentor on the project, the more I like it! I encourage those of you considering Semantic Web (or any project) to try to make that happen. We are not experts in this field - frankly, other than Berners-Lee - there is only a small handful of experts world-wide. But, we can help you locate what you need for Joomla! and help to remove barriers so that you can move forward with your research in this area. Your end of project solutions will have available an enormous end user base and lots of feedback for your continued work in this area.

Thanks - and I look forward to seeing these carefully considered and well articulated applications - Amy

[emakki]

Thanks Amy for the rich information. I will try to consult with my faculty but I am afraid that time is very short for the proposal if it is due by March 31st. I am still brainstorming and collecting information. I hope I can meet the deadline.

Zak

[AmyStephen]

Zak -

Feel free to add me to Skype if you want to IM. Also, we have a
Joomla! GSoC Chat you can join.

Excited to see your proposal!

Amy

[navssurtani]

Heya Guys,

I'm Navin - 19 and in London on gap year before my university at Imperial College. I will be studying Aeronautical Engineering. I was thinking about applying for your Multi-Lingual Support idea.

I was hoping that you could tell me a couple of things that I wanted to know about for the project: -

1 - How do you store the content - what are the table and data structures?

2 - What API is currently available for supporting internationalisation?

3 - How this system currently works and what you think needs to be changed. Then we can discuss how we change it.

Cheers guys,
Navs.

[willebil]

Heya Guys,

I'm Navin - 19 and in London on gap year before my university at Imperial College. I will be studying Aeronautical Engineering. I was thinking about applying for your Multi-Lingual Support idea.

I was hoping that you could tell me a couple of things that I wanted to know about for the project: -

1 - How do you store the content - what are the table and data structures?

2 - What API is currently available for supporting internationalisation?

3 - How this system currently works and what you think needs to be changed. Then we can discuss how we change it.

Cheers guys,
Navs.

Hi Navs,

Thank you very much for you interest. But this is not the way to work on a proposal. You actually need to work on a proposal, draft what you want to achieve and then propose...even if the first stage is research the questions you have.

Hope this clears things up for you.

Best regards, Wilco

[d4t4min3r]

don't forget sub category's. also something i have been wondering about... built in update function, i just got 1.5 and already 1.5.1 is out

[saurabh_er]

I want to work for the multidatabase support for the jhoomla. I have been looking on the internet for the past two days knowing all about postgreSQL. How to install, use it and about its compatibility with apache and PHP and i found it manageable.
Now as i have been working on WAMP model for the past one year and now have a lot of idea regarding interactions between them, their commands, configurations and their functions and now wants to upgrade myself to start work for the cross database plateforms.
I want to give jhoomla a functionality so that in future it could get compatible with all different databases whenever it is needed i want to do it by developing a layer which would be cross database and then just by adding php functions a new database could be easily added. I will give full implementation for PostgreSQL support as an example to that abstract layer also give features for switching between databases with ofcourse data tranfer, their codecs etc

I just wanted to know what more can be achieved in this area to make jhoomla the best CMS having multi db support and with ur exp i also wanted to know what problems or shortcomings have actually made jhoomla lacking this feature till this date. Please Reply ASAP.

[rajan_vaish]

Hello,
I was among the first 3 keen students to post my ideas on the Proposed Ideas thread on Joomla! forum .. I have submitted my Proposal and looking for a mentor ! Also would love to receive comments ,which could improve my Proposal further .thanking you ..
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I will be creating the GUI of Wizard using QT 4.3.4, GCC 4.2.1 and then using its *.ui file we can further add event handling for each Next buttons of the Wizard. First and foremost I will be implementing functionality of Auto-Suggest using AJAX ,where I have few options like using Mootools (which is one of Joomla!'s choice for implementing JavaScript based functionality )where it can load suggestions from a local object or via XHR from a JSON or XHTML source .Where All classes extend the base class Autocompleter.Base, which provides all basic features to create an Auto Suggest from any provided source. Both, Ajax.Json and Ajax.Json extend Autocompleter.Ajax.Base, which handles the query request and response or perhaps I will be using my own build system where as the wizard runs options are asked like starting with : 1 - Name of the text box where Auto suggest is to be implemented,
2 - PHP page’s name is asked which will be implementing the code,
3 - Span id .
3 - Path of the database is asked to set the connection, by the end of Finish.
The desired code needed for implementing the task with be auto pasted on the PHP and JavaScript pages like the one ( http://w3schools.com/ajax/ajax_source.asp ).The code which will be customized while the Wizard is running will itself be saved in a database for the Wizard and finally retrieved when its about to be pasted . An analogy can be derived from the Wizards used in Visual Studio.NET. Hence building forms will be a very easy task .An additional Filter can be set too for which options in Wizard will be available and after using it, we can use form for Auto – Complete for Name ,Country and many such attributes using a single Search Box with options set by Radio Buttons on the html page.

Other AJAX based functionalities which I will be implementing are VOTING Yes/No Boxes .Such a feature is required in many websites by reducing the time and impact of clicking on things, Ajax applications become a lot more interactive – if it takes a 40 seconds to register a vote, most people would probably pass unless they really care. If it takes 1 second to vote, a much larger percentage of people are likely to vote .I will be adding this functionality using same method as used for Auto Suggest with its own desired code to be pasted, user will be again asked path of database to be connected to, PHP page’s name and the Span id .The event handing will be set on selecting the Radio button for Yes/No and no need for separate Submit button .In fact it will be simpler to implement this than Auto Suggest.

If time remains, many other form based functionalities can be implemented or perhaps I will keep working on them even after GSoC’08 like AJAX based Auto Save and Rapid User to User communication like the one in GMAIL, where viewing threads become very easy and fast. Auto Implementing AJAX based RSS feed viewer is also one of my proposed future idea. Since implementing these features will be more complex in comparison to the one’s mentioned above so I plan to add these ideas in future prospects.
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EMAIL/GTALK IM > vaish.rajan@gmail.com

[ponc0]

Error Page Handling - create a component that will handle standard errors (ex. 404) so that headers are sent for the error code, but the error is trapped and redirected from the error.php file back to Joomla! where it can be handled on a normal webpage.

Be careful with this.. we had it once.. it's a killer on the servers, better to let apache handle the 404's.

hehehe yeah thats true but thanks for your info