J! mentoring similar to GHOPC - Joomla! Forum - community, help and support
introduction
i have been playing around joomla few months , have enjoyed doing so. think joomla great piece of work , in terms of cms thing real minus in view way things driven menus not structure.
still, matter of fact , not of criticism, there room improvement in few areas ancillary cms itself. there small bothersome things, such messy layout on many pages in development section, solved time goes by. 1 thing not expect solved things go involvement of new developers, , make suggestion in regard.
issue
in view, joomla of framework. works out of box, in truth intended customised , extended. hence use of templates extensions, gpl licence , ability install extensions. so, logical joomla users start developing own extensions, , goes beginning coders (such myself) as professional developers. posts in forums confirm this, , unsurprisingly forums wealth of information in addition developers section.
however, information making or changing extensions joomla incomplete, inaccurate (which unavoidable due version differences), , fragmented , spread out. there efforts fill hole writing tutorials or books, nature have general approach , limited detail.
moreover, beginning coders not matter of finding information, comes down understanding it. example, found quite bit of information jdatabase class not mean understand use when.
suggestion
my suggestion try , create mentored beginning coders program similar way ghopc enriched joomla community.
i imagine program whereby people can submit request in specified format detailing idea plan implement , other information. pool of mentors composed of experienced joomla coders can welcome or reject request dependent on merrits of case. if accepted, mentor helps beginning coder along path of development pointing in right direction. conditions of course attached, such resulting extension published under gpl. condition thought might interesting expect beginning developers blog progress , way solved difficulties, and/or comment in files why coded did in way did it.
not coding takes place in summer , not beginning coders students, idea open program suggested interested.
mentoring take place answering specific questions in addition forums space posting quesitons, , proactively suggesting better, safer or quicker ways go things. mentoring not need result in private lessons or pseudo-outsourcing, , should not relieve beginning coders searching through joomla, php, mysql , other information sources, experienced coder familiar project able see how solve particular problem. in forums, on other hand, solutions not forthcoming because 1 have go through code either long or incomplete , unfamiliar.
it beginning coders come new or improved extensions, or contribute joomla community , development in other ways - example once have gained experience can write tutorials or act mentors themselves. if way thought of organise blogs suggested these become rich resource. seasoned developers better insight in perspective of beginning coders them writing relevant documentation (tutorials, references, wiki, books, etc.). furthermore, through such program standards can encouraged, such making extensions ready other languages, security best practices, etc. (in fullness of time think joomla should have best practice standards certification anyway). 1 limit mentored development v1.5 encourage extensions development.
to summarise advantages: suggestion community way grow community.
question
of course interested hear people driving joomla think of suggestion!
i have been playing around joomla few months , have enjoyed doing so. think joomla great piece of work , in terms of cms thing real minus in view way things driven menus not structure.
still, matter of fact , not of criticism, there room improvement in few areas ancillary cms itself. there small bothersome things, such messy layout on many pages in development section, solved time goes by. 1 thing not expect solved things go involvement of new developers, , make suggestion in regard.
issue
in view, joomla of framework. works out of box, in truth intended customised , extended. hence use of templates extensions, gpl licence , ability install extensions. so, logical joomla users start developing own extensions, , goes beginning coders (such myself) as professional developers. posts in forums confirm this, , unsurprisingly forums wealth of information in addition developers section.
however, information making or changing extensions joomla incomplete, inaccurate (which unavoidable due version differences), , fragmented , spread out. there efforts fill hole writing tutorials or books, nature have general approach , limited detail.
moreover, beginning coders not matter of finding information, comes down understanding it. example, found quite bit of information jdatabase class not mean understand use when.
suggestion
my suggestion try , create mentored beginning coders program similar way ghopc enriched joomla community.
i imagine program whereby people can submit request in specified format detailing idea plan implement , other information. pool of mentors composed of experienced joomla coders can welcome or reject request dependent on merrits of case. if accepted, mentor helps beginning coder along path of development pointing in right direction. conditions of course attached, such resulting extension published under gpl. condition thought might interesting expect beginning developers blog progress , way solved difficulties, and/or comment in files why coded did in way did it.
not coding takes place in summer , not beginning coders students, idea open program suggested interested.
mentoring take place answering specific questions in addition forums space posting quesitons, , proactively suggesting better, safer or quicker ways go things. mentoring not need result in private lessons or pseudo-outsourcing, , should not relieve beginning coders searching through joomla, php, mysql , other information sources, experienced coder familiar project able see how solve particular problem. in forums, on other hand, solutions not forthcoming because 1 have go through code either long or incomplete , unfamiliar.
it beginning coders come new or improved extensions, or contribute joomla community , development in other ways - example once have gained experience can write tutorials or act mentors themselves. if way thought of organise blogs suggested these become rich resource. seasoned developers better insight in perspective of beginning coders them writing relevant documentation (tutorials, references, wiki, books, etc.). furthermore, through such program standards can encouraged, such making extensions ready other languages, security best practices, etc. (in fullness of time think joomla should have best practice standards certification anyway). 1 limit mentored development v1.5 encourage extensions development.
to summarise advantages: suggestion community way grow community.
question
of course interested hear people driving joomla think of suggestion!
there whole forum (set of forums actually) dedicated beginner coders (not beginners though 
) joomla coding 101 has have touched upon, except may need more input more experienced users helping less experienced. think once 1.5 out door, amount of time more experienced people can spend helping others on forums increase. right helping test , debug.
check out, new coder myself have found lot of great information there.
) joomla coding 101 has have touched upon, except may need more input more experienced users helping less experienced. think once 1.5 out door, amount of time more experienced people can spend helping others on forums increase. right helping test , debug.check out, new coder myself have found lot of great information there.
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