INDIA-GOA: Making a web-site isn't tough... if you have the right tools

From: Frederick Noronha (FN) (fred_at_bytesforall.org)
Date: 05/23/04

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    Date: Sun, 23 May 2004 10:31:49 CST

    MAKING A WEB-SITE ISN'T TOUGH... IF YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TOOLS

    >>From Frederick Noronha

    GOA, India, May 23: It's easier to get online, but isn't making a web-site
    and keeping it updated really an uphill struggle? Not really, if you make
    use of the right mix of technology available and the optimum solutions,
    says Dr Gurunandan Bhat, former head of Goa University's Computer Science
    Department.

    Speaking at a GNU/Linux users' group meeting jointly organised by the India
    Linux Users' Group (Goa) and the Goa Science Centre Panjim at Miramar on the
    weekend, Dr Bhat said managing websites can be a difficult task if the wrong
    tools were chosen.

    "Managing a website can be a very complex task. The site I update has 370
    individual pages. HTML (the earlier-used tool) is not a very nice way for
    making sites," said Bhat.

    Currently the Chief Technical Officer of Synapse -- an innovative Dona
    Paula-based institution which works on media, technology and design -- Dr
    Bhat introduced the audience to 'Movable Type'.

    "Content Management Solution (CMS) tools allow the web-page designer, the
    coder and the content-writer to work independently of one another, yet as a
    team, without each one necessarily having to know each other's job," he
    said.

    While some CMS solutions cost over Rs 1 crore -- as in the case of those
    installed by large Indian newspapers or even sites like sharekhan.com -- Dr
    Bhat said others were available with their source code and for the asking,
    thanks to the Free/Libre and Open Source Software (FLOSS) movement.

    He explained his own use of PHP and PHP-templates as a good CMS solution to
    build the architecture of India website for architect Gerard Da Cunha. He
    said that though the site contains only a handful of pages, every page looks
    different and doesn't suffer monotony either.

    Dr Bhat argued that the Internet was first driven by the scientific
    community in the 'seventies and 'eighties, and then by the business boom in
    the 'nineties.

    It was now being driven by individuals, he said, pointing out how weblogs
    (or 'blogs' -- the sometimes trivial, sometimes very useful diaries many
    individuals were keeping on the Net today) were becoming increasingly
    popular.

    This, he suggested, implied that the task of creating websites needed to be
    made into a simpler and less-technical process for those on the 'content'
    creation side.

    "The individual has taken over the Internet today," he said, pointing to
    sites like livejournal.com, which allow anyone to put up a blog of their
    own. Dr Bhat maintains his own blog at codesutra.net

    He pointed to ventures like slashdot.com, the collective blog of the geek
    community. "It's great, except when it starts spreading rumours," he
    remarked.

    Dr Bhat said he found Movable Type a "really beautiful" software for ease of
    use. It was created by the team 6apart.com, which included the techie of
    Indian origin, Anil Dash.

    Taking his talk to a tech plane, Dr Bhat showed how Movable Type could be
    converted to look like an 'enterprise-level' website, taking care of all the
    requirements of the business world, not just giving the simple, diary-like
    format of a blog.

    He advised youngsters to "think CSS" from the very start, while going into
    web-design. He regretted that the world's second-largest country, India, had
    just "four to five" prominent blogs, including Rajesh Jain's weblog on
    technology at http://www.emergic.org

    ILUG-Goa has its meetings -- open to all, and without membership fees -- on
    the second Saturday of each month in Margao or Verna and on the fourth
    Saturdays in Panjim. Further details are available on
    http://www.ilug-margao.org or http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ilug-goa

    ENDS

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