
= A Review of Web Collaboration Software To Run With Apache

Modified: May 2003

INTRODUCTION

  Since Ella Associates will probably have a need for some kind of Web Collaboration
  system, this document attempts to review some of the available software (free or
  open source) which can be used with the Apache Web Server. The Alexis software eventually
  will also provide for this sort of functionality, but in the mean-time it may be 
  useful to have a working system. At the moment, it would seem that the most important
  feature for Ella Associates would be a 'File Galery' allowing members to upload links
  and documents as well as comments. Some kind of discussion forum may also be useful.
  Web collaboration systems are often known as 'communities' or as 'Wikis' .
  
  Perhaps a good way to discover the 'really good stuff' would be to look at
  what the major open source projects are using for their discussion forums
  etc. For example: www.bugzilla.org, www.gnu.org, www.debian.org etc

SUMMARY OF CONCLUSIONS
   
  For a discussion system see the 'yabb' software. I think it wins the contest. 
  Or maybe phpBB

  A wiki system is perhaps too anarchic (and unreadable) for Ella's purposes
  (Althougth wiki-tiki is not just a wiki!). One problem is that the available systems
  while good almost provide too much and would be intimidating to a new user.
  I want something with a very simple interface.


  In this field of the Internet there is quite a lot terminology which is
  not immediately obvious to the new user. A number of different terms are
  used for the same thing. Also, there is a conceptual overlap. For example
  a system where users can maintain an FAQ and add answers and comments and
  questions, is really the same thing as a 'discussion board' except that for
  the discussion board the 'questions' are called 'topics'.
  
TERMINOLOGY

  Faq
    Is a list of Frequently Asked Questions. Although the questions may
    never have been asked by any-body
    
  Wiki
    A 'wiki' is a system where every web page is editable by everybody or by a certain
    set of people, and the system uses a special and simple plain text markup language
    to allow people to do the editing without knowing HTML. This is the most 
    anarchic of the collaborative systems. In many cases there is nothing to stop
    any body deleting or defacing pages. According to the 'wiki' advocates, human
    psychology prevents this from happening. The pages produced by this system tend
    to be completely unstructured. This is really the 'brain-storming' of the web
    collaborational systems.

  Forum
    A place where people can discuss various topics by posting messages and replies
   
  Bulletin Board
  BBS
  Message Board
  Discussion Board
    I think these are essentially the same as a Forum
    
  Weblog
    News and discussion community sites are also called 'weblogs',or 'web journals'
    But a Weblog has an emphasis on some kind of 'diarized' entries, that is, entries
    for sequential dates.

  Content Management System
    This is a system which allows users to edit the web-pages and have input into
    the web site, among other things, but is less anarchic than a Wiki. This is 
    possibly not a great definition

  Web Application Server
    This is a program to allow the simple setting up of web-applications, such
    as CMS's, Forums, Faq's and web based intranets etc. The line between this 
    and a Content Management System can be blurry.

  Automatic FAQ  
    A system where-by users can maintain a list of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
    is often called an 'faq-omatic'
   
  File Gallery 
    A system where users can upload files and descriptions of those files
    is often called a 'File Gallery'.
    
NOTES

    It is a perhaps strange fact that these systems which allow such flexible user
    input (CMS, forums, discussion boards, automatic faq's) often seem to have
    less real 'content' than sites which are maintained in a more traditional
    and restricted manner. It is possibly that the wealth of choices facing the
    web-site visitor and the wealth of input capabilities confuses or de-motivates
    the user. It is also possible that the complexity and capability of the system
    reduces the users sense of 'ownership' of the site, and of his or her input into
    it. This lack of ownership could lead to a lack of motivation to contribute.

    Because so many of the basic tasks are automated and because all the web-pages
    have such a uniform 'look and feel', the user may feel as if he or she is
    within some great monolithic monster that will devour all his or her efforts
    and input. This is often my reaction. Also, because of the 'slick-ness' of
    the user inter-face of the web-site that uses one of these zope, or phorum or
    webgui (see below) type tools, the user get a sense of 'commercialization',
    that is, that he or she is dealing with some large and wealthy company,
    simply because of the wealth of 'features' in the user interface. This sense
    of commercialization may be completely unfounded, especially considering
    that all of the reviewed tools are free and open source. Never the less,
    this sense of commercialization can reduce the motivation to contribute.

    Also because many of these features are 'threaded' in some way, the real
    content often seems hidden or hard to get at. Also, sometimes the comments
    posted by users interfer with the flow of the original content, for example
    in the Zope user-guide there are so many comments, most of them polemical,
    that the actual user guide is practically unreadable.  Also, these systems
    provide a temptation to leave every-thing, including the creation of decent
    documentation, up to the 'community'. And often, it just doesn't seem to
    get done. Also, there is a temptation to use these collaborative tools in
    situations which they are not appropriate. In some circumstances the reader
    simply wants a readable document, not hundreds of threaded discussions or
    posts or comments all of which contain a small amount of content, if any.

    In the case of Ella Associates, I believe it would be difficult to persuade
    any body to use the system in a productive way. It would be hard to wean
    people off the old 'group email' system, which people seem very attached to.

    There is also a certain change in mind-set which these collaborative systems require
    on the part of the user. They contradict the centuries old paradigm of having
    a central authority, or publisher who controls and manages information.
    In these collaborative systems, there is no real central authority and this
    can give a real sense of disorientation to the new user. It did to me.

    In many cases, I have been looking for something much simpler than the
    solutions that are available. For example, for the purposes of Ella, it would
    be sufficient to have an FAQ which would all be on the one HTML page, and to
    which any body could add an answer of comment. All these comments would be
    'in-line', there would be no threading. Also a simple 'File Gallery' where
    member could post links, comments and actual files would be good. But all the
    bells and whistles are not really necessary, and may be negative.
    
    In the case of Forums, BBS's etc, I have a general prejudice against them because
    a lot of the content seems to be of low quality.
  
  FORUMS AND DISCUSSION BOARDS

  In summary of this section, I would say that Yabb (yet another bulletin board)
  is the right choice, although it is difficult to know with so much free
  and good software available. Yabb seems to have the largest and most enthusiastic
  user base, which perhaps tips the scales. The home site has something like
  20,000 posts and from random reading they seem genuine.
  
  Also phpBB is very good
  
  http://tikiwiki.sourceforge.net/
    This is a very capable system called the 'Tiki Wiki' , in active development, using php and mysql, which
    suppports things like an automatic FAQ, Web-Mail Interface, 'File Galeries' which
    are systems that allow users to upload and down-load file, 'Discussion Forums' etc
    The only disadvantage of this is that it possibly includes too many features and 
    may be tricky to install.
    
  http://alt.thetinfoilhat.com/htmldoc/index.html
    Html documentation for the tikiwiki software

  http://www.plainblack.com/webgui
    An web content management system and collaboration etc. Perl,
    Quite a nice looking interface. In Active Development. There does not appear
    to be any online documentation. may be contained in the download. This
    GPL system is backed by a commercial company.

  http://www.movabletype.org/
    Another content management system. Perl, and Mysql or Berkely DB (which I think
    is just files and therefor does not require any database to be used). It seems to
    have some good online documentation as well as some nice output templates.
    Supports weblogs, But not entirely free. It seems to be free only for personal use.
    

  InvisionBoard
  phpBB
    Two more forum or discussion boards.

  http://www.phpbb.com 
   phpBB, is pretty impressive. It appears to be non threaded. It has icq, live user
   statistics and a wide range of styles (skins) very good documentation. Good language
   support.
  
  http://www.sporum.org/   
    A GPL'd discussion Forum system. Uses Perl and MySql. A Debian Package is available.
    
  http://phorum.org/
    A forum/ message board  system in PHP with MySQL or PostgreSql.
    Appears to have a lot of users. Interface in many languages.
    Doesn't seem to be a Debian package. Is in active developement (apr 2003).
    Has a Catalan language interface file (and spanish). Usable from within
    Lynx but not a very good text only layout. Allows upload file attachments.
    
  http://www.scriptarchive.com/demos/wwwboard/wwwboard.html
    A simple perl cgi message board. Reasonable documentation. No database is required.
    A very plain interface.

  http://www.hotscripts.com/Perl/Scripts_and_Programs/FAQ_and_Knowledgebase/
    A list of web Frequently Asked Question systems. (such as, I presume,
    faq-o-matic)

  http://www.ikonboard.com/
    Another swish looking 'bulletin' board or message board, or forum system.

  http://blog-java.sourceforge.net/
    Java based blog (web journal system). Perhaps immature.

  http://acity.sourceforge.net/
    A threaded discussion system (agora) using perl, mysql. But hasnt been updated since 
    nov 2001. Documentation appears very patchy.
    
  http://squishdot.org/
    A news and discussion system. Looks good but uses a thing called 'zope' (which is
    an open source 'web application server').
    
  http://www.zope.org/
    An all bells and whistles web application basis. Appears complex to set up(?)
    Zope can be attached to Apache but by default is not and serves on port 8080 or
    9673. It has a browser based management interface. A Debian package is available.

  http://www.phpgroupware.org/
    Another system using php and postgreSql. Debian Package is available.
   
  http://tavi.sourceforge.net/
    Another 'wiki' system. 
    
  http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?WelcomeVisitors    
    Another wiki site with some explanations
    
  http://www.yabbforum.com/
    Perl forum and chat system. Yabb. In active development. Reasonable looking
    online documentation. Instant messaging support. Apparently is not designed on
    the 'threaded' concept. That is the conversations on the discussion board
    do not run in threads. There are topics and anybody can post a message to that
    topic but you cannot reply to a specific message within the topic, except by
    making it clear in the text of your message who you are replying to.

    Appears to have a very active user base. There are a very large number
    of posts to some of the forums. Good language support, Spanish but not
    catalan. Is readable in Lynx, just. This site also contains a java applet
    based IRC chat client, which is located at eirc.sourceforge.net (?)

    Because YaBB relies heavyily on HTML tables for its layout it is quite
    difficult to read within the Lynx text only browser (which doesn't support
    tables). Also, many of the icons do not have text equivalents. One solution
    may be to use the 'links' browser, a version of Lynx which supports tables.

    my yabb account is mjb/bacibaci

AUTOMATIC FAQS    

 (all the links, unless stated otherwise, are GPL's or equivalent)
  The Main CVS site contains an example of an Automatic FAQ
  
  The faq generating script at the sed faq site produces decent output

  http://faqomatic.sourceforge.net/
    A Cgi based system. Each answer seems to appear on a new Html page.
    The interface is a little cluttered. Seems to have some important 'users'
    (debian home site, lynx home site). Is available as Debian package.
    Supports question categories, searching, etc. The user is allowed to
    answer questions, or add comments etc. 

    I have found the installation process for the faqomatic not entirely
    straightforward. For example, it appears that you need a working 'mailer'
    on your system in order to configure the faqomatic after you have
    installed it. 
    
 http://www.fourteenminutes.com/code/faqmanager/ 
    A nice simple perl faq manager. But does not seem to have user update
    capabilities. The FAQ produced is reasonably good looking and clean.
    Has a search capability. All the answers for one particular section
    are on the same page, but a different page from the questions which
    are hyperlinks.

  http://www.interlogy.com/products/content/faqman/index.html
    Reasonable perl faq manager. Has an update facility through an
    admin page. All the questions are output on the same page. No hyperlinked
    table of contents is displayed. Reasonable looking documentation.
    The lack of hyperlinks should be easily customised.

  http://opensource.yourdecor.ca/faq1/
    A Jsp, Mysql faq system. None of the demo sites work currently (apr 2003)
    Does not seem to be actively developed. Last updates were in late 2001.

  http://artho.com/webtools/faq/
    A simple FAQ generation system written in Perl. It is a perl script to
    generate an HTML FAQ File from a 'plain text' file with optional section
    headings.
    Also the site contains an 'html generator' with reasonable documentation.
  
  http://www.chadsdomain.com/phpsimplefaq/
    Another Php, mysql faq system. Not many features. Was still being developed
    in late 2002. I dont know if it still is.

  http://mtvwebdesign.hypermart.net/products/faqgen/
    Another FAQ generator. No online documentation is available. Written in Perl
  http://www.cis.rit.edu/~sdlpci/Software/perl/#FAQ
    A very basic perl faq2html filter script. The questions can only be one line long

  http://www.codegrunt.com/
    Another FAQ system in Php, MySql, with searches, comments, section headings etc. Not in
    active development (apr 2003). States that it is beta. Not a bad looking interface.

  http://faq-system.sourceforge.net/
    An FAQ System written in C++, for Linux, MySql database. You probably have to
    compile it with gcc.
  
  http://mason.gmu.edu/~bhroleno/FB.html
    Another PHP, Mysql system. The web-site has no docs or other info. 
    
  http://www.kendermore.de/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=2
    Another tool but also all in German.

  http://www.phpmyfaq.de/
    A php based faq system, but all in German currently.

MISCELANEOUS

  http://www.boutell.com/search/
    A perl web-site search engine by thomas boutell who wrote the gd library.
    Probably knows what he's doing. Uses an index file.

  http://dunne.dyn.dhs.org/~paul/scripts_text.html
     Some reasonable shell scripts, including 'exclusive delete' for sed

  http://www.shelldorado.com/
    Shell programming resources. A good archive of shell scripts, cgi, etc
    reading from standard input etc. Contains a script 'urlgetopt' which
    get the data posted from a form in a CGI script

  http://www.shelldorado.com/goodcoding/cmdargs.html
    Using getopts example

  http://bashlib.sourceforge.net/
    A library for writing CGI scripts in the Bash shell
    
    
  http://www.fpx.de/fp/Software/ProcCGIsh.html
     Shell script and C program for processing CGI form data

  http://heron.snell.clarkson.edu/~horn/classes/tc444/scripts/bestbash.seegi.html
     Bash CGI 'here document' example, and nothing else

  http://web20013.tripod.com/webprogramming-unleashed/17.htm
     A Bash CGI tutorial. doesn't seem to cover form data.

  http://bashish.sourceforge.net/
    A 'theme' engine for bash, ie a customizer

  http://sourceforge.net/softwaremap/trove_list.php?form_cat=96
    The CGI Tools category listing on sourceforge

  http://txt2regex.sourceforge.net/
    An engine for converting plain english into regular expressions (?)
    Part of Debian. displays regular expression syntax for a variety of 
    tools, perl, awk, sed etc

  http://www.loquo.com/english/cat/103
     A Barcelona 'Community' Site, in some-ways similar to 'the grapevine'
     Based on the 'phorum' software. (See above)
     
  http://lynx.isc.org/
    The Lynx home site. (Uses the 'faqomatic')

  http://jui.sourceforge.net/
    A tool for creating Java Swing layouts.

CONTACT INFORMATION

  please send comments about this document to:
    matthew@ella-associates.org or matth3wbishop@yahoo.com
