Joomla blog posts from around the web (01/14)

A name is just a name

Written by Brian Teeman

The conversation about the change in licence for the Joomla Framework has clearly raised many strong opinions as well as some confusion. I admit I was confused at first regarding the version of the LGPL that was to be used as it was missing from the original post by Paul but once that was clarified I did update my post. However I believe there is one "confusion" that still can be resolved.

Two products, one called Joomla and one called Joomla Framework that currently are not connected. I hate to use the word marketing so lets stick with an older term Public Information(PI).

There are two very different groups of people who will be consumers of both Joomla and the Joomla Framework and we need to ensure that both groups of people are receiving the correct and most appropriate information.

Read the complete post here...

Joomla Framework and the LGPL - Say No!

Written by Brian Teeman

This is in response to a potential license change to lgpl for joomla! framework

Joomla was founded on the principle of Open Source Matters and a change to using the LGPL licence for the framework is completely against that. For those of you that don't know the LGPL allows the code to be included in proprietary, closed source software.

How does allowing people to produce closed source software with the Joomla Framework support the principle of Open Source Matters?

Just another rant?

Before you think this is Brian just going off on a rant of his own I'm not alone with this view. The Free Software Foundation, the people behind both the GPL and LGPL licences, agree.

Read the complete post here...

Expedited 2014 budget process yields new innovation fund, RFPs for JED and marketing

Written by Victor Drover

Shortly after being selected to serve as Treasurer of Open Source Matters, I presented my vision for managing the financial interests of the Joomla project. This short presentation (PDF) was delivered at the 2013 Leadership Summit in November in Boston.

The main point of the presentation was to solicit feedback from all the leadership teams regarding things that were working well when it came to the project’s accounting practices, and of course things that needed improvement. The main takeaways from this part of the summit were as follows:

• The financial health of the project remains strong
• Financial reporting per leadership team is not currently possible
• The Chart of Accounts is not intuitive
• Financial status reports need simplification

Read the complete post here...

JED Archive Closing

Written by Matthew Baylor

The JED Team will be closing down the Joomla 1.5 Extensions Archive on March 1, 2014.

The archive was created in February of 2013, following community feedback, to allow users an additional year to find Joomla 1.5 extensions. It also has aided developers to transition their extensions and in some cases fork abandoned extensions to 2.5 and 3.x.

The JED's 1.5 Timeline:

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Feedback request on potential license change to LGPL for Joomla! Framework

Written by Paul Orwig

The board of directors of Open Source Matters (OSM) is requesting public feedback from our community members through March 6, 2014, regarding a potential license change for the Joomla! Framework from the GPL to the LGPL. This potential license change would only apply to the Joomla Framework, but not to the Joomla Content Management System (CMS).

Background

Early last year, following a previous public email list discussion, the Joomla Production Leadership Team (PLT) conducted a survey with the Joomla developer community to learn more about how they felt about potentially relicensing the Joomla Framework, but not the Joomla CMS, from GPL v2+ to LGPL v2.1+.

Read the complete post here...

Localising Joomla! Documentation

Written by Tom Hutchison

I am pleased to announce the launch of our localisation project for Joomla! documentation. Using an extension designed specifically for translation of pages, our documentation can now be translated. In fact, the translation will be close to the original content of a current documentation page. Once translated, a page will be tracked and when needed, it can be updated easily if the content changes.

For a long time, our international community has desired Joomla! documentation in their native language. One of the major hurdles was deciding how and what tools to use for translating our documentation. This not only included how to translate, but how to track documentation changes while keeping the translated pages up-to-date with the original source pages. You can see an example of a translated page in our sandbox.

Besides tracking the original content of the page, if the original content ever changes, the translation can be updated easily. What is radically different from traditional translations, it will be unnecessary to translate the entire page again. Translators will only have to re-translate the section of a page with changes.

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How to edit T3 Templates Using Custom LESS

Written by Rob Went

To make small css edits to T3 templates, we usually recommend using the custom.css method as it is convenient (the file can be edited in the template administration area), the code is not affected when updating the template and it keeps your code separated from the compiled LESS files (which makes it easier to debug and keep track of if you need to troubleshoot your changes). It also gets loaded on each page using the template regardless of the selected theme, making it good for site wide structural changes.

However, as all T3 templates are built using LESS, it is also possible to override or add LESS syntax without it being wiped out when upgrading the template. This is a somewhat advanced technique and should only be attempted if you are experienced with LESS or feeling adventurous.

Read the complete post here...