...
Given this, it only seems reasonable to also conclude:
- Conclusion: One Our DSpace Committers group can only reasonably build/support/maintain a single, out-of-the-box DSpace UI.
- Please note this does NOT state there should only be ONE UI (as noted above there are some advantages to multiple UIs). It simply states that there will only be one out-of-the-box UI.
- If there are enough developers/institutions who see an ongoing need for a secondary UI, they are welcome to build, support and maintain a secondary, optional UI with their own, separate group of developers/committers.
- A sidenote of sorts: If a secondary "committers group" were to form around a secondary UI, it may someday make sense to "split" the "DSpace Committers Group" into several "sub-teams": One team in charge of the underlying API / REST API, one team in charge of the primary, out-of-the-box UI, one team in charge of the secondary UI (if any). These teams would likely have some overlapping members, but they'd each be self-sufficient and more tailored to the needs of each individual sub-modules.
- Opinions? Please feel free to add +1 / 0 / -1 to this conclusion, and any comments you may have
- I AGREE: We only should maintain a single, out-of-the-box DSpace UI. If a secondary UI is built (or continues to be maintained), it should be maintained by a separate team of committers / developers.
- +1 Tim Donohue
- I DISAGREE: We should continue to support/maintain multiple out-of-the-box DSpace UIs with our existing DSpace Committers Team
- (add your name here)
- I AGREE: We only should maintain a single, out-of-the-box DSpace UI. If a secondary UI is built (or continues to be maintained), it should be maintained by a separate team of committers / developers.
What makes a good UI (framework)?
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UI Framework | Languages / Technologies | Widely Adopted? | Ease of Customization | Responsive web design support | HTML5 support | REST-friendly | Faceted/Filtered Search/Browse friendly | Rapid Development friendly | Third-party plugin ecosystem | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Existing DSpace XMLUI | Java, Apache Cocoon, XSLT | No | Not really (except maybe at Bootstrap level with Mirage2) | Mirage 2 theme = Yes Other themes = No | No | No | Yes | No | No | |
Personal opinions on DSpace XMLUI: | ||||||||||
Existing DSpace JSPUI | Java, JSPs | No | Not really (again, except maybe at Bootstrap level with Mirage2) | Yes | A few areas (e.g .HTML5 upload), but not overall | No | Yes | No | No | |
Personal opinions on DSpace JSPUI: | ||||||||||
Play! Framework | Java, Scala | Yes, some major sites use it according to Wikipedia | Yes, can be used with Bootstrap | Yes | Yes, has a modules repository | |||||
Personal opinions on Play Framework: | ||||||||||
Ruby on Rails | Ruby | Yes | Yes, has a Rails Bootstrap app, plus many gems | Yes | Yes, in form of Rails plugins & Ruby gems | |||||
Personal opinions on Ruby on Rails: | ||||||||||
Hydra Framework | Ruby on Rails, Fedora, Blacklight | Not worldwide, but has a growing following in libraries, etc. The base technology, Ruby on Rails is widely adopted | Yes (well, Sufia uses Bootstrap) | Yes (uses REST to communicate with Fedora) | Yes (Blacklight) | Yes | Yes, because it's Ruby on Rails, you often can use Rails plugins and/or Ruby gems | Hydra doesn't currently "work" with DSpace. However, if we decided to the the former (create a DSpace-like Hydra Head), there are members of the Hydra Community who want the same thing | ||
Personal opinions on Hydra: | ||||||||||
Grails | Groovy (based on Java) | Yes, large number of sites using Grails listed on website | Yes, has several Bootstrap plugins | Yes | Yes, has a plugins repository | |||||
Personal opinions on Grails: | ||||||||||
JQuery UI | Javascript | Yes | Yes, e.g. there is a JQuery UI theme for Bootstrap | Yes | Yes, has a plugin repository | |||||
Personal opinions on JQuery UI: | ||||||||||
(Javascript with RESTful JSON interface & Model-View-Presenter) | Javascript | Yes, large number of major sites listed on Wikipedia & their homepage | Yes, or at least you can use it in conjunction with Bootstrap. | Yes | Yes | Yes, has plugins and extensions | Designed for developing "single page web applications". It could prove difficult to use with DSpace because of the complexity of a repository system. | |||
Personal opinions on Backbone.js: | ||||||||||
(Client-side Javascript web application using MVC) | Javascript | Yes, see their list of users on website | Yes, can use in conjunction with Bootstrap, e.g. https://indexiatech.github.io/ember-components/#/overview | Yes | Yes | Yes, there's an "addon" repository | Uses Grunt, Bower, NPM (all of which are also in use by Mirage 2 theme) | |||
Personal opinions on Ember.js: |