Pitching in...

[jreades]

<p>So I have the following skills:</p>

<ul>

<li>Database design and management (not dba-level, but solid enough)

<li>Experience working with various site engines (HTML::Mason, PHP, JSP)

<li>Experience doing graphic design

<li>Experience working with HTML, DHTML/JS, and CSS

</ul>

 

<p>And I'm willing to help if you need it...</p>

 

<p>So where do I sign up, and what needs doing?</p>

[mottershead]

Jon, if you would like to help with the development of the site, please send me an email. This goes for anyone else who would like to help.

 

However, at the risk of seeming to be turning away offers of help, which is not my intention, I will say that the photo.net code is not easy to work on. In the last few years, only two volunteers have been persistent and determined enough to help with the code to actually succeed in contributing anything. These were Patrick Hudepohl and me. photo.net uses AOLServer. The scripts are written in Tcl. The database back-end is Oracle. It all runs on Linux and Solaris. You have to accept all this: we aren't going to let you create a new corner of the system written in whatever you happen to already know. Oracle is a marketable skill; but the mainstream Web world considers Tcl and Aolserver to be backwaters, and learning these is not incredibly career-enhancing.

 

There is no development environment; but we aren't going to let you onto the production system at all until we trust you. "Trust" means not only that we think you are honest and well-intentioned, but also that we know you will be careful and not too fumble-fingered when working on the live systems while 130,000 people per day are accessing them. So, that means you are going to need to set up a develoment environment on a system you have at home. This in itself won't be easy. For one thing, there is no photo.net install script. We aren't going to let you have a copy of the live database with people's passwords; so you will have to create a test database. If you try it, nobody will have a lot of time to help you. In some ways this is a good thing, because it means that if you aren't serious, you will get frustrated and give up before you waste a lot of our time.

 

So, if you aren't discouraged by all this, please contact me via email.

 

P.S. Thanks for offering!

[pmj]

Thanks Brian. I wonder what my colleagues will think of it. But they already know me as someone stubborn enough to use a fountain pen and a film-based camera :-)