dominoGuru.com - soon on XPages!

11/23/2010 09:07 AM by Chris Toohey

Long time readers of this site -- thanks! -- will remember that I nuked the NotesDatabase Template (without a backup) that runs this site, and what you are looking at now is the result of a mad-dash scramble to get something up-and-running. In prep for Lotusphere 2011, this site will get an XPages makeover and new host on IBM Lotus Domino 8.5.2.

Here is a list of features that I'm planning for this next release:

• XPages-based Content Management

  Right now (part of the mad dash), the content for this site can only be updated via a Lotus Notes client. Not ideal for on the road updates, and will absolutely not work for what I'm planning to do at Lotusphere 2011.

• XPages-based Content Delivery

  Sure, they'll be a new site design and layout for dominoGuru.com... but I want to leverage the very best of XPages to allow me to delivery Client Type-specific content without the need to maintain multiple Design Elements (how I would do that with Traditional Design Elements). To do this, I'll be creating Client-specific UXs using Themes and a few Client-specific frameworks (ie., iWebkit).

• RSS-driven Content Generation

  Especially needed for Lotusphere 2011, I want to be able to auto-publish content from alternate services including (but not limited to) YouTube. Sure, you could subscribe to my YouTube channel, but that's more you hunting down content vs. me bringing it to you here...

• Full-Content RSS Feeds

  I know... sorry.

• Waterfall Navigation (where appropriate)

  I love waterfall navigation, and find myself preferring that to pager-style navigation. For an example of waterfall navigation, see Facebook's Wall or News, which allows you to click at the bottom of the page to load even more content for ongoing, fluid, and ever-growing content consumption. Again, it won't be used for everything... but I plan on absolutely using it where it makes sense.

• Considering using DisQus for Comments

  DisQus would allow you to rather easily use Facebook, Twitter, Yahoo, and other social networking for "signing in" and tracking of your comments on a post.

• Content Voting/Requests

  I've said time and again that this is as much your site as it is mine... so I want to give you the ability to direct the content published to dominoGuru.com. I'll give you the ability to vote on posts. I will additionally give you the ability to suggest topics in-site for content that you want to see (which you can right now via email to ctoohey@dominoguru.com).

... and a whole slew of other changes and enhancements that I'll be working on.

I'll try to keep the build as public as appropriate (more to not bore you vs. to open the site up for hacking/cracking -- it'll be secure!).

If there's anything you want to see on the site feature-wise, drop me a comment and I'll see what I can do!