[horde] Horde framework for a large Web based project and more ...

[Ralf Lang]

Am Freitag, 22. Februar 2008 20:09:31 schrieb Elier Delgado:
> > > I'm very interesting in do this changes, because I like Horde very
> > > much, but I want to know the opinion of the community,
> > > maybe we can start a more flexible version for horde, oriented in this
> > > way.
> >
> > Improving our marketing and documentation of Horde as a standalone
> > framework is one of the major goals for Horde 4. We've got a good
> > start with libraries like Routes (http://dev.horde.org/routes/), Rdo,
> > etc. And we've been working with some large users of Horde to get more
> > participation and to make sure we're working on the right things.
> >
> > So I generally agree with your assessment, but we are actively working
> > on it, and I think Horde 4 is going to be very exciting in this regard.
> Hi Chuck,
> how we can contribute with Horde 4 ?
> where I can see their goals ?

Hallo list,
I'm currently developing webbased-administration tools on horde for a large 
storage appliance site in germany. To be honest, for a newcomer who until now 
used and configured ready horde applications, the documentation first seemed 
like a complete mess. On a second look I don't find it all that terrifying, 
but there was a great deal of trial, error and frustration until I got it on 
the way.

What I found annoying as a framework user:
- Too many places that most of the time just link to each other. Wiki, Horde 
Library, Documentation section etc.
- When I use the Horde Library slideshows as a kind of tutorial on horde 
coding, I have to click through a huge block of marketing blah blah. I know 
these slideshows have been made for presentations and not for reference. But 
it would be cool to have stripped-down "just beef" editions of these slides 
that leave out the "what is horde - buy horde - eat more horde" section.
- I personally didn't find the Rdo-related talk useful. Rdo might have been 
the perfectly right tool for what I now do in custom code, but I simply 
didn't get the critical point in a reasonable amount of time.
- The templates-related documentation is a little short and simplified. When I 
look into the code of existing horde apps, it seems like a completely 
different business.

- Some code snippets in the wiki are confusing, because it's not clear where 
in the structure of a horde app they could be put and just work and where 
not. A colleague of mine got mad at the File::PDF thing and said he would 
resort to another PDF library. I couldn't find what he made wrong so I dumped 
the code and wrote a part of code that finally worked the intended way. I'm 
sure it was just a missing dependency or something. 

That said, horde is a fine set of applications as well as a good framework to 
code with, once you've climbed that hill of learning. 

-- 
Ralf Lang
IT-Consultant / Trainer