yeah i_laugh, you talk well well. Way to go with the use of your "french". It really speaks volumes about you. Yeah! Clap for yourself.

@i_laugh
Look, it is either you are making reasonable posts here or you had better read with you mouths in proper position. Don't introduce any form of quarrelling or give room to insultive posts here.

looks like a primary school site

Hey, take it easy. That is someone's sweat. Cost hours to do. Don't give room for trouble. See the thread's topic

"How Would You Better Your Country's Official Website?"

Post better replies pls.

@Yawa-ti-de: Thanks for starting this thread.

@everyone (designers and developers):
We could start a collaborative job on this.
I'll talk to a few media people about it and see if
we can get coverage (that'll be after we start something).
I'm ready to donate a server where we could do collaborative work (in redesigning the website)
and we'll donate it to the Nigeran Government when we are done.

Let me know what you all feel, but deep in my mind I know this could be
the beginning of really remarkable stuffs for Nigerian web deisgners/developers

NB: I'm thinking: We could use a content management system like Joomla.
Opinions please,

olu,

I am in support of your efforts. I however would say, as far as a CMS, I guess it depends on how often the site is donated. If a lot, then sure. If ocassionally, then I think it will be a mechanical disadvantage.

Let's start with contacting your media people. I think once the exposure is there, then you can whet their appetite with respect to an anticipated solution. Just a thought.

What do others have to say?

Unfortunately Yawa,
The media people won't do anything unless they think
there is something in it for them. The question they'll ask is:
'So where can I access this website you are talking about?'
And the other thing is, getting the media's apetite going and then members
of this forum getting cold feet. E no go funny at all o!

Let's start something, as soon as I can get enough ayes! then I'll
pay for a superb hosting plan at www.dreamhost.com
And then we can start.

Some very good ideas have been expressed in this thread - Olushola's idea of donating it to the Government is a great one. A CMS would be a good route to take - especially if the work is going to be collaborative. The great thing about CMS is that updating or maintaining the site doesn't have to be dependent on just one person. If the original developer is unable to continue, someone else can step in with minimal fuss. Joomla is a good open source solution although it's got a bit of a learning curve (not as bad as Drupal though!). ExpressionEngine is an extremely elegant alternative but is a commercial product. Dreamhost would be a great host to use - I use them and they are fantastic.

With regards to members' contributions to this project - I don't think it's so much cold feet as having the time to dedicate to it. It is a fairly large undertaking and people may not have enough time to devote to the project further down the line. One could say yes now and then if business suddenly picks up, it would be difficult to continue.

Olu, so why did you get my mouth dripping with the reference to media? I was already seeing myself on NTA, shaking hands with Yar'Adua for a job well done

Yolu
In reference to people dropping off, I feel ya. I would rather 2 dedicated people do it all than 100 people jumping on the wagon, only to drop off after 3 weeks. I have been there many times which is why I rather do certain things solo.

Now, with respect to the above, sure it will be huge undertaking. This won't be the kind of sites we go around bragging to our friends about because we stayed up all night coding while watching Big Brother Africa and munching on dodo. This could take months. Don't forget - we are entering holiday season which means many will start travelling. I personally, would give a date of April 2, 2009 (would choose the 1st but don't want some people to think it's a farce )

Reasons:
1) We need to have someone scope out all the pages on the present site.
2) We need to have people look at the sites of other countries
3) We need a solid architecture (navigation, features, etc)
4) We need a good graphical design
5) We need solid code behind whatever we do.
6) We need to peer review our code
7) We need to test thoroughly
8 ) We need to assign sections to people and determine if we need to deliver per section or in tandem.

The above are a few of what I have in mind. make no mistake, this as you said, will be huuuge.

Per the CMS comment, I state this as opinion and not as a "thou shalt have no other gods but yawa" remark, I think we should steer clear of CMS because this is volunteer work and quite frankly, I think if we do things as stated above, we won't encounter your legitimate concerns above. Not to mention, you have thrown around 3 different CMS tools. here are some issues I see with that:

Which do we choose? I happen to prefer joomla but you say it may have a huge learning curve. I think drupal has a higher learning curve. If we go with expression, how many know that? Are we going to devote time to learning something or have people drop off simply because they don't want to spend the time to learn something new? Remember, this is volunteer work. In the event that the FG says, "hey we like what you are doing, come and do it for u", then we can worry about moving the stuff into a CMS because at that time, we would be paid to do it.

Wow! I am feeling the juices flowing in me already. I probably won't have time to code but I will certainly play the role of project co-ordinator/architect.

HMM.

I dont code, i could help with the Graphical Design

Which do we choose? I happen to prefer joomla but you say it may have a huge learning curve.  I think drupal has a higher learning curve.  If we go with expression, how many know that?  Are we going to devote time to learning something or have people drop off simply because they don't want to spend the time to learn something new?  Remember, this is volunteer work.  In the event that the FG says, "hey we like what you are doing, come and do it for u", then we can worry about moving the stuff into a CMS because at that time, we would be paid to do it.

You make very good points here. It would probably be best to start off with a static site and move on from there if required. If it is done right (and I have no doubt about this since you're on board ) then migrating to a CMS shouldn't be too much of a problem.

This is getting interesting
Yawa's no 3 point 3) We need a solid architecture (navigation, features, etc) seem the most important to me. Believe it, that is where the most work will come from. There is the need to identify what will be included in the site - features, content, etc. This will further help split the work.

Yolu

Weeeeell, it wdnt be static literally and I hope we are thinking along the same lines. The site would still be, say, PHP-based and it probably wd even hv a DB aspect to it.  It just wouldn't have the many tables that come with a CMS.  So for example:

We could have a dropdown of states. you select a state and hit "go". in the back, we have a header fxn that checks the value of the dropdown and immediately forwards u to a /states/<?echo stateName?>.php file.  So it's static but not technically static.

I hope I have explained myself well.

kehers
My point exactly. If say, we came up with 10 sections, each with its own folder, we could easily say, "Team A, u r on 'about us' and the files therin".


Aaaah! Abstraction, gotta love it

i love this idea

id join and april's good

i hope we charge FG later on, cos as busy as i am and expect others to b, maintaining wt no incentive 'll b a problem

webguru

I don't think we are doing this with hopes of even a contract. I see it more as a way to publicize ourselves. We wouldn't maintain a thing either. If FG likes what we have, we hand over, train the folks there for maybe a day or 2 (though it should be obvious to them as we aren't doing anything special) and move on. This is where I see WOA making sense. Imagine this caption, "A group calling themselves Webmasters of Africa volunteered their time to do the site because they wanted Nigeria to have a better online image abroad". We could even insist that the WOA badge be slapped somewhere on the site (as opposed to "proudly Nigerian".

I am looking at this as a "your reward is in heaven" kind of deal. If they want us to maintain, which again I am not planning on doing, they would have to pay of course. Seek ye first potential for doing other sites for other people and you never know, the FG site may be added unto you

Sooooo,

As I said, this will take a loooong time.  Having said that, if you are interested, I am giving you 1 week (that means Nov 14, 2008 @ 10pm GMT) to send me a Private Email.  No emails broadcast directly on this thread will be accepted.  After 1 week, the work begins.   If you join after that, you might be put on hold pending us finding work for you.

Note:
To avoid a situation where my emails don't get to you, please add my email address to your white list.  I will do same on my end, constantly checking the spam folder to ensure yours doesn't get lost in the mix.

Thanks,

@ Post

Just seeing this for the first time.

The website is wrong from the logo, counter-logo (or whatever it is), navigation control, layout and links (why not inform us that links are going to open up as PDF files?)

What's with horrible horizontal scrolling?
What's with "Nigeria Direct"? Is that a slogan associated with any Nigerian institution?
I think this site reflects the state of professionalism in the web development industry in Nigeria at the moment, but it is our duty to raise the standard and flush out incompetence.

The developer needs to make up his/her mind on what technology to use. ASPX does not seem to be doing great on that site at the moment.
I assume this is a custom content management system, judging from the links on the site, but the user interface really needs a lot of work.
If it's not a CMS, then they need one FAST.

Conclusion: The site needs a complete revamp. Layout, navigation, links, graphics and content structure is completely wrong. The site needs to be re-developed from scratch and with proper planning.

Okay.
Why don't we get started already.
1. I'm proposing getting a unique name for the hosting:
Something like : www.webmasters-alliance.com
That way, when we are done with the Nigerian Government website thingy
we could still embark on much more fruitful projects, using the website as a testing ground.

2.@ Yawa: As the project manager, please create a timeline of sorts from project initiation to deployment, based on the resources
(i.e. people, enormity of work-taking into cognisance the skills needed for executing this project)
You could also assign different people to different tasks (based on their demonstrated strenghts).
We NEED to know who and who will be involved on this project.

It's not that hard to achieve. We could use static/dynamic html with snippets of server side codes where
necessary. We don't wanna end up worse than the website is already. Immediately the Project has been
initiated everything will fall into place (with proper planning that is).

So, we've got a Project Manager who will create the structure for the project, let's have the volunteers, based on your strenghts.
I can convert any graphic mockups to clean xhtml and css anyday and also prolific with graphics and flash, so I'm in.

Who else? I see Gamine says she'll sort the graphics part.
Come on people, it's a short path to greatness , lol!
Plus this thread will start a riot on Nairaland, so,

Hey all ready for the task ahead, I'v read enough and thought about all these but have the following to contribute.

1. Are we about making a new website for Nigeria or what are we planning on working out?
2. What if the government gives no attention for like 3 years, will the project continue?
3. What is the guiding principle for this collab?

I have more ooo. Just want to get these settled first then more will follow suite.

If you all had read what I wrote slightly above your posts, you would see that I asked that you send me a private email no later than Nov 14, 2008 @ 10pm GMT

Once I get the number of initial volunteers, other planning can happen. I don't blv in building a castle in the air, you dig?

1. Are we about making a new website for Nigeria or what are we planning on working out?

Yes, we are but we aren't motivated by money. We just want to show whomever it may be the right way to do things. As I mentioned earlier, take this as a "your reward is in heaven" kind of project. The aim hopefully is that in time other web developers in naija will bookmark our site and visit often for the latest, just like they do sites like ericmeyer.com. This is one reason why I like the webmaster alliance url. Perhaps we should add "nigeria" somewhere so ppl no upfront who we are.

2. What if the government gives no attention for like 3 years, will the project continue?

That is their own. For all I know, we could even do it all and dem no send us. Again, we are hoping they do, but if they don't, my aim is that all of you working on this will gain invaluable knowledge as to how things can and should be done - the right way. Take it as an industrial attachment type gig

3. What is the guiding principle for this collab?

Simple. So simple, I am taking more words to describe it than it deserves - learning. Referring to 2 above, my aim is that in the end, we all get to see, especially those with no corporate experience, how things can and should be done - the right way.

If you keep asking questions, it will be like court of law and ppl might get turned off. You know what's up. Again, no money involved or guaranteed. start reading, thatz all.

I expect those private emails.

Classes may not allow me in full time but I'd love to see au ds goes. Maybe I can take on d 'big brother' part :-D - code debugging/testing, standards/browsers complianc review, microformat integratn nd d other little parts.
Ok, time to grab ur email.

Well kehers,

It's all about time management. There was a time when I took 7 classes (21 credit hours) and did 3 jobs and paying tons of bills, yet I found time to do what I considered important

In general, just prioritize your time. In the event that this kicks off, even if na 1 hour, it will definitely help

Well,

It is at least 3 days past the deadline I only got 3 emails, 4 if you include the one who volunteered but didn't send me an email. I guess we are all busy. I was expecting at least 10 volunteers, excluding myself.

As a result of the above, I am afraid, at least for now, that the volunteer project is called off. I guess we are all busy.

Thanks,

Guilty.
Tho' not charged yet.
Work, hustle and other stuff will hold this brother back.
BUT, I can dedicate at least 2 to 3 hours daily.

Mustay,

and wat does this hv to do with the post at hand? If you know who did that site, tell them I am suffering from content shock - there is so much text on that page and I find it hard to figure out where to start and what information is more relevant than the other.

http://www.punchng.com/Articl.aspx?theartic=Art20081225217390

Since the official web is down, what happens next?

Hey, what about our failed collab project for Nigeria?

According to the news article, the site is going down, "as a result of the inability of government officials to maintain the national flagship." What a shame!

That site staying up is a matter of national security. When I posted this, I got like 3 responses. Probably many laughed behind my back. How about posting comments on that news article saying you are willing to undertake ownership of the site? Don't you think Akunliyi will notice and perhaps give you the job? Now, will more sign up for this? Questions, questions, answers, answers.

The site goes down in March. I say we get something in place by end of January. In the meantime, post comments on all major newspaper sites in Nigeria saying you are willing to undertake the project and for those with hook ups in the media (TV and radio), do same. You never know where this might lead.

Think about it people. This might just be your chance.

True talk. What a big shame. But we can do something to still rescue the situation here. Don't you all think?

Whenever did yawa change her sex


With the politics play in this country, I guess PDP is the best site we have in Nigeria (imagine! the so-called biggest party in Nigeria).

The webmaster(s) may be paid #4m and this could be a capital expenditure in the budget 2009



Anyway, no wrong doing in trying yawa's idea