Free Software Directory:Features/Featured projects

This is one of the proposed features to this site.

The Premise

The idea is to feature projects about once a month within the directory, and to display a history of recently featured projects on the main page, or some other page. One current source of projects comes from the GNU Spotlight in the Free Software Supporter publication. There is room for non-GNU projects as well.

Helping out

Either one or more volunteers are needed to 1: choose projects, and 2: update featured projects' information each month, then add the "featured" tag (with the date) to the project's page. This is easily done by choosing "Edit with form" from a project's page. If a dependable volunteer agrees to do the job on a regular basis, then they may do so, with the approval of jgay. (Here is the place to list future features: FSD:Features/Featured projects/Upcoming)

We also add a single program from the GNU Spotlight in the FSS, which tries to come out on the last day of every month. Please pick one project that you like and hasn't been featured (at least within the last several months).

If you are interested in helping, get in touch with sudoman or jgay by leaving a message on our talk pages, or on IRC (irc.freenode.net).

Ideas

• There could be a "Featured" section under the "Query or Browse" section that lists a few of the most recently featured items.
  • User:jgay thinks that it should not go on the main page (at this point since we don't have a volunteer to update it), so we might want to create a special page for it.
• There could be a short "featured projects" section at the top of site-wide search results if there are any matches.
• We could make a bold "This project was featured Sept 2011." string for previously featured projects on their info page.
• Have a "featured" page that lists all of the featured project history.
• We could make a "featured" icon in browse mode next to each featured project's name.

Development: Todo

Development of the basics is complete, and in a stage where it could be deployed by someone with some MediaWiki knowledge. There needs to be either a link to Featured, or for the Template:Featured list to be inserted somewhere on the main page, once this feature goes live.

• Create Property:Featured property (date format)
• Add parameter to form
• Make a Template:Featured template, so we can have a string describing the source, such as the FSF Supporter. This should also allow for multiple "featured" dates.
• Create a template that will print a number of queries, and a template that formats the results

Sample SMW Code

This template can be used on an entry page:

{{featured
|featured date=2011-10-03
|featured source=FSF Supporter
|featured category=Development
}}

However, editing by hand shouldn't be necessary, as there are is a section of Form:Entry that lets you set values there. (You can use it on any page by selecting "Edit with Form". On the other hand if there is an error in another field, then you may not be able to use the Form, in which case, you will need to click "Edit" and paste in the above template at the bottom of the page.

This query can be used on the main page to show a featured item:

{{#ask: [[Featured date::+]] [[Featured category::Desktop]]
|?Name
|?Featured date
| link=none
| format=ol
| template=Featured output
| sort=Featured date,Name
| order=descending
| limit=5
}}

Similar code is already being used in Template:Featured list:

For Desktop Users

1. Music Blocks: featured on 24 May 2019

2. Pino: featured on 11 July 2012

3. Icedove: featured on 5 June 2012

4. LibreOffice: featured on 26 April 2012

5. Blender: featured on 17 March 2012

... further results

For Developers

1. Tahoe-LAFS: featured on 8 August 2013

2. CUnit: featured on 5 June 2012

3. Lua: featured on 26 April 2012

4. Django: featured on 17 March 2012

5. SDL: featured on 4 February 2012

... further results

GNU Spotlight

1. GNU Denemo: featured on 11 July 2012

2. GNU LibreJS: featured on 5 June 2012

3. GNU Linux-libre: featured on 26 April 2012

4. GNU Health: featured on 17 March 2012

5. GNU Octave: featured on 4 February 2012

... further results

Where to make modifications

Page listing featured programs, Featured date property, Featured source property, Featured category property, Template for marking a page as featured, Template for displaying query on main page, Featured output template