Forum OpenACS Q&A: Response to How long can the OpenACS community get away with being an island?

I agree with Lars that many impatient people might take a look at the toolkit and then go away again, as it is too difficult to use. My thoughts here:
  • Make an RPM that would get you to the point where you add your personal details for the site. Make another RPM for dotLRN.
  • Write up a document how to change the look of your site easily (master template aso.).
  • Write a step by step guide for installing packages. Add install options like "collaboration site" or "e-commerce site" that would install a predefined set of packages to get you rolling (like RH or SuSE are doing for their distributions). Write use cases for these options (so people get to know what this is capable of).
  • Have training material for future developers ready. This training materials should take them slowly through the process of learning OpenACS while giving people the freedom to try them out on their own problem. Please answer this at the new thread