CentOS docs - Jun 2018 - reference page for Apache test page & the project

On 23/06/18 21:03, John R. Dennison wrote:
> On Fri, Jun 22, 2018 at 04:58:21PM -0700, Karsten Wade wrote:
>> * Is there a better page I can point at?
> 'Better' is quite subjective; however this all goes back to 
>
>
https://web.archive.org/web/20060523223519/https://www.centos.org/modules/news/article.php?storyid=127
>
> and is as good of a reference as any.
>
> I would urge someone to scrape the gist of that thread and preserve it
> on wiki.c.o somewhere.
>
> If no one else does I will do it later today or tomorrow when I have a
> bit of time and motivation.
You know, perhaps this is approaching this from the wrong direction.
Maybe the correct solution would be to change that welcome page to be
more explicit about what it is and why it's there so the question
doesn't arise in the first place. It *is* better than it used to be but
it could be better. If we just move the "The CentOS Project has nothing
to do with this website or its content, it just provides the software
that makes the website run." up to immediately after the "This server
powered by CentOS" under the Testing 123... heading.

Does the attached patch make it more clear more easily? It gets the
essential message into the top paragrpah which is the one that gets
read. Having it off the bottom of the page where it resides in the
current version means you're reliant on people advancing to the next page.

Trevor
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On Sat, Jun 23, 2018 at 4:17 PM, Trevor Hemsley <trevor.hemsley at
ntlworld.com
> wrote:
> On 23/06/18 21:03, John R. Dennison wrote:
> > On Fri, Jun 22, 2018 at 04:58:21PM -0700, Karsten Wade wrote:
> >> * Is there a better page I can point at?
> > 'Better' is quite subjective; however this all goes back to
> >
> > https://web.archive.org/web/20060523223519/https://www.
> centos.org/modules/news/article.php?storyid=127
> >
> > and is as good of a reference as any.
> >
> > I would urge someone to scrape the gist of that thread and preserve it
> > on wiki.c.o somewhere.
> >
> > If no one else does I will do it later today or tomorrow when I have a
> > bit of time and motivation.
>
> You know, perhaps this is approaching this from the wrong direction.
> Maybe the correct solution would be to change that welcome page to be
> more explicit about what it is and why it's there so the question
> doesn't arise in the first place. It *is* better than it used to be but
> it could be better. If we just move the "The CentOS Project has
nothing
> to do with this website or its content, it just provides the software
> that makes the website run." up to immediately after the "This
server
> powered by CentOS" under the Testing 123... heading.
>
> Does the attached patch make it more clear more easily? It gets the
> essential message into the top paragrpah which is the one that gets
> read. Having it off the bottom of the page where it resides in the
> current version means you're reliant on people advancing to the next
page.
>
> Trevor
>

How long does one need to be in IT to realize that people simply will not
read things, period?  Adding more text to an already long-winded page that
clearly no one is reading will not solve the problem.

The only solution is to eschew vanity completely and make a page that has
nothing but "Testing 123" or something equally terse, and possibly
mentioning Apache, if that is a requirement somewhere.  The only mention of
CentOS, should be the "powered by" badge and that's it.  I would
remove the
"powered by CentOS" in the blue header, and then ALL of the text
"About
CentOS" and below.  I understand the intention of trying to help users and
admins, but it clearly isn't.

As we have seen in the past, this page causes well-known problems, and
afaik provides almost no benefit so should be removed.

~ Brian Mathis
@orev
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On Sat, Jun 23, 2018 at 2:33 PM, Brian Mathis
<brian.mathis+centos at betteradmin.com> wrote:
> On Sat, Jun 23, 2018 at 4:17 PM, Trevor Hemsley
>> If we just move the "The CentOS Project has nothing
>> to do with this website or its content, it just provides the software
>> that makes the website run." up to immediately after the
"This server
>> powered by CentOS" under the Testing 123... heading.
>> Trevor
> How long does one need to be in IT to realize that people simply will not
> read things, period?  Adding more text to an already long-winded page that
> clearly no one is reading will not solve the problem.
>
> The only solution is to eschew vanity completely and make a page that has
> nothing but "Testing 123" or something equally terse, and
possibly
> mentioning Apache, if that is a requirement somewhere.  The only mention of
> CentOS, should be the "powered by" badge and that's it.  I
would remove the
> "powered by CentOS" in the blue header, and then ALL of the text
"About
> CentOS" and below.  I understand the intention of trying to help users
and
> admins, but it clearly isn't.
>
> As we have seen in the past, this page causes well-known problems, and
afaik
> provides almost no benefit so should be removed.
>
> ~ Brian Mathis
I was about to post my view and found that it has just been said by Brian.
See the welcome page by RHEL:

http://toracat.org/attic/centos/apache-welcome-RHEL.png

It has a minimal amount of info about RHEL. After all, the whole
purpose of the test page is to let the admin know that he/she
successfully set up httpd. The page is not intended for the general
public. And for someone who does not know what CentOS is, there is no
point mentioning it.

The CentOS badge as suggested by Brian and perhaps the "CentOS has
nothing to do with ..." description quoted by Trevor will be all that
is necessary.

Akemi