Re: Efforts to modernize CPAN interface?

[stevieb]

CPAN::Uploader to upload to PAUSE; no more web UI. As far as RT, I use Github Issues, which integrates perfectly with the appropriate config in one's Makefile.PL on imho the much better CPAN front-end, MetaCPAN.

Here's an example Makefile.PL that forces the use of Github properties on your MetaCPAN page for your distribution, making your dist page look like this.

[nysus]

Let's say you are a new developer. You're eighteen years old and you are checking out Perl and CPAN. You sign up for an account on PAUSE and see an interface that was created in 1995, before you were born. Let's be totally honest, you aren't going to be excited by what you see.

Yeah, CPAN and PAUSE are fine for me, too, and I've bypassed PAUSE and can get links on my man page to github with Dist::Zilla. I'm just trying to put myself in the shoes of others who will be judging books by their covers because they have little else to go on.

[stevieb]

I would hope that anyone who solely judges books by their covers don't bother even attempting to put anything up on the CPAN, so it's the base security measure for code quality uploaded :P

[nysus]

I think that gets to the crux of the matter. I think the old school look is kind of a badge of honor that makes a statement: "Engineering is what matters, not looks." The question I have is: Does that help the Perl programming language succeed and propagate?

And what I'm also curious to know is if anyone is doing any thinking about this kind of stuff. It's entirely possible being old school will be seen as "cool" and help Perl. Kind of like one of the big things in hip hop culture was all about keeping things "real." It's interesting to think about.

I tend to think a modest revamp would be in order, however.

[shmem]

I'm just trying to put myself in the shoes of others who will be judging books by their covers because they have little else to go on.

They have all that is between the covers. This implicates turning a heavy page, for sure. Perl can't and won't lure people into its lair by shiney covers, because it can't deliver. It isn't: shiney. Well, for some time, before getting into it.

[nysus]

So a bald fat guy shouldn't bother to dress nice?