The Google Summer of Code 2008 student application deadline has been extended to Monday, April 7, 2008. GSoC is a great way for talented student developers to do what they love during the summer break and write great code in exchange for a $4,500 USD stipend from Google. This is Joomla!'s fourth year participating and we look forward to welcoming a new set of amazing talent.
Calling all Students
If you are an eligible student interested in this program, take time to read the student guidelines, review project ideas in the forums and on the wiki, and join the Joomla! Skype Discussion where you can ask questions before submitting your proposal. If you are looking for ideas, here are possibilities for which we have not received project proposals, but are very interested in seeing happen this summer.
Joomla! Core Package Distributions
Creating distribution packages is a tedious and critical job for any open source project. We welcome a GSoC project proposal aimed at creating a package distribution tool so that releases can be defined and automated processes build various packages needed. This environment must handle the creation of localized packages, an event which often occurs subsequent to the initial release. Statistical reporting for downloads given various time frequencies and regions of the world is desired. Environment will likely utilize SOAP and Phing.
CiviCRM - Organize your .org
CiviCRM is a PHP web application for non-profits, student organizations, and online communities to assist grassroots supporters, those they serve, and those they hope to influence. By helping integrate this vitally important "people management" tool with a powerful open source CMS like Joomla! v 1.5, you will contribute to initiatives which aim to:
- Stop global warming;
- End poverty all over the world;
- Assist refugees of wars and genocide;
- Organize action for positive social change;
- Help student organizations be more effective on campus.
This is a great way to get involved with CiviCRM, Joomla!, and Google's Summer of Code while helping make the world a better place! To get started, check out these project ideas.
SEF URLs, URL Migrations, Transliteration, and 404/403 Error Handling
If you are interested in helping ensure Joomla! websites maintain top placement in search engine results, you will enjoy this project. We are interested in seeing a GSoC Project focus on these deliverables: a plugin to offer options for SEF URLs patterns; a plugin to handle URL redirects needed for site migrations; a component to handle HTTP 404/403 error handling; and, a plugin to handle transliteration of aliases for SEF URLs. The Joomla! end user community would get tremendous value from such a project.
Editor for Building Template Override Layouts
A powerful feature introduced in Joomla! v 1.5 provides ability to create new layouts for components through the use of template override files. Now, envision a WYSIWYG editor that lists data elements exposed by the component model for use in a view layout. Further envision Mootools drag and drop capability at play, simplifying the construction of new layouts without requiring knowledge of programming complexity. Site builders could publish these easy to develop layouts to their Web site using this new editor. If building such an environment sounds like fun, imagine what thousands of community members will think this fall when they begin using it!
Consider Mentoring
We need dedicated, talented people to help mentor a project. If you are interested, please feel free to ask questions in the forums about participation.
Thank you, Google!
Thank you to Google and special thanks to Leslie Hawthorn for all you do in support of students and open source projects. This is certainly shaping up to be a great Google Summer of Code 2008!