Easy Ways to Help Improve the LCA Website

If you know Python and are interested in helping to improve the LCA conference management system, zookeepr, then you can:

look on the bug tracker for low priority / wishlist bugs which haven't been assigned to anybody yet.

Alternatively, we'd love to have others help out in these general areas:

• make it work in different browsers
• improve readability/usability of forms (stylesheet tweaks?)
• add more witty/funny comments

How to get started with zookeepr

Grab the latest branch from Launchpad:

1. Download Bazaar
2. Signup for an account on Launchpad
3. Identify yourself to Bazaar:

   bzr launchpad-login username

4. Create a local branch of zookeepr:

   bzr branch lp:zookeepr zookeepr.trunk

Then install the latest development version of pylons:

1. Download the Pylons installer
2. Install pylons:

   python go-pylons.py my_pylons_python_dir

3. Add this shortcut to your ~/.bashrc:

   alias pylons="source /full_path_to/my_pylons_python_dir/bin/activate"

Follow these instructions to install zookeepr and its dependencies, then:

1. Initialise the environment:

   source ~/.bashrc
   pylons

2. Initialise zookeepr (from within your bzr branch):

   python setup.py develop
   paster setup-app development.ini

3. Start the application:

   paster serve --reload development.ini

4. Connect to your own zookeepr instance: http://localhost:5000/"
5. Login using the default credentials: admin@zookeepr.org / password

Yes, the initial setup is a bit of a PITA. Unfortunately, it's unlikely to change since we are, as you can imagine, currently focusing our energies on organising a conference :)

But if you want to help simplify the bootstrapping/installation process or if you're keen on improving the developer documentation, we definitely want to hear from you!