Open Source Project Suggestion, where to go from here.

Question

I have a project in mind, here's the pitch.

When I come to a new workspace, school, a friends computer and want to check all my favorite blogs, log into facebook, SO and all other amazing websites. I find that it's always a site that i forget to visit. The solution to this is to bookmark the site. However, should I always store the bookmarks on a USB-stick? I think not.

I'd like to se an Open Bookmark Standard where all common browsers supports an Online OpenID-using service which will help to store all favorite pages, using rss to keep track of page changes and much more fun features to be implemented.

Now, stop me if im wrong here, but theres no such thing out there? And I feel obligated to start the development process on this. And i recently wrote a text about issues when adapting outsorucing / open source projects, in the manner of communication.

So, if i want to start this process, which services would I use to provide the Source, Documents and other plans?

What language do i concider using to get the eyes of as many developers as possible?

when the language is set, what specific development patterns would be most common to use?

How do you control an open source project, in the manner; People should not submit "bad" code? Are there any good tools for overviewing big changes in documents? Does SVN have a good system for monitoring this?

If this project is manageable and good ( don't argument if this is good or not ), how do one get this as a "standard"?

Answer 1

I recommend you sourceforge.net, It has CVS/SVN, wikis (not so good), file releases management, and it's used by the most of the opensource projects. I use it for the openssource project Natural CLI,

Answer 2

It doesn't sound like a project that needs hordes of developers.

Sourceforge provides almost everything you need to run an OSS project: forums, SCC, etc.

However are you sure your needs aren't met by http://del.icio.us ? And the various plugins that synch your bookmarks with del.icio.us?

Answer 3

Have you considered using Google bookmarks? This solves the initial problem that you stated (access to bookmarks from any PC without the aid of a USB stick) but I don't believe that it has rss support for changes etc.

If you are looking for a home for an open source project the sourceforge is a good place to start.

Answer 4

I sounds like an interesting project, but there are similar things out there albeit not open. For example, I use Foxmarks to sync my Firefox bookmarks between computers. Then when I am on the road, I can access my Foxmarks user page to get at all of my bookmarks from remote computers.

Answer 5

I'd recommend to use Google Code to host OSS project for its powerful simplicity (just like the Gmail or google search). It has:

• SVN (with nice web view)
• Wiki
• Issue tracker
• Downloads
• integration with other google services
• Scalability and responsiveness.

And I definitely do not recommend SourceForge. I do not like it for:

• Really slow SVN
• They can ban your IP if you poll SVN too often (so no continuous integration)
• Complex UI